Master the Perfect Instep Soccer Kick With These 7 Essential Technique Drills

2025-11-18 12:00

The rain was coming down in sheets that Tuesday evening, but our coach made us practice anyway. I remember standing there in my soaked cleats, watching the water pool around the cone markers, thinking this was pure madness. Yet there was something about those miserable conditions that burned a particular moment into my memory - our star striker, Marco, attempting an instep drive that sliced through the rain with such perfect form it seemed to defy physics. The ball didn't just fly - it sang through the air, a wet missile finding the top corner of the net despite the goalkeeper's desperate dive. That's when our coach blew the whistle and gathered us around. "What you just witnessed," he said, pointing at Marco, "is why we're here in this weather. That kick wasn't born today - it was built through hundreds of hours drilling the fundamentals." He then introduced what would become our training mantra for the season: to master the perfect instep soccer kick with these 7 essential technique drills.

I'll be honest - those first sessions felt awkward. The instep kick looks simple when you watch professionals do it on television, but breaking it down to its component parts reveals how incredibly complex this motion actually is. Our coach had us start with what he called "the foundation drill" - just placing the ball stationary and practicing our approach angle without even kicking it. We must have taken those three-step approaches thousands of times until the muscle memory became automatic. The second drill focused purely on our plant foot positioning, which I discovered was responsible for about 40% of the kick's accuracy. My natural tendency was to plant too far away from the ball, causing me to lean back and sky my shots. It took two full weeks of dedicated practice before my body finally accepted the proper positioning.

What kept us going during those repetitive sessions was our team's developing mentality, something that reminds me of coach Aris Dimaunahan's recent comments after his team's incredible 15-0 record. He stated that "the mindset of our team was very important to get Game One. We should not look at the results right away, let the results take care of itself." That philosophy perfectly captures what our coach was trying to build in us during those instep kick drills. We weren't supposed to obsess over whether each shot was a goal or not - instead, we needed to trust that perfecting each technical element would naturally lead to better outcomes. This approach transformed how I viewed practice. Rather than getting frustrated when my shots went wide, I started focusing exclusively on whether I'd executed the proper follow-through or maintained the correct body lean.

The third through fifth drills built progressively upon each other - from locking our ankle properly at moment of impact, to maintaining our balance throughout the kicking motion, to the often-overlooked arm positioning that provides counterbalance. I remember specifically struggling with drill four, which required us to hold our follow-through position until the ball reached its target. My impatience always made me drop my kicking foot too early, costing me both power and accuracy. Our coach made me practice this in slow motion, like some soccer tai chi, until the proper timing became instinctive. Meanwhile, Marco - already a master of these fundamentals - would stay after practice specifically to work on the advanced techniques. He'd place targets in all four corners of the goal, methodically practicing curling shots with the inside of his instep and driven shots with the laces. His dedication showed me that even at higher levels, these fundamentals required constant maintenance.

The final two drills integrated everything into game-like situations. Drill six had us receiving a pass before immediately setting up for an instep shot, simulating actual match conditions where we rarely have the luxury of a stationary ball. This was where I really began to appreciate the value of all those repetitive fundamental drills - my body knew what to do even when my mind was processing other variables. The seventh and most challenging drill added defensive pressure, with a teammate lightly contesting our space as we prepared to shoot. This forced us to execute proper technique under mild duress, closer to what we'd face in actual games.

Looking back now, I realize our coach was building more than just our technical ability - he was developing our patience and trust in the process. That rainy Tuesday practice was three months ago, and last weekend I finally experienced my "Marco moment" - receiving a cross at the edge of the penalty box and instinctively unleashing a perfect instep drive that ripped into the upper ninety. The technique felt effortless because my body had been programmed through all those drills. Coach Dimaunahan was absolutely right - when you focus on perfecting the process rather than obsessing over immediate outcomes, the results do indeed take care of themselves. Those 7 essential technique drills didn't just improve my instep kick; they taught me how to practice effectively, how to break down complex skills, and most importantly, how to trust that dedicated work on fundamentals will always translate to better performance when it matters.