Secrets to Soccer Training: How To Improve Your Dribbling Skills
Dribbling is like a racehorse waiting at the gate to be released. When the gate opens or when there is an opening in the defense, you are off to the races.
There are many things that a soccer player needs to do right, in order to fully feel comfortable dribbling a soccer ball. There are many secrets to soccer training that will improve your dribbling skills, including speed, close control, and flexibility.
The following drills and tips are some of proven exercises that will help you improve your dribbling skills:
1. Control the ball with random obstacles
A dribble is only great when a player can dodge any combination of opponents fast and seamlessly. You can never predict the formation of your opponents when you are dribbling. This reason makes it essential to practice dribbling the ball across randomly placed obstacles.
A player can train by placing many cones in a circular formation, but at random locations and then dribbling the ball from one corner to the other, then again from that corner to another. Speed up the drill each time you are comfortable with the speed until you reach the fastest dribbling speed possible.
This drill will help a player develop to the extent that he is able to navigate through any situation during the game.
2. Navigating through a wall of opponents
Placing six cones in a zigzag, 6 yards apart, run to each cone while touching the ball as much as possible with the outside of the foot. This helps you navigate through a crowded area.
Next, take bigger touches from outside the foot for speed dribbling and move the ball from cone to cone. Run around to receive the ball and pass it. This improves the dribble when there is an empty area.
It is important to practice how to finish and shoot the ball. Always add a routine that lets you finish the drill by executing a solid shot. It doesn’t matter if you learn how to improve your soccer dribbling skills if you can’t execute a good shot after evading your opponents.
3. Learn the fancy moves that everyone told you were useless
The foundation for a great dribble comes from being able to control the ball with the insides, outsides, and bottoms of your feet. One of the biggest secrets to soccer training is to practice fancy routines that get you to handle the ball alone.
Get in front of a wall to deflect the ball with your feet. While doing this, try to trap the ball with your feet, chest and head. Learning to handle the ball with your feet will give you a great amount of control. Practice dribbling with body faints and basic cuts and also with a few moves like stepovers, elasticos, 360 spins so as to get comfortable with handling the ball on your own. These will not only be impressive, but will help you gain immense skill in controlling the ball.
4. Work ten times harder than anyone else
Just like anything in life, getting great at dribbling doesn’t come easy. If you want to be a great dribbler, you need to practice like a great dribbler would. Working harder than anyone else will get you to being great, faster.
Learn more drills, research, study, and practice hard. If you are feeling insecure about not being any good, remember that anyone who is currently great started at the level of a novice, became an amateur and then became a pro. Everyone starts at the bottom and you are no different.
5. Get out of the comfort zone
Once you are comfortable with the drills introduced in this article, always look for something harder. Put your limits to the test as that is what will bring forth rapid growth. The moment you let yourself think that you are good enough at something (even something in your life) you will stop growing. The reality is, you are never good enough and there is always something to improve.
Increase the speed of executing your drills constantly. The faster you do them the more dangerous you become to the opponents. Always be in the look out by analyzing professionals who make it look easy. Analyze their skills and see if you can emulate something similar. Study more and pick out methods on how to improve your soccer dribbling skills.
Secrets to Soccer Training: How to Improve Your Dribbling Skills
written by: chloeduane