Skills

Skill	What to remember	What it looks like
Kicking	- kick with the inside of your foot - Step into the ball - follow through with your leg, in the direction you want the ball to go
Passing	- pass the ball in front of your team mate - keep your head up, looking for opportunities to pass to players who are free or in good positions
Trapping	- means to stop the ball - put your foot on top of the ball as it comes towards you - trapping the ball allows you to gain control of the ball after a throw in or a pass.
Throw ins	- throw ins occur when the ball goes out of the field. - you must throw with 2 hands - take the ball behind the head - your feet must stay on the ground until the ball has left your hands
Dribbling	- keep the ball close to your feet - kick with both feet - use both the inside and the outside of your foot. - try to dribble around your defender
Goal keeper kick	- It is an advantage for your team if the goal keeper can do a good clearance kick - this is done by holding the ball, taking your leg back and dropping the ball onto the top of your foot as your leg comes through. - this type of kick often goes high and far
Receiving a high ball	Heading - This is a useful skill when the ball is high in the air. - Aim to use the front part of your head Chest - When the ball approaches you at chest height, stick out your chest to cush the ball then gain control with your feet.

Positions

There are various positions and roles necessary to play soccer successfully as a team.

These are:

Strikers/ Attackers

• Strikers are attacking players who aim to get goals.
• They spend most of their time in the attacking half of the field.

Mid fielders

• Mid fielders both defend and attack.
• When the ball is in their team’s attacking half, they go there to help strikers and when the ball is in their defensive half, they go there to help the defenders.  

Defenders

• Defenders spend most of their time in the defensive half.
• Their role is to help the goal keeper in preventing goals from occurring for the other team.

For each group of positions, they are further divided into left wing, right wing and centre players so that every part of the field is covered.

Goal Keeper

• The goal keeper has a big responsibility to prevent the other team from scoring a goal.
• To stop the goals they can use any part of their body.
• It is common for goal keepers to dive to the side to stop the goals.
• They must maintain the stance of the goal keeper picture above to appear threatening and look wider in the goals.

Team Set Up

( for the beginning of the game)

Key: 1= attackers

2= mid fielders

3= defenders

4= goal keeper

During The Game

After the initial kick off to start a match, players move into specific areas of the field in order to play their positions well.

• RED: For the attacking players, they move into the attacking half of the field

• BLUE: The blue players in the diagram below indicate the area in which the mid fielders need to play within.

• YELLOW: Defending players need to move within their defensive half in order to assist the goalie who is in the goal square most of the time.

* It is important for players to remember to move around within their area. For example when the ball is in the attacking half, the defenders should be up near the half way line ready to send any stray balls back into the attackers.

Defending

• Defense is a very important part of a soccer game.
• The midfielders, defenders and goal keeper play the key roles in defending the goal.
• It is important to remember not to foul a player whilst defending them, especially in the goal square as this results in a penalty kick for the other team.

Attacking strategies

• Attacking players rely on the support of the rest of the team in order to get the ball into their attacking half.
• Once it is there, they can use the midfielders to pass to if they get into trouble.
• Covering the wings is important as it is often possible to do a strong kick into a player who is standing in the goal square. Goal can also be scored from the wings/ sides, especially if the goal keeper is to one side and the player picks the gap.
• Offside is a rule for attacking players in particular to be aware of. If they receive a pass whilst in front of the defending players then play stops and the other team gets the ball. This would be a great disadvantage especially if they had managed to kick a goal from the previous pass.

Rules

Offside

When an attacking player receives the ball in front of a defending player it is called offside. The penalty is giving up possession of the ball to the other team.

Out of field

If a team kicks the ball out, the other team will take the ball from the sideline and it must be a throw in

Foul

A foul usually occurs when a defending player goes for the attacking player’s feet or shins or if they trip someone over. The penalty is a free kick to the other team.

* A free kick is taken from the place where the foul occurred. The ball is placed on the ground and all other players must be 5 metres away from the ball.

Penalties

Penalties are given for fouls that occur in the goal square. The penalty is taken from the back of the goal square.

Goal Keeping

The goal keeper can touch the ball with the hands however they must not do this when they are outside of their goal square.

Touching the ball with hands “Hand”

If a player intentionally or unintentionally touches the ball with any part of their arm, a free kick is given to the other team.

Whatever you do whilst playing soccer, just make sure you don’t do this!