How to coach perfect passing technique

There has been a bit of a debate going on between some of our readers over how to coach the simple soccer passing technique. So these are our soccer coaching tips.

Key soccer coaching tip: Passing accurately and quickly requires practice.

There are lots of ways to pass the ball – with the outside of the foot, in the air, driven along the ground, even backwards using the heel – but the easiest and most accurate, whether straight to a teammate or into space for them to run onto, is the sidefoot pass.

Tips on side-foot soccer passing technique

• Use the inside of the foot - that’s the area from the base of the big toe to the central area of the heel, under the ankle bone.

• Kick foot at right angles to the ball.

• Belly button should be facing the player receiving the pass.

• Non-kicking foot alongside the ball.

• Knee and ankle joints held firm.

• Body over the ball.

• Head steady, eyes on the ball.

• Use the arms to keep balanced.

• Hit through the ball’s horizontal mid-line - that way it will keep low.

• Kicking foot follows through towards the target.

But getting the technique right isn’t the end of the story - there are two other skills players should work on perfecting: timing and weight.