Soccer Penalty Kicks

Soccer is a something a had really disliked for quite a while. But recently, after watching big events such as the Euro Cup and World Cup, I have gained some interest in the sport. One of my most favorite parts of the games were when they went into extra time and eventually to a Penalty Kick Shootout. This is when each team switches off kicking 5 shots each from 12 yards out. Whenever a game is forced to this stage, the excitement and pressure is kicked up a notch. This is why I really enjoy watching it, PK’s get me fully immersed in the game and I can feel the excitement.

             

After getting inspired by these thrilling shootouts, I went out and tried it for myself. Now I have never played soccer in my life, so I definitely had some room for improvement. In my book I chose Soccer Strategies: The Top 100 Best Ways To Improve Your Soccer Game by Ace McCloud, it said “A big mistake strikers make is hitting the ball too hard and missing the goal entirely” (McCloud 14). As you can see in the video below, I did exactly that. I was too worried about kicking as hard as I possibly could to actually make sure the ball went into the net first.

So I went back to the book and tried to find some tips on improving my Penalty Kicks. "Shooting the ball in a good location is a vital skill that many people do not practice enough. Placing the ball in a strategic location is much more effective than trying to smash it into the goal with no real direction in mind" (McCloud14). This advice from the book was great. It showed me that PK's are all about strategy, you must think and place the ball in a good location. Just bashing the ball blindly will usually end up in a bad result. I took this knowledge, and learned from my own mistakes to improve my kicking prowess. I really focused on trying to keep my head down and place the ball in a spot.

In the video above I still kicked the ball pretty hard and nearly missed it altogether. Although I almost missed completely, the kick was actually really good because of how, 1. it actually went in the net, and 2. how difficult it would be for a goalie to reach, and block the kick from going in. I think overall, that kick was very effective, however the fact that I was so close to missing made it very unreliable to use in a real match. So for the next one, I concentrated extra hard on keeping the ball in the net, while still getting it past the goalie.

This last kick was my favorite out of them all. I made sure that the kick had enough force to get through the goalie, but this time, the accuracy of the kick was much better. The book definitely helped me to develop my Penalty Kick skills. The tip of kicking the ball softer was a major help with my accuracy of the kicks. I definitely progressed as I continued to practice my kicks. What do you guys think? Please let me know if you have any tips for me to improve my kicks!