Kicking ability represents the most important soccer-specific skill, since it is used not only in passes, crosses, clearances, and also to score goals.
The ability to kick equally with both the preferred and non-preferred leg leads to an advantage for soccer players, since it increases the number of scoring opportunities. In modern football, this ability is becoming even more important as there is less space and time for players to decide what we do with the ball. In fact, there is positive relationship between player’s salary and ability to use two feet in professional soccer.
However, ball velocity is significantly lower after a kick with the non-preferred leg in comparison to the preferred one.
It’s known that two-footedness can be developed, to some extent, by training. But it would be possible to develop two-footed players in soccer club academys? Why don't we teach our soccer players to use both feet equally well?
It has been "policy" in most or even many elite national archery coaching associations to force archers to follow eye-dominance, which means ignoring "handedness", and history shows that SOME athletes become successful in doing so. But it is a substantial re-wiring of the myelinated pathways, and I myself found the athletes performed better if I followed handedness, and required them to learn to change eye dominance instead (even to the point of using an eye patch to cover the dominant eye for a time). My logic was the distance of the neural pathways comparing the eye-to-brain vs. hand to brain. I was a Level IV Coach trainer for USA Archery for a number of years and had one athlete medal in Beijing in 2008 Paralympics. Certainly you can train "up" the athletes' ability to use the lesser foot, but actually converting dominance may take many years of attention which might better be directed to other performance enhancements that could be developed for better return on investment of effort.
t is possible to develop the players according to the age groups and the physical and skill capabilities of the players, through a strategy that serves the athlete in terms of modern athletic training.
Hi dear Lois
Based on my experience in teaching football at an early age and in academia, I think the process of learning motor skills in these ages is much faster. Therefore, this can be done using modern and different training. But most coaches only do the same repetitive exercises due to their inability and knowledge, and they give up.
I think it is possible by increasing the time dedicated to training both legs motor skills. The point is if this will probably reduce competitiveness at these early ages until players reach their top development... Would take more time to reach the top skills on the two legs instead of focusing on the dominant one?
It is not only possible but totally necessary: that the soccer player have high bilateral motor skills allows their technical executions to be better. This improvement in sports performance leads to a decrease in the incidence of injuries since by optimizing bilateral movement patterns we are avoiding positions or gestures prone to injury.
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