Why your shots go over the bar

The short version

Chest over the ballWhen your foot meets it.
Strike the middle with your lacesNot underneath it.
Land on your shooting footIt carries you through the ball.

Over the bar, from one of our test sessions. Half speed.

A game of centimetres

Hit a little under the middle of the ball and it rises. In one study, players aiming high struck about a centimetre below the centre.¹
High targets are harder. In 8,466 kicks, players were less precise aiming high, and less precise the harder they hit.²
The window is small. In one model of a free kick, the ball had to leave the foot within about one degree to clear the wall and dip under the bar.³

Four usual suspects

Leaning backYour weight goes back and the ball goes up.
Striking under the ballThat’s how you chip. Do it by accident and it’s over.⁴
Standing foot behind the ballYour foot reaches and gets under it. Coaches put it beside the ball.⁵
Swinging up, not throughThe leg finishes high instead of towards the goal.

Going over doesn’t tell you which one it was. Slow motion does.

How to keep your shots under the bar

Lock your ankle, point your toes down and strike through the centre. An illustration, not a measurement. Shorts: Mindfront, MakeHuman Community, CC BY 4.0.

Chest over the ballLean into the shot, not away from it.
Laces through the middleToes down, through the centre of the ball.
Land on your shooting footAfter the strike, step onto the foot you shot with.

From our test sessions

From behind at the strike: the shooting foot at the ball, upper body upright — **Over the bar**Tip: land on your shooting foot.

From behind at the strike: the shooting foot at the ball, arms out — **Over the bar**Tip: more through the ball, body over it.

Drill · from the penalty spot

The top-third ladder

Cone beside the ballPlant your standing foot right by it.
10 at each top cornerCall the corner before you shoot.
Count what stays underShots in the top third that don’t go over.

Check it on video

Film from behindSee How to film your shots.
Pause at the strikeIs your chest over the ball? Where does your foot land?
Say where it wentFrom behind, one camera can’t always tell just under from just over the bar.

See your own strike

Send five shots. You get every one slowed down, with one thing to keep and one to work on.

Join the waitlist

Sweetspot is in beta. A person checks every analysis before you get it.

Inoue, Smith & Nunome 2025, a conference study with 7 players.
Hunter et al. 2018.
Bray & Kerwin 2003, a free kick 18.3 m out.
England Football: finishing techniques.
ActiveSG: how to shoot. Coaching practice, not a study.