Outstanding balance is your ace in the hole for situations central to soccer, including battling for a 50-50 ball, shooting, passing, faking out your opponent and blocking balls in goal. Good balance is especially important given the amount of contact in the game, notes Greg Gatz, the University of North Carolina's soccer conditioning coach. Indeed, bumps and knocks such as the shoulder charge -- a legal shoulder-to-shoulder challenge -- make keeping your balance an essential skill.
Step 1
Dribble with your arms out, whether using the inside of the foot or outside. Extend your arms with a slight bend at the elbow to maintain your balance and to keep your opponent at a distance. When dribbling with the instep or laces, keep your center of gravity low, bending slightly at the knees and waist for best balance, recommends coach Debra LaPrath in "Coaching Girls Soccer Successfully."
Step 2
Hold your arms out also when performing an instep drive, the powerful pass or shot where the ball comes booming off the laces of your shoe, as demonstrated by pros such as U.S. Women's National Team forward Abby Wambach. Keep your head steady as you watch the ball and your shoulders square to the target for a balanced strike.
Step 3
Perform the split step when making a forward dive as goalkeeper to maintain your balance. Approach the ball with one foot in a forward lunge, as the sole of the foot touches the ground. Extend the other leg behind you, flexed so your knee rests on the ground. This approach allows you to maintain balance, flexibility and mobility in the case of a wild bounce of the ball, LaPrath notes.
Step 4
Perform agility exercises to polish your ability to change direction while keeping your balance. Stand on a single leg and perform squats, lifting the opposite leg until your knee is at 90 degrees, and sitting as low as you can before straightening your leg again. Single-leg squats wake up your proprioceptors: sensors in the muscles, joints and inner ear that help you know when you are balanced. Or stand on one leg and throw and catch a medicine ball with a partner. Balance training for the average soccer player who has never tried it can be "like turning on a switch that can elevate performance," Gatz writes.
Tips and Warnings
- Stay balanced at all times if you are standing in goal. Adopt a stance like that of a boxer, weight on the balls of your feet and nose forward of the rest of the body, recommends Simon Smith in "Goalkeeping for Soccer."
- Avoid going for an opponent's feints; keep your weight balanced on both feet and your vision on the opponent's torso rather than the head, shoulders and eyes.
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