power while bending

well its never going to be as powerful as your straight on blast, but just make sure you're using the correct form and after you get that down the power will come over time.

 

Can you describe your technique now? I practise bend a lot but have never really been coached on it so here is my advice.

First of all...learn inside and outside bend, this way you can trick goalies, you don't even have to be that accurate.

Okay you are learning inside bend which used to be my favorite. It sounds like you are getting height by doing more of a chip to me for some reason. (since you say it 'floats') This is more about getting topspin but you have to run your foot up the ball. Bringing your knee up as you hit the ball seems to help. Or else, just really exaggerating your follow through in an up and around motion.
I don't know how it feels when you hit it, but I get this feeling I am forcing the ball of it's path sometimes, that is when it goes hard I think. It is a lot easier for me to get this feeling doing outside bend though. When I hit it inside it feels more like that is the natural path of the ball. Maybe this is just because I have been doing inside spin for quite a bit longer?

Basically to get the shot hard you have to accelerate through it. To make sure it doesn't go over you can let it get some air but bring your foot upwards when it is in contact with the ball. (This is hard to explain...if you try it you will probably just top the ball or sky it at first but if you try a few more times you will likely understand what I mean.)

After you get your in swinging spin established to the opposition's goalie. You can run up like it is gonna be an in swinging ball then cut across the ball as you hit it and shoot for the other corner with outside spin. It is awesome to use this as a surprise. You can do it from a free kick or on the run of play because goalies are always predicting. When you get them to choose wrong you can score with a much less accurate and powerful shot.
By shooting with variety you can score more. (at least i think)

If you have kazaa download a bunch of beckham videos. There is one i have found that is really good quality for watching his technique. I don't know what it is called I think it is titled something like 'unknown' on my computer. Basically, you just have to try shooting as hard as you can and then forcing the ball offline.

But really if you describe your technique it will be better. Do you use the laces or inside of the foot for a curving shot?? You can do either I think but it is best if you describe yours so we can try to offer specific advice.

 

It's a hard thing to describe but I'll try to explain how I do it.

One thing that I find is important is the run up. If you watch Beckham for example taking a corner, his run up is almost at a right angle to the goal-line. I hit to the side of the ball and almost run my foot alongside it, like you usually do with any curling shot, but I seem to throw my weight into the ball as you do that. It won't really curl as much as you might be used to at first, but it's just a case of practising and getting used to hitting the balls with different amounts of power.

If none of that helps, I'd suggest watching players who do what you want the ball to do - and just analysing their technique. Obviously they'll probably all hit it differently but just compare people's run-ups, the position of both feet, the angle of their body, their overall posture, their follow through etc. etc.

 

well i am left footed and probably get the most bend on the ball on my team. I have 4 different ways of getting bend on the ball. you could do it the way metropolis explained because i practice that in my backyard and it works well. However, somehow i have also developed a different way of getting bend on a decently hard shot. THIS WILL BE TOUGH TO EXPLAIN. but I own predator manias and when i use this method i feel the pressure right where the islands are on that bump you feel right around where your big toe attaches to your foot right about where that big tendon is. ok here is the hard part to explain. imagine making contact with the ball when your foot is locked directly vertical and perpendicular to the ground. hit the ball as far to the right (if you are right footed) as you can with that area that i previously described where the mania's islands are. i find that its important to follow through almost as though you were manually spinning the ball. if you can get good at this as i am, you could have some success with it. just try it, and if you dont understand it feel free to pm me. I have scored numerous goals with this method because i find that i can be extremely accurate and still get tons of spin on a directly blasted shot.

 

I think the best way to do it is to give the ball a bit of downspin. The way I do this is by moving my planted foot about two steps back form where it normally is, lean back a lot, and swerve your leg when you hit it. I hit the ball in the same exact spot as HiVelocity ( the bump where your big toe connects to your foot). Your foot should strike from slightly underneath the ball and follow upwards and through. By giving it some dip the ball ussually veers dramaticaly.

 

This threads getting a bump because since i swapped boots I've been having real trouble curling it.

After lots of failed attempts at hitting balls with curl (like I used to be able to do) I took my own advice from above and really looked at Beckham's technique. I realised that his standing foot was the key. When I kick a ball my standing foot is quite a distance from the ball. Not like enough to make me stretch but we're talking shoulder width apart. Also I noticed Beckham points his standing foot towards where the balls ends up.

Taking these ideas onto a pitch I hit the first corner with decent curl since I got the boots. It takes a bit of getting used to so I wouldn't really pull it off in the heat of a game in front of goal yet but at least I've found my problem!

 

I also had similar problems, I'm right-footed and I struggled with inside-bent shots from the left flank and with outside-bent shots from the right flank. It seems to be more logical to use such technique, but then I started using outside for the left flank and inside for the left flank (contrary to what is expected).These shots allow much more power, I have no good idea why . I dont think it can trick a goalie somehow because he must see your approach to the ball but these shots are always a way harder to stop. Well the last thing I can suggest you is use the part of your feet that is closer to your toe otherwise you'll get what you don't want to.

 

Also, (these are very good tips) but make sure you aim farther than the far post. Example : You are playing outside left mid you get the ball bend it toward the far post make sure you aim farther it will bend to the post. Good luck!

 

Slightly off topic, but if you want to use the technique for free kicks, then it might be a better option to consider putting more dip than bend on the shot.

A few days ago I was practicing free kicks and I struck the ball differently to normal. I took a slightly straighter run-up, and hit the ball in a similar way to when bending it (with the inside of the foot, ball of the big toe), but struck through it upwards with my leg twisted as far to the left as possible (right foot).

This resulted in the ball having only a little sidespin, and so the ball (which was going 3 or 4 foot over) dipping over the last 10 yards into the top corner. I tried this again and found that the morepace, the sharper the dip, so shots with pace that would have taken them way over with bend found the top corner when hit with the dip technique. You still get a little curve with this, but you dont have top bend it around the wall because you can go over it. Works at varying ranges too.

 

cool i should try that. And slightly off topic also, but have you guys seen how beckham takes his freekick? Its like he bends his left foot(the setting foot) to the left side of the foot. Its kinda hard to explain in words. maybe if i know how to post a videoclip i can show you. Anyways i think its supposed to give you more bend on the ball.