How to Be a Great Soccer Player

April Croft

Mrs. Mackersie

Comp 1

3 October 2012

How to be a great soccer player

Soccer is one of the oldest and most widely played sports all over the world. There are different types of soccer such as: indoor, outdoor, and competitive. To become a great soccer player, people must be in great shape. They must also be aware of the basics of the sport. Knowing how to listen and practice are key factors as well.

To play soccer, one must be in great shape. Soccer involves tremendous amounts of stop-and-go running. Athletes should work out often, either by going to a gym or just exercising at home. When working out, the main focus is building leg muscle. Athletes need speed, strength, endurance, and quickness. In order to build up speed, they should do the two things that nobody likes: sprinting and jogging. Athletes who are working out to build up their strength in their legs need to do leg presses. To improve quickness, players can set up different layouts on the field and time themselves each time they complete it. By doing so, their quickness should improve a lot. Working out is not the only thing to do to get in shape. Athletes must eat healthy as well. They need to stay on a diet that contains high amounts of carbohydrates so they can have the energy supply they need. Eating junk food minimizes their performances on the field.

In order to play soccer, players need to know the basics to the sport such as shooting, passing, throw-ins, and heading. Shooting is a skill that requires accuracy and power. When shooting, observe the location of the goal keeper and decide whether there is enough room for a goal. Players should always keep their body over the ball and look down while shooting. Passing is one of the most important skills that players need to be great at. There are two types of passes: long and short. Long passes are used more for finding a teammate in space and switching from play to play. Short passes are used for better control over the ball. Throw-ins take place when the opposing team is the last one to touch the ball before it goes out of bounds. When taking throw-ins, the player, with the ball in hand, must have their hands over their head and heels flat on the ground for the throw to be legal. Heading the ball can be quite fearful, but it is a good defensive attack. Players with good heading ability can dominate opponents while in the air.

Soccer requires good listening skills. Athletes need to listen to their coaches at all times. Coaches tell the athletes what formation to get into or what play to run, so in order for that to work, they need to listen. If they do not listen then it is a high possibility that they will not win many games. Soccer is a team effort. Athletes also need to listen to their teammates. Teammates happen