Soccer is all about foot skills. Top pros, especially those from Brazil, use wizardry gained from formal training and pickup game improvisation to double, triple and quadruple fake their opponents into confusion while nudging the ball into the clear for a pass or a shot. The same training that makes the foot skills of the greatest players must-see viewing can help players keep possession and score.
Types
Foot skills training focuses on drills that teach the fundamentals of footwork: how to dribble, pass, trap and juggle correctly. Dribbling drills can involve one-on-one exercises where the dribbler tries to accelerate past a defender. You also can set up cones as a slalom course for your players to weave through. Or split players into two small teams and ask them to score by either dribbling all the way into the goal or passing into the net.
Function
Dribbling drills allow players to better maintain control of the ball while running past opponents or racing into open space, writes soccer coach Joseph A. Luxbacher in “Soccer: Steps to Success.” Dribbling drills also teach your team how to maintain possession. This ability is crucial to escaping double-teams, controlling the game tempo and preparing attacks, write James Lennox and fellow coaches in “Soccer Skills & Drills.”
Considerations
Your players can be taught how to control the ball gently with the inside or outside of the foot when dribbling, passing or receiving the ball. Demonstrate how to slightly withdraw your foot as the ball arrives to present a “soft target” so the ball is cushioned by the your shoe rather than ricocheting away for a loss of possession. Have young players work on standing in pairs facing each other and passing the ball, directing the ball to where it can easily be trapped by their partner. Then have the pair pass and trap as they run up and down the field, advise Michael Muckian and Dean Duerst in “The Complete Idiot's Guide to Coaching Youth Soccer.”
Expert Insight
Players can often progress swiftly in their foot skills by juggling the ball, which means bouncing the ball off their foot, knee, thigh or head over and over again. Beginners may only be able to juggle two or three touches; with experience, they’ll be able to juggle 100 or 200 times or more. Players can juggle at practice or even better, during their own time. Juggling helps players learn to keep their heads up and to keep control of the ball with their feet, note Muckian and Duerst. This translates into success on the field, particularly in bringing down flighted balls.
Benefits
Creative dribbling can leave the defense confused and frozen in its tracks. Historically great players such as Ryan Giggs of Wales, Zinedine Zidane of France and Ronaldinho of Brazil have the ability to weave through the opposition “with the ball seemingly glued to their feet,” Luxbacher writes. Each created virtually unstoppable moves to create scoring chances out of nothing, making their foot skills invaluable to their national and club teams.
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