Last week we discussed 2 major mistakes soccer players maybe making when trying to change direction:
- Foot Position
- Shoulder sway
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Today we will continue with the last 3 mistakes that you may need to improve on:
- Planting Stance: This may sound a little vague, but this simply refers to the position of the feet in relation to each other when you plant to change direction. If the stance is too narrow or too wide, you will allow for an energy leak and imbalance when changing direction. Specifically if your feet are too close together, this will often lead to the shoulder sway problem mentioned above. Feet position should be shoulder width apart.
- Weight Distribution: Having the weight on the toes is not a good thing for changing directions! This is because as you go to slow down, you are only engaging the quads and the calves to absorb force to slow your body down before you change direction. By having the weight distributed evenly across the foot, the glutes and hamstrings will also be used to absorb force to slow you down. Now you will have 4 muscle groups absorbing force instead of just two! This will allow for better force absorption, which will allow you to reaccelerate quicker.
- Lack of Strength/Being out of control: As mentioned above, to decelerate properly you must engage both the muscles on the front and the back of the leg. Well, what if these muscles aren’t strong enough to absorb the force they need to?? Simple, you will be out of control and most likely lose your footing or experience one of the energy leaks we already talked about. A stronger muscle will be able to absorb more force, so fortunately this problem is rather simple to fix!
Are you making any of these mistakes?! If you are, realize that you have the potential to be a lot quicker, which could make a huge difference in your on-field performance!
To find out how to improve your agility please CLICK HERE