Secrets of the Instep Drive

Accuracy
Most players assume that good placement depends solely on striking a precise part of the ball. In practice, it's more important to drive your kicking foot in the direction of your target. To ensure that your ankle is moving straight through the ball without lateral or vertical deviation, you ought to examine the knee of your kicking foot. Concentrate on its height relative to the floor and make sure it's moving directly towards your target.

If you want to produce a low, hard shot, for example, you would follow through by moving your entire body forward. This way you ensure that your ankle isn't rising or deviating while driving it through the ball. On harder kicks, you may end up hopping forward and landing on your kicking foot.

Watch Video (AVI 1,892 Kb)

Power
To generate more power, you shouldn't try to swing harder. You'll do nothing but lose control or risk injury. Power comes from quickness of the execution.

The leg muscles have an elastic quality. Think about it - you'll be able to jump much higher, if you squat and leap rather than if you leap up starting from a squatting position. To take advantage of that, when kicking the ball, you need to minimize the period of time when your kicking leg is changing direction (from retrieval to propulsion). If the muscles on your kicking leg contract and come to a complete stop (remaining like this for too long) before extending, you're losing energy.

What can you do to diminish the pause between retracting and extending your kicking leg? In terms of technique, you need to combine the retraction (concentric contraction) and extension (eccentric contraction) into one fluid motion. You can practice that through repetition or without a ball through plyometric exercises.