Switch with a long pass By Tony Carr

Switch with a long pass

By Tony Carr

It is important to be able to pass the ball over long distances because it’s often the quickest way to exploit the space behind a defence, or the fastest method of switching the point of attack.

This is the technique:

• Angled approach.
• Lean back slightly.
  
• Strike with the laces.
• Strike the bottom half of the ball and a vertical line that bisects it.
  
• Firm ankle, extend the kicking foot.
• Sweep through and across the ball.
• Non-kicking foot diagonally behind the ball but not immediately next to it.
• Head steady.

Players stand in two lines at opposite ends and take it in turns to hit lofted passes to the opposite side of the playing area.

To progress, put one player in each half. One player at one end plays a pass along the ground to the centre of the playing area, where the player returns it on his second touch. The player at the end controls it then hits a lofted pass to the far side. The sequence is repeated at the opposite end.

A further development involves the middle player running towards the player at the end to exert some pressure after hitting the return pass. To increase difficulty, the lofted pass can also be hit first time.