The art of juggling a soccer ball is more like an exercise, and it doesn’t just increase your skills with the ball but also helps you impress your audience. Soccer players use juggling in training session and pre-match to warm up. We will discuss some basic steps to guide you while juggling. Before going into details, there is something called “the three P’s” (Patience, Practice, and Perseverance)
Patience: A professional player didn’t become so good at soccer overnight. A player is good because he is patience and does constant practice.
Practice: The famous saying “practice makes perfect” is the best thing you need when it comes to practicing how to juggle a soccer ball because to can’t figure it all out in just a day. You need lots of practice to become as good as a professional. Some professional still learn to juggle before any match. The more you practice, the better you get.
Perseverance: Do things out of your comfort zone. Come up with new ideas in juggling. Juggling keeps you in control of the ball. Continuous juggling gives you better skill and helps maintain the ball within your foot range.
Steps to Juggling a Soccer Ball:
Hold the ball right in your front at chest level:
Drop the ball in such that it bounces. Kick the ball with your preferred foot. Now you don’t kick with full power but kick it slightly upwards such that it gets to your waist level before it returns to your foot.
Bend Your Knee Slightly:
Bending your knee wIll giving you better control over the ball. You don’t have to lock your ankle or knee just kick with your foot lace. Keep it flat and firmly planted on the ground. It is necessary to be balanced while juggling a ball if you are not balanced you will end up missing your steps over and over again. The best way to be balanced is keeping your knee bent and your eyes on the ball.
Keep juggling until you don’t miss it:
Don’t try to lean forward or backward because this could throw you off balance. Try raising the ball between your waist and thigh because if it is too high, you can lose your balance. You may not figure out the technique in a day or even in a week but while you practice you will get better at it.
Increase the number of Bounces:
Don’t get satisfied with what you can do now. If you can juggle the ball several times, you would become very perfect. Increase the number of times you juggle, the amount of the ball bounce on your foot. For a beginner it’s better to be slow, don’t increase your speed just yet, don’t be hasty you might lose control of the ball.
Learning to use double foot to juggle:
Now you want to find out how to use your both feet to juggle a ball, and you have no idea what to do. It is simple, as long as you know how to use one foot to juggle; including the second foot wouldn’t be that difficult. Just keep kicking the ball in a backspin method. Ensure your kick is light and you’re in total control of the ball. As you kick with your foot, kick in such a way that the ball moves to your other foot the same way your dominant foot kicks. Don’t kick too hard. You can kick with both feet once and catch the ball. Do this continuously until you are good at it. Then try kicking twice and grab the ball and thrice, four times, five times, etc. You can master this step with continuous practice until you’re good at it.
Juggle without bouncing:
It is an easy method as long as you’re willing to learn it. Place the ball right in front of your dominant kicking foot. Put your foot on top of the ball and roll it backward on your dominant foot such that it creates a backspin. Quickly put your toe underneath the ball and kick it immediately upward as if you want to catch it with your hands.
Use Your Alternate Foot:
You can do this as the ball return to your foot. Using the other foot is the same as in the previous session discussed above. When the ball drops, don’t pick it up just do the backspin method over and over again until you become perfect. Don’t throw your leg too high because you might lose control of the ball. The gravity pushing the ball back would be too much for your foot to handle all at once.
Quick Tips to Juggling a Soccer Ball
- Start by carrying the ball in your hand and dropping it on your dominant foot then kick it back to your hands. Then you can try kicking it twice with your dominant foot and catch it.
- Remember your dominant foot needs to be firm enough to kick in a light manner just slightly above your waist.
- Make a target number by kicking at least five times upward before catching it. Once you are good at that, then you can go ten times before catching.
Conclusion:
When you get good at it, try attempting things like juggling with the back of your foot or placing the ball on your neck directly from your foot. Practice this steps on your other foot too. Remember the more you practice, the more you get perfect so don’t just stop with what you know, go extra miles to try new techniques.
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