SPECIALIST TRANSFORMATION · STRIKING & FINISHING · AGES 10-16+

Can you finish when the ball and your body are both moving?

Read the ball line, organise the preparation steps, and arrive balanced enough to choose the finish.

On this phase

  • Read the line and speed of the ball before rushing to it.
  • Use preparation steps that create a clean striking position.
  • Choose the target before contact without locking the decision too early.
  • Score a 12-finish movement test.

At the end: a 12-finish test that scores the approach, balance, and target decision – not power alone.

1Read the arrival

Why does the finish feel rushed before I even strike?

The finish starts with the ball's line. See whether it is travelling across you, away from you, or into your path. That tells you where to arrive and how many small steps you need before the plant foot.

Do not run at where the ball is now. Move towards where your striking position needs to be.

Reading the line buys time, but the final steps decide whether that time survives ↓

2Prepare the feet

What should the last steps look like?

Use the final steps to organise, not to add panic. Shorten them as you approach, keep the body over the action, and place the support foot where the chosen contact can happen without falling away.

  1. Read the ball line before accelerating.
  2. Adjust with smaller steps as the ball enters striking distance.
  3. Place the support foot beside the line of the ball.
  4. Keep enough balance to pass, place, or drive the finish the situation needs.
[SESSION CLIP] The steps before contact

SUGGESTION – anonymised side view of a player finishing a moving pass; freeze the final three steps, support-foot position, and balanced follow-through.

A balanced arrival still needs a clear target decision ↓

3Choose the finish

When do I pick the target?

Look early enough to rank the options, then return your attention to the ball. The useful choice might be a placed finish, an earlier contact, or one more touch. More power cannot repair a poor approach or a target chosen too late.

Before the pass reaches the final metres, call near, far, or set. Near and far name the target. Set means the ball or body position needs one more touch before the strike.

The goal is not to force the first call. The goal is to arrive balanced enough to keep or change the decision when the ball line changes.

Now count whether the whole sequence survives different approaches ↓

4Try it today

Can I arrive balanced for 12 finishes?

  1. Take four finishes after a straight moving pass, four after a diagonal pass, and four after a short change of direction.
  2. Call near, far, or set before the final preparation steps.
  3. Score one point only when the approach stays controlled, the support foot arrives beside the ball line, and the finish travels towards the called target.
  4. Use safe space, retrieve each ball calmly, and stop if technique becomes uncontrolled.

Self-check: Score each group out of four. Was the miss caused by the ball-line read, the final steps, balance, or the target call? Repeat two finishes with only that detail in focus.

Finishing after movement is an arrival problem before it is a striking problem. Read earlier, organise the feet, and give the target decision a balanced body to work with.

Anonymous youth attacker arriving onto a moving diagonal pass and preparing a balanced finish, goalkeeper represented only by an empty...

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