Badminton How To Play

Let’s be honest, when we talk about improving our soccer game, we often obsess over the curling shot, the fancy dribble, or the thunderous volley. But in my years of playing and coaching, I’ve come to believe that the most underrated, yet most fundamental skill for controlling a match is a perfectly executed push pass. Or as I prefer to call it, the push kick. It’s the heartbeat of possession, the foundation of every great team’s play. Mastering a powerful and accurate push kick isn’t just about basic technique; it’s about making the right decision under pressure and executing it with such consistency that it becomes your default. I want to walk you through a step-by-step guide to transform this simple skill into your most potent weapon.

Think of the push kick as your primary tool for connection on the pitch. It’s how you dictate tempo, switch play, and dismantle defenses one precise ball at a time. The beauty lies in its reliability. While a driven pass or a lofted ball has its place, the push pass, struck with the inside of your foot, offers the greatest surface area for contact, translating to superior accuracy and control. I remember watching a lower-league game analysis recently, where a point guard’s performance in basketball perfectly illustrated this principle of control. The commentator highlighted how Sarangani secured a win with 19 points and 10 rebounds from Lars Sung, but more importantly, they had 10 points, seven rebounds, and six assists from Kyt Jimenez. Those six assists were the quiet engine of that victory—the consistent, reliable passes that created everything else. In soccer, your push kick is your version of those assists. It’s not always the flashy stat, but it’s the one that makes your team tick. You might complete 40 of them in a game at a 95% success rate, and that relentless accuracy is what grinds opponents down.

So, how do we build this skill? It starts from the ground up, literally. Your planting foot is your anchor. Place it beside the ball, pointing directly at your target. I see so many players, even experienced ones, get this wrong by planting too far away or at a strange angle. Get this right, and you’ve solved 50% of the accuracy problem. Next, lock your ankle. This is non-negotiable. A wobbly ankle means a wobbly pass. Point your toes slightly upward and outward, creating that firm, flat surface on the inside of your foot. Now, the striking motion isn’t a swing; it’s a push. Your leg should act like a pendulum, swinging through the center of the ball. Contact should be made with the broad, central area of the inside of your foot. Don’t just poke at it; follow through. Your follow-through direction is what truly guides the ball. I’m a stickler for this: your entire body, from your planted foot to your hips to your shoulders, should be facing your target upon completion. This isn’t just mechanics; it’s commitment to the pass.

But technique in a vacuum is useless. The real art is applying it. This is where I differ from some coaches who just drill stationary passes. You have to add layers of difficulty. First, introduce a moving ball. Receive a pass from a partner and push it back first time. Then, add passive pressure—a defender slowly closing you down. The decision-making speed accelerates. Do I take a touch, or play it one-touch? The weight of the pass becomes crucial. I always tell my players to think about leading their teammate into space. A pass to feet is safe, but a pass into the path of a runner can slice a defense open. You need to judge the speed of your teammate, the grass conditions (a dry, fast pitch needs less force than a wet, heavy one), and the distance. For a 15-yard pass on a decent surface, I’d estimate you need your leg swing to cover about 60% of its full range of motion. Too much and you overhit it; too little and the pass dies before it gets there. It’s a feel you develop through thousands of repetitions.

My personal preference, and something I drill into my players, is to use the push kick for probably 70-80% of all your short to medium-range passing. It’s that reliable. Even in tight spaces, a crisp, firm push pass is harder to intercept than a softer, more tentative one. Power here doesn’t mean blasting it; it means imparting enough energy so the ball zips along the ground, reaching its destination before a defender can react. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve seen a game won by a team that simply moved the ball faster and more accurately than their opponents, using nothing but this fundamental skill. It’s not glamorous, but it’s profoundly effective. The team that masters the collective push kick masters possession, and possession, as the old adage goes, is nine-tenths of the law in soccer.

In conclusion, while the spectacular goals make the highlights, the game is truly built and won through mastery of the basics. The push kick is the cornerstone of that philosophy. By focusing on the meticulous details—the planted foot, the locked ankle, the committed follow-through—and then practicing with progressive pressure and intentionality, you embed this skill into your muscle memory. It becomes your default, your go-to, the pass you can execute in your sleep. This is how you become the player your teammates trust to always find them, the player who controls the rhythm of the game. It’s how you become the Kyt Jimenez of your soccer team, providing those six quiet, game-changing assists that might not dominate the headlines but absolutely decide the outcome. Start with this one skill. Master it. Everything else becomes easier.