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Our gallery today is from the final day at EduKick Madrid. We were sad to see our players go, but we’re glad they got to come and spend so much time with us. We hope you all had fun!

Oakville, Ontario, Canada– Making the decision to send a child overseas can be tough, but as one mother found out, it could be one of the best decisions that you make.

Fran Stone made the decision to let her 15-year-old son, Jared, travel to England for six months, where he attended EduKick’s half-year international soccer boarding school in Bolton, England.

“Obviously, it was a tough decision, as he was only 15 and I missed him terribly,” said Fran.

However, Fran’s decision gave Jared the opportunity to study, travel, and hone his soccer skills with some of the best coaches available. He left in January to travel to Bolton, where he lived with a host family.

“It was a truly wonderful experience for him,” Fran said. “Jared is very passionate about soccer and went on this experience mostly for the soccer, but I think he also gained some great life experiences along the way.”

Fran also felt secure with the knowledge that Jared was in good hands, not just with his host family, but with EduKick as well.

“All of the people we dealt with through EduKick were very professional and cared greatly about the kids,” she said. “We never had any worries about supervision. The program is very professionally run, and the level of training that Jared received was top-notch. He really enjoyed the training.”

In addition to world-class training, EduKick helped Jared make soccer contacts through the club, and the coaches were helpful at getting the students trials with professional clubs in the area.

“My favorite part would have to be training every day, and getting scouted by Preston North End and Bolton Wanderers, especially since I only just turned 16,” said Jared of his time in England. “As a player, I have grown, tactical and ability-wise.”

Fran agrees that Jared has grown, but she sees more than just his soccer skills improving.

“Jared has always been mature for his age, and I think this experience has just added to that. I have seen him grow during his time away. He is very independent, confident and very appreciative of the opportunity given to him. He has made some wonderful friends that I know he will continue to keep in touch with.

“I have no regrets about sending Jared on this program. It turned out to be such a great experience. He came back just as passionate about the sport and with definite goals in mind for his future. I would definitely recommend the program to anyone considering it. It really is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

Help your child take their game to the next level, and gain newfound confidence and maturity with the language and soccer culture experience of a lifetime.

Sign up for EduKick international soccer camps today at www.edukick.com.

About EduKick International Soccer Boarding Schools
World-class soccer training facilities in England, Spain, Italy, France, Mexico, and Brazil help thousands of young players develop elite soccer skills, foreign language acquisition and cultural awareness. Under the guidance of professional coaching staff, players in EduKick international soccer schools live and train in a safe and nurturing language immersion environment.

EduKick, the language and culture soccer experience of a lifetime!

Contact Information
Joey Bilotta, V.P.
jb@edukick.com
http://www.edukick.com/
http://media.edukick.com/
http://edukicknews.com/
http://www.travelsportcamp.com/
Tel: (905) 469-5661
Toll-Free: 1(866) Edu-Kick (338-5425)

Hey, it’s been a busy month already, and we’re barely 8 days into July!

On June 30, I went to Portugal to visit with the officials from professional 1st Division Portuguese Football Club, Leixoes SC. We’d like to initiate an academic yearlong soccer boarding school in Porto, Portugal, and this is just one step in the process. The gentleman in the picture with me is former Leixoes SC defender, Chiquinho.

I left Portugal on July 3 and headed over to visit the EduKick school in Madrid! I’ve gotten to visit campers, take photos, get some video clips, do some interviews, and meet with EduKick Madrid directors, just to name a few things. Click here to check out some of the pictures of the EduKick Madrid players!

All in all, it’s been a great trip.

Our players at the Bolton Wanderers International Academy are celebrating the end of the year by playing in the arena tournament championship game!

As we entered the final few weeks of the course, playing in the arena tournament, the results and tournament started poor. First, disappointingly, the first game was postponed due to the opponents being unable to raise a team; however, that gave us a 2-0 victory.

