How to Practice Shooting by Yourself at Home

Practicing your shooting regularly is crucial to developing the right technique so you can make the most of your goal scoring opportunities.

And this isn’t just for strikers. You can even argue that it’s even more important for midfielders and defenders to practice their shooting since they might only get one opportunity in a game so they want to be sure to take advantage.

Forwards, being closer to the goal all game, have chances to score many different ways, including tap ins, goalmouth scrambles and other situations.

But the bottom line is that all players need to learn good shooting form.

Individual Shooting Drills Without a Goal or Goalie

If you don’t have access to a teammate or goal to shoot at, don’t worry. There are still ways you can work on your shooting.

These will naturally be simpler drills, but it’s not the setting that matters as much as the repetitions you put in.

First, there’s one crucial aspect to practicing your shooting: you want to mimic a game-realistic situation by striking a moving ball.

If you don’t have a goal to shoot at, try to find another appropriate target like a fence or wall with plenty of space in front of it.

Here are a few different shooting exercises that you can try:

• Set up a target on your shooting “goal” (This could be anything from making a mark on a wall to sticking a sock in a fence.) Practice shooting to hit your target, and be sure to alternate left and right feet.

 

• Work on different variations of dribbling before taking your shot. Take a touch with both the inside and outside of your feet.

 

• Use your sole to roll the ball forward, then run up to strike it at your target.

 

• Set up a series of cones (or any small objects if you don’t have any available). Take several touches dribbling in between the cones or obstacles before taking your shot. As you become more comfortable, increase your speed while maintaining close control and good form.

 

• Face away from your “goal.” Take a touch to one side and take a first time shot. (Then alternate direction and foot.)

 

• Work in fitness by setting up a ball and a cone or object a good distance away. Start at the ball, but sprint to the cone, touch it, and sprint back to the ball. Take a touch and shoot. If you have access to more than one ball, you can also set them up around in different spots and sprint to each one before shooting.

 

• Another variation: set up two targets to represent the left and right post. Now you can shoot at both “corners.”

With all of these drills, you want to keep proper shooting form in mind, so work on locking your ankle, keeping your head down, and landing on your shooting foot. Also experiment with more and less power to get a better grasp on the balance between power and control.

Image by gustavotavolieri from Pixabay