How to Play Soccer - Juggling a Soccer Ball - Why Bother?

Learning to juggle a soccer ball takes a lot of time and practice, is very entertaining to watch and appreciate someone with great soccer ball juggling skills, but why do players bother?  If you are learning how to play soccer, shouldn't you focus on skills that you will use in the game?

Well there are two reasons, the first is that it is fun and challenging, and learning a new juggling move, or beating your previous record is something that you can do on your own, in a small space and you only need a ball! When you can finally keep the ball in the air get past the elusive 100 barrier, you will have kept yourself entertained for some time and have great bragging rights over your friends.

The second reason is more soccer related and is that being able to juggle a soccer ball, whilst not used a lot in a soccer game is the best way to improve that all important first touch and give you great confidence when receiving the ball. As a player, you are normally in one of three situation.

1 You do not have the ball and need to get it.

2. You have the ball and need to do something with it.

The transition between 1 and 2 is where learning how to juggle will help give you an advantage over your opponents. That transition is ,of course, when you are receiving the ball.

When you receive the ball, whether from a team mate or opponent, your main decision is

"What do I want to do with the ball next?"

After you decide what to do with the ball next, you need to get the ball into the best position for that, and that is exactly where juggling will help you!

Being able to receive the ball effectively and get the ball under control and where you want it is just one aspect of the game, but is vital to give you the edge over your opposition.

It will take time, and repetition is the key to success, so the sooner you start, the sooner you will have developed a great first touch, and juggling is a vital part of learning how to play soccer.

So, get out there and learn How to juggle a soccer ball.

How to Develop Soccer Juggling Skills

Juggling is one of the most entertaining skills in soccer but ironically, a player rarely gets the chance to juggle, or have the reason to do so, during the match. A basic rule of soccer says that if you want your team to keep possession for as long as possible, and today’s game is based around prolonged possession, the ball must stay on the ground as much as possible. Obviously, while juggling you would have to lift it from the ground, which is why the skill itself isn’t very useful in itself.

That’s the reason why a lot of coaches tend to dismiss it or overlook it in training sessions, thinking that they’d rather train the players to something that has practicable use in a match. And that’s what I believe to be one of the biggest mistakes in coaching, especially in youth coaching: ignoring soccer juggling training.

To back up my claims, I’m going to show you exactly why soccer juggling is so important and also tell you how to juggle properly and a couple of ways to train it individually, with a teammate or in a group.

Soccer Juggling – Why is it Important?

You won’t find yourself juggling in almost any situation on the pitch (unless maybe if you want to humiliate your opponents or the likes), but that doesn’t mean soccer juggling shouldn’t be trained. In fact, it’s one of the skills that are amongst the easiest to train and not only that, but you’ll also see the results very quickly.

Juggling affects an array of peripheral skills and most importantly, it’s fun! Learning and developing as a soccer player with exercises that are hard or boring isn’t the best way to do so, but if you can train and have fun at the same time, that’s a proven golden recipe. Here are some of the skills that are most visibly improved with the help of juggling:

Ball Control – Probably the skill that improves most with juggling is ball control. Doing constant juggling exercises, you’ll learn exactly how strong to tip the ball with your foot to stay within your range, which is basically what ball control is all about.

While juggling, you also get what I like to call “foot confidence” and you’ll soon learn to control the ball without actually having to focus on the trapping itself. This is extremely important since it permits you to control the ball naturally, allowing you to use those extra 2 seconds you would need to focus on receiving the ball, to already look up a player to pass it to.

Agility – While juggling, you will have to make quick adjustments to your body in order to keep the ball in mid air. In the long run, this improves your agility and you’ll be able to gain control of the ball faster in a match, in situations where lightning reflexes are needed. It also helps you with performing faster direction changes, which is great to have when dribbling the ball past an opponent.

Trapping and Receiving – This applies especially for balls coming at you in mid air that you need to gain control of. Soccer juggling allows you to quickly judge how soft or hard you need to hit the ball, in order for it not to get out of your body’s reach. Although having to trap a long ball with your thigh or foot won’t be the same as having to juggle a ball at the same height with your thigh or foot, it’s still a good basis to learn how to perfectly execute these moves.

These are the skills that can be worked out with the help of soccer juggling that have the most visible effect, but obviously, juggling affects a lot of other skills to a smaller extent. So now that you know how important juggling is, let’s see how you can train it and how to juggle correctly.

Soccer Juggling – How to Juggle Correctly

The fun thing about soccer juggling is that there’s no real “right” technique to do it. You can juggle with your instep, outside or inside of foot, back heel, head, hip, thigh or shoulder, as long as you keep the ball in the air, it’s correctly done. However, if you want to focus on improving the skills I mentioned above, it’s a good idea to try to follow a few juggling patterns.

