Soccer: Techniques When Playing a Long Ball

During a game, there may be times when you need to "switch the point of attack", or switch the ball to the other side of the field. When trying to do this, you will have to play a long ball to the other side in order for the ball to successfully make it over to a teammate. You could also end up playing a long ball on a goal kick, on a cross, or even a long shot.

When trying to play a long ball, there are certain mechanics and techniques that can be used to improve your form and approach on the ball, which can help increase the distance and the flight of the ball. Andrew Latham says that the first part to hitting a good long ball is your form. You want to be a couple feet back from the ball so you have room to run up to the ball. When you are running up to the ball, you want to take the foot you are not kicking with and place it just next to the ball so you have some space in between your foot and the ball (35). My approach to the ball then sets my body up to strike the ball in a more comfortable and proficient way.

In the picture above, I used Latham's idea and planted my foot just slightly to the left of the ball, giving me a better position to strike the ball. My back is also arched giving me a better strike on the ball and allowing the ball to get more air.

When you are actually making contact with the ball and planning to play the ball, you want to make sure you are hitting the ball just the right way so you are accurate. "...you are striking the bottom half of the ball to get the ball in the air. On contact, you should be slightly leaning back, which also helps the ball go in the air. Kick through the ball. Your kicking foot should land across your body on the far side of your plant foot" (35).

While I was performing my long balls, I kept in mind Latham's information about form and approach. All of his idea helped me set up my body to strike the ball in such a way that I was able to hit over a 50 yard ball. If you were to look at both the video and picture, you would be able to see that my foot is planted next to the ball, my back is slightly arches back, I make contact with the bottom of the ball, and I strike my leg through the ball and onto the opposite side of my body.

Building on from just a simple long ball, do you think pro's incorporate these same techniques when they are taking freekicks on frame? How do you think they perform more difficult and skilled freekicks?


Latham, Andrew. Soccer Smarts for Kids: 60 Skills, Strategies & Secrets. Rockridge Press, 2016.  

The Swing

THE SWING

In my mind, hitting a baseball has always been considered the hardest thing to do in any sport. There's no doubt that no one can be triumphant in any other sport where they succeed only one-third of the time. Keeping my hands closer while swinging the bat has always been a great challenge for me, although I feel that is the most effective way to hit a ball. Adair would disagree with that. He believes that keeping your hands closer to your body for a longer duration throughout your swing creates more bat velocity. More arm extension during the swing slows your bat speed and decreases your control over the bat (31). No athlete would argue with an author with a Ph.D. regarding baseball, but I believe that my swing is more effective when I am the most comfortable with it. Maintaining control of my hands during a swing is one challenge, but baseball is a mind game; as a result, baseball comes down to how comfortable you perform, how focused you stay, and how much effort you put in.

The reaction time of a batter during the pitch determines where/whether they hit the ball. Adair explains the reaction time: "he will swing so that the hitting area of the bat strikes the ball squarely-he hopes! All of this takes time and judgement-and good judgment takes more time" (38). My biggest strength, in my opinion, is my hand-eye coordination. I can hit the ball very squarely and prefer executing rather easy hits than powerful ones. During each of my practices however, I try altering my swing little by little until I find the most effective one. Practicing keeping my hands in longer and generating a shorter, quicker swing allows me to feel more confident going up to hit with a newer swing.

The picture on the left shows me in a swinging stance with a soccer ball under my back shoulder. This helps with two things while swinging; forcing your hands close to your body and keeping your back shoulder level. It's very essential to maintain balance-leveled shoulders so that when you swing, you minimize the chance of hitting the ball directly up in the air.

Would an athlete perform better with a proven, technical swing or a comfortable, relaxed swing?

Adair, Robert Kemp. The Physics of Baseball. New York: Harper & Row, 1990. Print.

Pitching Forms and Techniques

This position is known as "The Windup" because
it's motion is a multiple-step procedure of twists
and turns before throwing the ball.

If you ask any baseball player what is the most important job while playing, they will say pitching. Pitching is considered one of the hardest things to do in sports. "The pitcher must not only throw the ball so that it passes through the strike zone, he must throw so that the batter does not hit the ball squarely" (Adair, 48). Constant decisions are being made by the pitcher from when he looks at the batter to as soon as he throws the ball. With the potential of the game being on the line and everybody focusing on you, pitching can build stress when your whole team relies on your decision making.

This single motion pitching position is called "The
Stretch" where the pitcher takes multiple pauses
before deciding when to throw the ball.

The speed of a pitcher is one of the first things that is noticed when anyone looks at the person on the pitching mound. A 95-mph pitch will reach the plate in 0.41 seconds after release, a 93-mph pitch will be around 1.5 feet from the plate after 0.41 seconds, and a 90-mph pitch 3 feet (Adair, 60). A small difference such as a 2-mph slower pitch can cause such a large effect where the batter can be thrown off by a one and a half foot difference. I can't throw a 90 mile per hour pitch just yet, but to utilize what I can do, I make sure to throw fastballs and change-ups frequently.

Typically, a trained pitcher finds that when throwing a fastball, throwing it high and inside the strike zone is the best way to utilize it. If a change-up is thrown, you'd most likely find that pitchers locate it low and away from the batter (71). Although, a pitcher must mix things up while on the mound because he/she doesn't to throw a pitch that the batter is already expecting. When I first started pitching, I was around 11 years old and just threw the ball to get it over the plate. Now that I've practiced consistently and frequently, our coach wants me to focus on hitting certain locations while pitching because he truly believes that it will be my most deadliest pitching trait.

I personally love pitching because I enjoy finding new ways to throw off the batter. I look for patterns in the batter's swings and make sure I don't fall into patterns myself. If I'm facing a team that we've never played against, I usually pitch with the same comfortable patterns that I normally use. But, I wouldn't do the same with a team that I normally face because they can easily pick up routines that I might fall in.

What do you think will throw a batter off his game more effectively, changing the speed of a pitch or changing the location?

Adair, Robert Kemp. The Physics of Baseball. New York: Harper & Row, 1990. Print.