Following from the success of the first two DVD's I put out a survey to past clients asking for their feedback from their child and themselves for areas they would like a DVD to work on. Surprise, surprise, shooting and scoring goals. However, what surprised me was the reason. It was not to be the goal scorer, but rather so many young players did not believe they could score, or that scoring was all the game was about when it came to being important on a team. Every goal scorer was the hero and many players were feeling less of themselves, or not getting the recognition the goal scorer was getting. As I pondered this reality, I felt the problem was not the actual scoring, as a defender has less chance at the youth level of scoring, than does the forward. The issue was more the lack of confidence to take the shot, or feeling the responsibility that if I get the chance, it is MY chance. Normally, the first thought at the youth level for those less confident in shooting is pass to the known goal scorer. Even coaches shouted out for a player in a shooting position to pass it off to the "super player". I was coaching young players at this time, and the other teams I watched play had the same issues of one or two goal scorers. This made it easier for me to stop the other team from scoring with tactical coaching.

The plan of attack for the DVD was formed. Instead of focusing on scoring goals and focusing on the forward position, I was going to go back to the basics of the ball, the foot and the ability to hit the ball in the same place through eye / foot co-ordination. This would mean a player who practices the techniques could accurately hit a ball the same target spot each time. Once that was done, I would then focus on power without losing the accuracy. This would help all shooters take the shot from a good distance, rather than thinking they needed to get that one last touch, but lose the opportunity.

When I was about 8 years old I remember watching a video about PELE. It showed him sitting down and staring at a ball, talking about understanding the shape of the ball, and then seeing him juggling a grapefruit. It made a profound impact on me back then. I had never thought of the ball that specifically, and it helped me become better at passing and shooting. I wanted to take players back to the basics, knowing that most would not understand the need to study the ball. But I would put it in the DVD as it IS so important. Once you understand the flight and movement of the ball, it becomes easier to hit the ball in the right spot and thus hit the target. This was my initial gut feeling, and the feedback I have gotten shows to follow your instinct. I also wanted to focus on the foot, and I noticed many players were hitting the ball with a softer or weaker part of the foot, or just missing the correct part of the foot needed for higher development. The final part of the strike was the leg swing and body balance. With these details covered I could then go into the drills and understanding of striking a ball, for a pass or a shot, the momentum to create power, swerving, chipping, volleying the ball, and confidence in knowing that practicing these techniques would lead to huge confidence in the player, no matter their field position. The final piece of a players success was mental. Not taught so often is a set plan for a player in preparation for the shot. I noticed so many players rushing the shot, or not having a smooth release to the ball as their approach to shoot was wrong. So the end of the DVD had to be help mentally, not making the instruction about the ball. I love this DVD because the information is so simple to follow, contains more information in it than I imagined I could put into one DVD, and know that ANY player, no matter the age, will improve their shooting and grow in confidence with the ball and hitting targets.

I have two stories where this has been explicitly obvious. Kandice McLaughlin was a young 12 year old tough girl, loads of passion and fight, but raw talent untouched. We spent weeks working on her technique and slowly that ball started flying. "Roo" was a fighter and sometimes resisted the teaching, but ultimately gave in to her doubts as she got away from bad techniques and her current comfort zone. Kandice ended up having the hardest shot I have seen from a youth female player. She progressed from a bronze level team to play for the US National Team at the U16 level, and ended up Captaining the UCSB Womens Div1 soccer team. She took all the free kicks for her teams from distance and to this day I still remember the first time her youthful shot stung my hands.

I also used these techniques on many players like Yura Movsisyan of the MLS, or many college players who also represent the US on the National Teams. However, one up and coming player is Austin Mandel. Austin was a short player with enough energy to fill a team. His shin guards were higher than his knees and his shorts lower than his socks. But he had fire. He created lots of chances and scored many goals, but as he got older his technique and smoothness in shooting was replaced with an huge effort to try to beat the growing keepers. Austin remained on the small size for a player, and his family often worried he would not fulfill his dream of playing Div1 soccer. His goal scoring began to dry up. We got together and started working on these exact techniques from the DVD. His confidence, belief, attitude and ability began to shone again. He not only started scoring, but became the consistent top scorer for his club team. He retired in 2008 from youth soccer and the top scorer for the Nationally ranked #1 team, DMS11. He holds the record for goals scored in one season in High School for California and was recruited to play Division 1 soccer. Austin may only be 5ft 7 inches tall, but Brown University is lucky to have a player who packs a punch and knows how to score, not only through his experience, but through his consistent technical excellence. When Austin goes through a dry spell, or feels he has lost his smoothness, he goes back to the basics of shooting s seen in the DVD. The results are always there as the basics never change.

There are many success stories that evolved into the making of this DVD to help all players understand the art of striking a ball better. I hope that all players can experience the thrill of scoring a great goal, hearing the fans cheer, but most importantly, knowing that the goal came from their decision to take the risk, and they did exactly what they wanted to do, score.