Your kick training doesn’t always need to involve a soccer ball. Mental training is a form of practice that not many soccer players use to increase their kicking skills.Be different and stand out from the crowd – visualization really works! You see, soccer is almost all about positive thinking.

When the great Pele says “Soccer is about 90% thinking and 10% running” then you know that information presented in this article is something you should take advantage of.

Visualization

One of the most important training methods when talking about mental soccer training is visualization.

This form of training involves going through your performance by using your mind. To make this way of practice effective, you should not try to skip over any details.

When visualizing a particular kicking skill that you wish to improve, you should start by finding a quiet spot where no one will disturb you.

When you have found that spot you need to relax and run through the movement in your mind.

Example

For example, you could visualize how to bend a ball over your opponent’s wall and into the goal from a position that is pretty hard to score from.

One thing you can do is to write down several situations that you want to improve during your soccer matches.

When you have noted several situations that you wish to improve, you can start to practice on them by using your mind.

Practicing regularly by using the visualization method will improve your confidence, physical practice and it will also maximize your potential for successful kicking.

Useful Tips

Here is a good example that you can use to support the visualization during a “penalty kick”:

• I will put the ball on the kicking spot without being nervous.
• Then, I will look up to see where the goalkeeper is.
• After that I will decide where to place the ball.
• I will inhale and walk back few steps.
• I am going to see the ball flying where I want it.
• I will take a calm breath and start my run.
• I will kick the ball with determination and place it with precision where I have decided to place it.

Summary

As you notice, this way of practicing is pretty cool and the best thing is that you can use it anywhere.

Trust me, I used this a lot when I started getting excited about soccer, and I still practice visualization-based learning to this day!

However, you still need to practice on your kicking skills by using a ball. But, introducing visualization during your training will surely help you increase the skills of your kick.