This image, courtesy of BruceBrownlee soccer, describes where you were supposed to strike the ball, and what part of the foot you were supposed to strike the ball with so your shot will be powerful and never go over the bar.
Remember, when doing the instep drive:
1. plant foot about a ball's width away from the ball
2. lock ankle
3. quick knee snap
4. strike ball with laces
5. follow through
you've got nerves and veins in your feet, on the instep particulary, that are many times tender from lack of use (in shooting that is). if you practice more shooting, they should toughen up. if that doesn't work, then there's something wrong with your technique or your foot.
if you curl your toes, your shoe is still going to hit the ground. practice the motion in your room a bit, to the point where your toe doesnt touch the ground, or just barely skims it. with practice you will be able to perfect it.
What do you do if you have big feet though, I kick from the side of my foot, although I get the accuracy and spin (owing to large area of contact), I just can't generate the power to kick the ball over 35-40 yards. NE tips?????
to hit a 40 yard ball, you obviously need power. lean back when you hit it, that should give you height. also, when you striker the ball, do a little hop type thing, and land on your shooting/passing foot. put your whole body into the shot, just lean into it. that's the best tips i can really think of now, so try them out.
cfrealmadrid wrote:to hit a 40 yard ball, you obviously need power. lean back when you hit it, that should give you height. also, when you striker the ball, do a little hop type thing, and land on your shooting/passing foot. put your whole body into the shot, just lean into it. that's the best tips i can really think of now, so try them out.
There is great tips in there, but I wouldn't lean back too much because then you're just going to sky the ball over everytime. Everything else you said there was right on though.
Okay, this too has been bothering me for ages. I got into a fight with a thief and bruised my instep. I'd been searching for 1st metatarsal injuries and such like then I thought of searching for 'bruised instep'.
So far, all I can find out is that rest will help if you have injured the kicking part of your foot.
OR
Mustafa Hadji, when he played for Coventry, used a slice of beef steak to protect the area. He was shown this by a physio at the 1998 World Cup.
There might be cheaper and cleaner methods of cushioning the area but that seems to be the only way to go about it. Maybe pain relief gel but if you continue to use the area without protection, it will never get better.
The blood supply to the skin of your feet is poor compared to the rest of your body, so healing will be very slow. For the first week after you injure you instep, use ice and compresion. Use ice after every game with a bruised instep. Then when the area has rested, soak it in warm water and keep it wrapped up to increase blood flow.
Try to do as much of this as possible if you have an injury, if not then you probably need to keep practicing until it doesn't hurt.
I had a similar problem with my toes hitting the ground when I strike. One time I did a hard strike and all the tendons on my instep felt like they just ripped in half.
I had a big problem because I had a size 13 shoe and my foot is longer than the ball.
Basically, since then, I use the base of the big toe on the inside and base of the toes on the top of the foot for different kicking variations. You have to be careful not to unintentionally bend it however.
Anyway, that's how it worked for me
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