Start off by juggling with your strong foot. When you can 50 to 100 juggles just using your strong foot without too much of a hassle, start the same process, but this time use your weaker foot. Again, once you’re confident you can do 50 to 100 juggles with your weaker foot, start alternating between them.

When you can do 100 or more alternative juggles (meaning that there’s no left-left or right-right juggle combination in that 100 or more), start practicing with your stronger foot’s thigh, then your weaker foot’s thigh and finally, your head.

Once you get a good grip of all these sub-exercises for juggling, simply play with the ball and juggle it with whichever body part comes comfortable. If you’re at this stage in juggling, where you can seemingly juggle forever and not drop the ball, you’ve already improved your other skills a great deal, so those hours of practice will finally pay off. It’s getting here that’s the hard part though...

Soccer Juggling – Drills

I covered how to juggle individually in the section above, so if you’re willing to spend some extra time off the training hours to improve yourself and your soccer juggling skills on your own, you should follow up that routine. As a coach however, you’ll want to have your players working on juggling during the practice sessions as well and it’s best if you combine allowing them to juggle individually, with working in pairs and/or groups.

In order for them to practice their soccer juggling skills in pairs, you should try to hand pick the pairs with height and juggling skill in mind. You’ll want players with close heights to work together and not pit someone that’s a foot taller against a smaller teammate because it might disrupt the exercise. You’ll also want to have players with close juggling skills working together, pairing up less skilled players to allow them to work on their juggling skills without hindering another player’s exercise.

Think of what would happen if a less skilled juggler would be paired up with a highly skilled one…obviously, the highly skilled one would hardly improve his own juggling technique, since he would constantly have to wait for the less skilled teammate to catch up.

The pair exercise is simple. The players will have to pass the ball onto one another, in mid air, being allowed a maximum of three touches of the ball. Encourage them to pass the ball with different parts of the foot, their thighs and head, so they gain ball control with all of these areas.

You can also spice things up by offering small rewards and “punishments”, for example the pair that manages to keep the ball in the air longer, gets some sort of reward, or each time a player drops the ball to the ground, he should do 10-20 push ups, then continue with the exercise.

Also work on your players’ juggling skills in groups larger than a pair. You can accommodate the windmill exercise to juggling training to some extent. In a windmill exercise, 4-6 players sit in a row, with another 4-6 in front of them. The first player from row A passes the ball to the first player from row B, then quickly moves to the back of the row. The receiving player from row B passes the ball back to the next player in row A and moves to the back of his own row, and so forth.

It’s a very dynamic exercise that involves several of your players at the same time, so if you want to accommodate it for juggling, tell your players to pass the ball in mid air instead of on the ground, with a minimum of two touches and a maximum of three. Not only will this improve your players’ juggling skills, but it will also simulate how you would use your juggling skills in a real match scenario, where the ball is coming in mid air from a teammate or an opponent, unlike when you’re juggling individually and the ball comes at you vertically.

How to develop juggling football

Juggling is a skill most entertaining football, but ironically, the player rarely gets the chance to manipulate, or have reason to do so during the game. A basic rule of football says that if you want your team to maintain possession as long as possible, and today's match is based on prolonged possession, the ball must remain on land when possible. Clearly, while juggling might be necessary to raise the soil, which explains why the jurisdiction isNot very useful in itself.

This is why many coaches tend to reject or ignore training sessions, thinking of bringing players prefer something that can be used in a game. And that's what I think is one of the biggest mistakes in training, especially in young coaching football juggling ignoring training.

To protect my rights, I will show you exactly why football is so important and say jugglingyou learn to juggle properly and a couple of ways for individual training with a partner or group.

Juggling Football - Why is it important?

You will not find juggling in almost every situation on the ground (except maybe if you want to humiliate your opponents or to taste), but not manipulate the football should not be constituted. In fact, one of the skills that are among the easiest to train and not only that, but you can also seeresults very quickly.

Juggling affects a wide range of peripheral skills and, above all, it's fun! Learning and development as a football player with the exercises that are difficult or boring is not the best way to do it, but if you can exercise and have fun at the same time is a recipe for gold proved. Some skills that are more visibly improved with the help of Juggling:

Ball Control - Probably the talent that improves the most with juggling ball control.Stop juggling exercises, you will learn exactly how much to tip the ball with his feet to stay within the range, which is essentially what ball control is all.

While juggling, it is also what I like to call "trust walk" and you soon learn to control the ball without having to concentrate on catching it. This is extremely important because it can control the ball, of course, that lets you use those 2 extra seconds you needfocus on receiving the ball to a player already trying to move in.

Agility - While juggling, you have to make quick adjustments for your body to keep the ball in the air. In the long term, improves flexibility and you will be able to take control of the ball quickly in a game, in situations where you need lightning reflexes. It also helps you to make direction changes, which is great when they dribble the ball past an opponent.

