Essential Skills
During our 3 yearly iconic skills camps, we offer another type of class–Specialty Skills Class, designed to contrast the 4 Essential Classes we offer daily throughout the School year. Learn more about all 35 Specialty Skills Classes we offer.
Shooting Mechanics
Shooting Mechanics specializes in shooting anatomy. We’ll deconstruct and review every aspect of shooting in detail: visualization, approach, plant foot positioning, setting the frame, angle of release, turning radius, rotary momentum, follow-through, and critical velocity.
Next, think mechanics, mechanics, mechanics–the same mechanical principles that govern the movements of all athletes. The same mechanics that NASA used to land a spacecraft on the moon timed to within a fraction of second!
Shooting Mechanics Video Guide
The class is conducted with shoes off so that our instructors can literally manipulate the metatarsals. In fact, much of the class doesn’t even involve the use of a soccer ball but instead focuses on pinpoint form. Every kid wants to score, give ’em a shot!
This class is for
Additional Shooting Mechanics Videos
Passing Mechanics
This staple of a class takes a sports science approach to the universal mechanical principles that govern all movement and meticulously deconstructs every aspect of the stroke path of a pass, including: the approach, plant foot position, point of contact, angle of release, vertical alignment and the follow-through! Don’t pass it up!
Trapping & Receiving
One of our most crucial classes, Trapping & Receiving is the most underrated skill of all of them. That all elusive first touch is really evidence, judge and jury of how fast the synapses of sensory integration are really firing in our soccer brains!
Dribbling is an Attitude
This class is just what is needed to help athletes who are not as assertive as they could be. It’s a class for any skill level focused on showing players how to take responsibility for attacking and penetrating versus a mentality of passing the ball off. We walk the player through the mental process of premeditating the decision to dribble before receiving the ball, and subsequently pouncing with conviction and speed!
See if your child doesn’t play with more confidence after this! When they practice over and over the motion of physically dominating an opponent and pushing past them, a funny thing happens – they experience a sense of empowerment and self attainment that only comes with being good at something!
Juggling for your Record
The art of juggling is endlessly creative. But for some, simply counting is the fun part and the science of juggling is what attracts them.
We thought we’d join in too, and help such players build on that sense of attainment they experience with this activity, by empowering them with clever tips and ideas about juggling technique that they may have overlooked!
The Mechanics of Juggling
Let’s just state, that if your beginner player can only do 2-3 juggles, or if your somewhat elite player cannot even do 10 juggles, then you are already aware that the repetition involved in juggling is no easy feat.
There are universal mechanics principles involved. For starters, the ball is falling at 9.8 m/s squared. The squared part is what makes it tough, and basically means gravity is an acceleration formula. Therefore, to master this skill, you have to alter the weight that you apply to the technique based on how long it’s been in the air. For that reason, juggling is special because it’s the one skill that also teaches touch (or weight), not to mention two-footedness.
As a player keeps putting in the time to juggle, something amazing happens. The synapses in the brain begins the fire faster and the ball begins to look larger and as if it’s moving slower. So, juggling is a sort of occupational therapy sensory integration disorder. The better a player can juggle, the better their skills become, because the brain slows down the ball for the athlete smoothing out the execution of
many other crucial soccer skills. For this reason, many coaches at tryouts use the juggling record as the benchmark as a way of knowing what level a player may be at.
it’s not everyday you beat your juggling record, but through this class we have set aside a time for guided assistance. Let’s go for it together, no matter what the number may be!
This class is for
- Those who enjoy quantification
- For those know the sheer joy of being able to say they beat their personal best
- For players who, the minute they arrive at the Avila facility, rush to come find us to report their latest number.