How to Play Soccer – Passing the Ball

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When learning how to play soccer, passing a ball is often the most taught skill by coaches, and for good reason, because passing the ball is the most used skill. Passing a ball really just getting the ball to a team mate who is a better position than you to move the ball further forward or have a shot, and so passing can be done with any part of the body, except the hands and arms unless you are a goalkeeper or taking a throw in, however I will concentrate on using the feet here!

Quality passing of the soccer ball involves correct technique that produces a pass with the correct weight (strength of the pass) and accuracy. A ball can be passed using any of the main surfaces of the foot, which are:

1. The inside of the foot
2. The outside of the foot
3. The instep (laces)
4. The heel
5. The toe
6. The sole of the foot

Also, when passing the ball, the player passing the ball may need to pass the ball over a variety of distances from about 1 foot to over 50 yards, and whilst passing on the ground is preferable as it is easier for the receiving player to control the ball, sometimes a pass in the air is needed to get the ball past defenders, and sometimes the player making the pass may also need to curve or bend the ball past defenders.

As you can probably guess, there are a number of techniques that need to be learnt so that a player passing the ball can choose the most effective pass needed to get the ball to a team mate. Here is a list of passing techniques that can all be used,

1. The Push Pass
2. The Driven Pass
3. The Lofted Pass
4. The Chip Pass
5. The Bent Pass

The Push Pass,

• Approach the ball from a slight angle
• Place the non kicking foot next to the ball
• Contact is made at the horizontal mid point of the ball with the inside of the foot.
• The kicking foot should follow through in the direction that you want the ball to go in.

The Push Pass is the most used pass in soccer.  If you watch any televised soccer game you will notice that the push pass is used considerably more than any other pass because of its accuracy. The push pass used over short distances and generally relies on your team mates offering good supporting positions for the player with the ball.

The Driven Pass

• Approach the ball from a slight angle
• Place the non kicking foot next to the ball
• Contact is made at the horizontal mid point of the ball with the instep of the foot. To do this the toes should be pointing down
• The kicking foot should follow through in the direction that you want the ball to go in.
• The driven pass is a much stronger pass than the push pass and will get the ball moving much faster towards the target.

The Lofted Pass

• Approach the ball from a slight angle
• Place the non kicking foot just slightly behind the ball
• Contact is made just below the horizontal mid point of the ball with the instep of the foot. The kicking foot should follow through in the direction that you want the ball to go in.

The lofted pass is a great way to get a through ball over the heads of the defence to an attacker to run on to the ball

The Chip Pass.

• Approach the ball from a slight angle
• Place the non kicking foot along side and slightly in front of the ball
• Contact is made under the ball in the centre of the ball.
• The kicking action is from the knee and this should impart backspin on the ball.

The chip pass is a great way to get the ball up in the air very quickly and because of the backspin, the ball will stop quickly.

The Bent Pass

• Approach the ball from a slight angle
• Place the non kicking foot along side the ball
• Contact is made using the instep, slightly below the horizontal mid point of the ball and slightly to the side of the ball.

The bent pass is a great way to get the ball to move in the air, past defenders and swerving, making it hard for the goalkeeper to judge the flight of the ball. This pass requires a lot of practice to make sure that you make contact with the ball correctly. To much contact and the ball will not curve. Too little contact, and the ball will slice.

Summary

As you can see, there are a number of passing techniques that can be used, and mastering the techniques of each method is vital in becoming a good soccer player. Equally important is the choice of pass to make, and when to make the pass.

The choice of the passing technique to use really depends on 3 things

1. Where you want the ball to go
2. How you want the ball to get there
3. Your technical ability to execute the pass

In other words, it is no use trying to pass the ball 50 yards and curl it in the air past 3 defenders if you just can’t do that kind of pass.

If you are just learning how to play soccer, then learning these passing skills will take you a long way to becoming a good soccer player, but it takes practice, and lots of it, to perfect these skills, so go and grab a ball and get out there!

Source by Nigel Reed