Fundamentals of Passing

There are many different ways to pass the ball in soccer. Some of them are basic and some more advanced. You can pass with the inside of the foot, the outside, the toe and even the heel (back pass). You can lay the ball out flat, make it curve in or out, chip it, loft it etc.
What we’ll be concerned with here initially are the fundamentals of basic passing, what you would teach to a 7 year old (and up) to build a foundation for more advanced techniques.

The basic coaching points for basic inside of the foot passing , From the Nose to the Toes are:
1. Head down – eye on the ball
2. Plant non-kicking foot along side the ball
3. Pick a spot near the center of the ball, strike ball at, or slightly above, this spot. Properly struck (in this manner) the ball should turn away from the passer and towards the receiver
4. Follow through

Sounds simple right? Well lets break them down one by one and then suggest methods for teaching this technique.

First, head down…you always hear coaches tell the players to play with their head up right? And of course that is right in most situations. The "head up" component of passing precedes the actual execution of the skill.

In other words the player must already have his target picked out before he executes the pass. Why head down? Because your eyes cannot affect the flight of the ball. It is more important that you strike the ball correctly and that is done by eye-foot coordination. In the best case, and with a lot of practice, the head is down for only a split second. As the players get older, peripheral vision comes into play and only the eyes move.

Second.. the plant foot. Important because if you plant your foot behind the ball your kicking foot is coming up as you strike leading to undercutting the ball. Now in advanced passing that is sometimes what you want to do but when we’re teaching the younger ages we just want the ball to travel in a straight line with some "weight" on it.

Third.. picking a spot on the ball. Again if you kick too low you’ll undercut the ball, pick too high and you’ll "top" it. With a lot of practice a child will automatically pick the sweet spot on the ball.

Last.. follow through. A common mistake made at the younger ages is the lack of a follow through…kick through the ball. They tend to jerk back as they strike the ball and consequently do not get a lot of power on the pass.

(Courtesy of George M. Lasher. "A" licensed soccer coach from Long Island, New York)