How Hard Should You Kick A Soccer Ball?

Your touch of a soccer ball can range from as light as a zephyr to a heavy as a Category 4 hurricane. Professionals such as Brazil's Roberto Carlos can smash the ball at 70 mph, according to physicists fascinated with how the hardest-hit balls dip and swerve along the way to the goal. When the ball arrives at your feet, you need to emulate Carlos for a moment. Look at your target, calculate distance and angle and boot the ball accordingly.

Technique

How hard you kick the ball depends on your objective, says Wes Harvey, former coach of the Morgan State University men's team in Baltimore. If you are trying for a well-struck ball, kick the ball hard along its midline with your instep, also called the laces or top of your foot. "If your objective is to make a simple short pass, you have to kick it firmly but not hard," he notes. For a short pass of 5 yards, the ball may need just a tap on the top of the ball, with any part of the foot, including the inside of the foot above the arch.

Situations

Smart teams such as Arsenal and Barcelona redirect the ball from one side of the field to the other with short passes, which require firm, well-struck balls but not overpowering strikes, Harvey notes. If you want instead to switch fields with a single long pass, "you simple must have the strength and power to kick the ball from one side of the field to the other," Harvey notes. For goal kicks, goalkeepers must be able to clear the ball with an exceptionally hard-hit ball over the midfield line into the other team's half. Even amateur goalkeepers take goal kicks with a booming, lightning-fast kick that sends the ball soaring. Corner kicks and free kick also require a powerful strike on the ball.

Penalties

Power is much less important for penalty kicks, where you take a kick against just the goalkeeper from just 12 yards away. "As coaches are fond of saying, location is more important than power, especially on penalties," Harvey notes. So focus more on placement, aiming for one corner of the goal, than power. Hit less hard on volleys as well, as the ball is typically moving with force already as it arrives in the air to your kicking foot.

Field Considerations

On artificial surfaces, the ball travels swiftly on the smooth, level surface, so players need to dial down the power. "If you are playing on grass, you have to kick it harder than if you are playing on field turf or Astroturf," Harvey notes. Sometimes on artificial surfaces, a simple little tap is enough to send the ball rolling. "If you are playing on grass that is not properly mowed, or a field damaged from overuse, you need to kick the ball harder," Harvey notes. "And you might need to put a topspin on it if the pass is supposed to stay on the ground."