The following Friday, the team lined up against a strong and very physical team from the local arena. Focus, commitment, and desire were missing in the team and totally against the run of play and to the disbelief of all the players and staff, the team suffered a 3-0 defeat, leaving them with a mountain to climb to progress in the final game. A victory by 4 clear goals was needed, and with the lack of goals from the lads in the build up to the tournament, it looked like a massive task.

James and the boys put a tremendous amount of effort into the training, fitness, match play and set plays in the build up to the week. Within the team there were mixed beliefs about the game. Could they do it?

The day of the game came. The team as a whole arrived focused and motivated and stepped out on the pitch to give it their all for what could have been the last game of the season if the result wasn’t right. Half-time came, 3-2. It still looked like a big task! However, a great team talk from James, desire and commitment from the lads, something they showed in the tournament earlier in the year in Madrid, and what a result. A 9-3 victory, taking them to the semi-finals against the Arena team. Fantastic!

Semi-final day came, and again some hard work, great preparation, and now with new belief in the team, the lads did us proud with a 6-0 victory and one of the best performances ever of the team.

This all leads to the set up of a great final: tonight, Friday, June 26, 7:00 p.m. KO at Bolton arena against the two-year running champions.

Well done lads, you’ve done us and yourselves proud. Go out tonight, enjoy it and get that result we want and that you know you can achieve to finish this year on a fantastic high.

“You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take.” – Wayne Gretsky

Gretsky may have been a hockey player, but his quote about scoring goals is true in any sport, including soccer. A lot of students in our EduKick soccer camps and boarding schools start out with hesitation to shoot. We teach them to take advantage of every opportunity. If you never shoot, you’ll never score.

Here are a few tips to help you make every shot count:

Soccer shooting tips

• Observe the goalkeeper’s position. Have they left a gap that you can exploit?
• Select the best technique for your shot. A sidefoot shot will have greater accuracy, but an instep (laces) with good follow-through will have greater power.
• Put your non-kicking foot alongside the ball.
• Keep your head down and your eyes on the ball when striking.
• Keep your body over the ball.
• Make contact with the middle to top half of the ball.
• Maintain your composure.

Tips to improve your chance of scoring

• Shoot wide rather than high. There’s a better chance of getting a deflection that will wrong-foot the goalkeeper.
• Shoot low. It’s harder for a keeper to reach shots along the ground because it’s further for them to travel. It’s easy for them to jump up and save, but much harder to crouch down and get it.
• Shoot across the keeper. It’s tougher for them to hold these shots, and means they could divert the ball back into the path of another attacker.

Where are the most shots made?

Ever wondered if there’s actually a “sweet spot” in a soccer goal? A place where you could kick the ball and it would go in almost every time?

Well, there may not be a definitive “sweet spot,” but a recent study did take a look at where scored goals most often went into the net. Here are the results:

Top Left: 8%
Top Center: 4%
Top Right: 5%

Ouch. As you can see, shooting high means you have a pretty low percentage of actually scoring.

Middle Left: 7%
Middle Center: 8%
Middle Right: 6%

While you have a better chance of scoring if you shoot to the middle than up high, the odds still aren’t much in your favor.

Bottom Left: 22%
Bottom Center: 21%
Bottom Right: 19%

Look at these stats: 62 percent of all goals were scored low. This makes sense because it is very difficult for goalkeepers, especially tall ones, to get down to the ground. It’s much easier and more natural for them to jump high.

Also, looking at the statistics, 67 percent of goals were scored in the corners as against 33 percent down the middle. If you combine the two statistics and shoot low into the corner, you should have a much greater success rate in scoring goals.

As with any soccer technique, you need to practice if you want to improve your shooting skills. Fortunately, the techniques used for shooting are similar to those used for passing. So you can build up two vital soccer techniques at the same time.

But most importantly: If you see the goal, shoot!

This one piece of advice is important enough to reiterate: You miss 100 percent of the shots you never make. If you see an opportunity to shoot, take it! The only way these tips can help you is if you implement them, both in practice and in games.

Good luck!