The key technical soccer skills are:
- ball receiving (ball control)
- passing
- dribbling (running with ball)
- 1v1 moves
- shooting
- heading
- tackling
- jockeying
- goalkeeping (generic comment)
Breaking these skills down further:
Ball Receiving:
- approach to ball (attacking ball, waiting for ball, running into space for ball, jumping for header)
- first touch (stopping ball, directing ball for second touch to dribble, shoot or pass)
- decision making (prior to receiving, decide what to do - this is a tie in to the mental fitness building block)
- body position
- part of body to be used
Passing
- weight of pass (i.e. strength) appropriate to distance of target
- direction
- on ground/off ground
- straight or bent
- cross
- to target or into space
Dribbling
- keeping ball close to foot or pushing it ahead
- speed
- head up
- parts of the foot (instep, outside, laces)
1v1 Moves
- body fakes
- direction
- speed
- deceleration going into move, acceleration coming out
- change of direction or straight
- type of move (stepover, scissors, cut back, Cruyff, etc., etc.) - each player should develop a couple
Shooting
- picking target (look up before shot)
- approach to ball (angle, backswing, hip rotation, striking ball, follow-through)
- power (hard shot or more placed shot)
- part of foot
- low or high shot
- straight shot or bending ball
- dead ball or moving ball
- left or right foot
Heading
- approach to ball (jump, stand, dive, momentum generating arch-back)
- part of head (forehead straight for power, side of forehead for direction)
- target - high, low, straight, side
Tackling
- angle of approach
- standing tackle or slide tackle
- eye on ball
- timing of tackle
Jockeying
- distance from player
- angle
- speed of movement
- eye on ball
Goalkeeping
- agility
- flexibility
- leg strength
- vertical leap
- reaction speed
- reflex
- diving position
- ready position
- communication
- catching
- foot saves
- ball control
How do all these tie in to winning games?
First, you need establish a benchmark for your team relative to age group and level of competition.
Each age group has a certain level of skill that players should be able to perform. For example, 6 year olds don't need to be able to do diving headers, 16 year olds do. Establish the level of skill expectation for your age group. How do you do this? Typically coaching certification programs will lay this out for you. Alternatively, research books and the internet. You can look at our coaching books and web site and the drills give you the expectation for each age group. Finally, you can travel in your area and observe games and practices to see what players are actually capable of.
You may want to make a chart for your team. List all skill areas of interest down the left hand column. The next two columns are labeled basic and advanced. The next columns have the names of your players. You now have a grid. Under the basic and advanced columns write in the level of performance for each skill. For example:
Short Pass (5-15 m)
Basic: within 30 cm of target, moderate difficulty for receiver to control.
Advanced: right on target, easy to control.
Then rate each player on a scale from 0 (cannot perform basic skill) to 10 (can perform at an advanced level consistently).
Then look at your results and see in which skill area your team is weak in total.
Now observe your competition and rate them.
You now know which skills your team needs to improve gainst the "absolute" benchmark and against the competition. They may not be the same. You now need to decide which gaps to fill first based on what you think will lead to the best improvement of your players, team in total, and competitive results. A suggestion is to start with those skills that rank below both the benchmark and the competition.
You will want to consider the linkage to the other three building blocks. For example if your 1v1 moves are weak, but your game approach is to play a fast/short passing game, you may not need to improve 1v1 moves a lot. We will deal with this linkage in future articles.
Our Practice Books And Resources
Kids Soccer Drills & Practices
Youth Soccer Drills & Practices
Competitive Soccer Drills & Practices
Soccer Goalie Drills & Practices