Captureand receive - this is particularly true for the balls coming at you in the air that you must take control. Juggling Soccer allows you to quickly judge how soft or hard, you must hit the ball so it does not reach for your body. Despite having to intercept a through ball with the leg or foot will not be the same as having to juggle a ball at the same height with the leg or foot, is always a good basis for learning to perform perfectly to these movements.

Theseare skills that can be developed with the help of juggling football were the most visible effects, but, of course, juggling affects many other skills, to a lesser extent. So now you know what juggling is important, we'll see how you can train and how to juggle properly.

Soccer Juggling - How to successfully juggle

The funny thing is that juggling football is not true "right" technique to do. You can manipulate yourinstep, outside or inside of the foot, the back of the heel, head, hip, thigh or shoulder, until he holds the ball in the air, it is done correctly. However, if you want to focus on improving the skills I mentioned, is a good idea to try to follow some 'juggling patterns.

Start by juggling with his feet high. When manipulating 50-100 just using his foot solid, without too many problems, start the process itself, but this time use the weaker foot. Again, once youconfidence can do 50-100 juggles with the weaker foot, start alternating between them.

When you can do 100 or more alternatives juggling (which means there is no left or right-left-right combination of juggling of 100 or more), start practicing with the leg up, then lower the leg and foot Finally, the head.

Once a good grip of all these sub-juggling exercises, simply playing with the ball and play with any part of the body is comfortable. If you are in this phase of juggling where you can seemingly manipulate and never drop the ball, you've improved your skills, good hand, if those hours of practice finally paid off. This is where the hard part, but ...

Soccer Juggling - Trapani

I covered how to handle themselves in the previous section, so if you're willing to spend some extra time off, hours of training to improve yourself and your> Soccer Juggling on your own, you should follow this procedure. As a coach, however, you want to work on juggling players during practice sessions as well and it's better if you share that allows them to juggle individual with work in pairs and / or groups.

To practice their juggling skills in football and two, you should try to sort the pairs with the height and the ability to maneuver in mind. You want players with heights of aboutwork together and not someone who is in heaven over one foot against a smaller airline, because they might interfere with the exercise. You will also need to have players with skill juggling closely, is to combine less-skilled players to enable them to work their juggling skills, without hindering the performance of another player.

Consider what would happen if a less skilled juggler would be coupled with a highly qualified ... obviously a highly skilled workforce hardly improve itsjuggling technique, because you must always wait for the less skilled teammate to recover.

The exercise is simple couple. Players must pass the ball to the other, in the air, to be allowed a maximum of three touches of the ball. Encourage them to pass the ball with different parts of the feet, legs and head, so as to gain control of the ball with all these areas.

You can also make things with incentives to small and "punishments" ascouple that manages to keep the ball in the air longer, get a reward, or every time a player drops the ball on the ground, he must do 10-20 push ups, then continue with the exercise.

Also working on the skills of juggling your players in groups over the couple. Can house a year mill juggle some degree of training. In a windmill exercise, 4-6 players sit in a row, with another 4-6 in front of them. The first player in line passes the ball to firstplayer in line B, then moves quickly to the row. The player comes to the line B passes the ball to the next player in line and enters the rear of his line, and so on.

This is a very dynamic exercise involving many of your players at the same time, so if you want to accommodate for juggling, tell your players to pass the ball in the air, rather than on the ground with a minimum of two keys and a maximum of three. This will not only improve yourplayers juggling, but it will also simulate how to use your skills in juggling a real life scenario of the game, in which the ball comes into the air with a partner or an opponent, as opposed to when we individually and juggling the ball reaches you vertical.

Juggling a soccer ball - How to improve your skills

In this article we will look at what you can do to improve your juggling skills in soccer.

Patience - It 'important to have patience, while the practice on your juggling skills. We will not be expected to juggle a couple of weeks. This is something that takes time and effort you put in more, rather than go back. What I'm trying to say is that you need to see every day as an opportunity to increase your ability to juggle.

Practice often, IWe recommend practicing juggling at least 30 minutes a day. After a few weeks, or if you notice that you juggle responsibilities have increased at various levels.

Use a small ball - This is ideal for your overall soccer skills, not only for juggling. I can admit that juggling a ball is not as easy as normal. However, I can assure you that, having to deal with a small ball for 20 minutes, or you can try to change regularly. What isnote is that the ball usually feels uncomfortable and suddenly too big for your feet. It will also be easier to keep the ball in the air for longer.

Continue to focus on the ball - while juggling not lose focus on the ball. Try to shut down all around you and just concentrate on keeping the ball in the air. This is not so easy to do if you're a new football, but after a while 'will become natural.

Attempts to break your record - Any time youJuggling practice your skills you should try the. It's never just because you managed to keep the ball in the air for about 5 minutes. Instead of encouraging to increase the time of 6 minutes and so on. My point is that one must always try to improve your juggling skills.

Relax - One of the most important things in juggling is to keep your body relaxed. The calmer you are the best at juggling.