FineSoccer Kids 15

Welcome to the FineSoccer Kids Newsletter. Today's newsletter will deal with passing.

In case you haven't seen it yet, there is a new feature on FineSoccer.com called the Full Season Training Program. It describes every training session over the course of an entire season for a top-level college team. To see more on this program, please go to www.finesoccer.com/full_season.htm

The four things to look at when deciding whether a pass is a good one or a bad one are:

· Accuracy
· Pace
· Timing
· Disguise

When all four of these factors are good, it means you have a good pass

Accuracy simply means does the pass go where you want it to and also have you chosen the right place to play the ball. Instead of just playing the ball in a general direction, if you play an accurate pass, it means you chose a specific target and hit the target that you were aiming for. One of my pet peeves is seeing balls played to the correct person but to the wrong foot, which forces a player to turn in the wrong direction. An accurate pass is to the correct person and to the correct foot.

Pace mean hitting the ball at the right speed. Too often, a ball is played accurately but is hit too soft. This means that while it was an accurate pass and would have put the receiver in a good position to do something, because it was hit too softly, the defense has the time to shift and shut down the opportunity. A poorly paced ball might also be one that is hit too hard which results in the player receiving the ball not being able to handle the ball. To be honest with you, many more passes are hit too softly than too hard in a game of soccer

Timing means playing the ball so that it arrives WHEN you want the ball to arrive there. An example might be an accurate ball hit with the proper pace BUT it's played to a person who is surrounded by three opponents. While the pace and accuracy might have been good, the decision to play the ball to a player with three players on her was a poor one so the timing of the pass was poor.

Disguise means not showing where you will be passing the ball ahead of time. The reason for this is that if you have the ball and you see a player in a better position than you and you stare at this player before passing the ball to her, this will give the defense time to get over and take away the pass. By hiding where you intend to pass the ball, it makes it much harder on a defense to know where to go. Disguising a pass can mean anything from using the outside of the foot to a back heal to simply not staring at the intended target before you pass the ball.

If you take all four of these factors into consideration when passing, you will become a much better soccer player

Any comments, questions or suggestions should be sent to kidscomments@finesoccer.com.

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Have a great day!

Lawrence