Soccer Specialist

I had an Indoor game last night and we were playing the top ranked team in our league. It was the last game of the season and they were undefeated leading up to our game. They were a lot younger than our team and all around they had better players. We played very hard and led most of the game, which shocked them a little bit. We could tell they were getting very frustrated and we continued to attack. It was a close game and we were up 3-2 with 2 minutes to play.

In our league when a team commits 6 fouls the other team gets a penalty shot, the shooting player can dribble and try and beat the goalie one-on-one. All of the other players have to be behind half field, but once the ball is touched they can rush down the field. So with 2 minutes to go, they commit their 6th foul. I was selected to take the kick by my teammates, I usually take them when I am in because I had not missed up until last night’s game.

I have the same routine every time, I touch the ball to the right to get the goalie leaning that way and then I rip a shot to the left. The goalie is always off balance and the left side of the goal is open. Last night I set the ball, the ref blew the whistle, I touched the ball to the right, the goalie did exactly what I wanted him to, I ripped my shot and watched it bounce off the wall right next to the goal. I tried to recover and get the ball back, but their team had recovered and stopped any attack we had. To make matters worse it proved to be a turning point in the game as the momentum turned in their favor. They scored 2 quick goals to go up 4-3 and we lost the game by a point. I could not apologize to my team enough after the game, and I am still frustrated about my shot.

It was one of those moments where I wish I could try the shot again. I have hit a ton of those penalty shots, and I don’t know how I was so far off. I will use it as a learning experience and make the rest of them from now on.

What do you do to prepare for your penalty shots? I feel it is important to have consistency and do the same thing every time, I would be interested to hear the different things people do to prepare for a penalty shot. Leave a comment and share what works for you and how we can all improve on penalty shots.

Here is a video that will teach the proper technique to shooting the ball.