Paul Walmsley explains 5 Ways to Improve Your Soccer Skills
I have been asked many times by players of all ages and abilities. “How Can I Improve My Soccer Skills.” Well, the old saying still applies, “Practice Makes Perfect.” The great thing about soccer is that you don’t need any expensive equipment or a coach or teammates to help you get better. All you need is a ball, a wall and a small area to work in. Here are 5 Ways to Improve Your Soccer Skills:
1 TOUCH. Juggle with the ball. Aim for 1000 touches on the ball each day. You learn to juggle in 3 stages, 1-3 juggles, 3-10 juggles, 10+ juggles. To help you get started, you can use your hands and you can let the ball bounce as well, all you are aiming for is lots of touches on the ball. The hardest stage is 3-10 touches, this seems to cause beginners the most frustration, but stick with it. Once you can consistently juggle the ball 10 times, you are off to the races and 10-20 gets easier, the 50, then 100 and beyond.
2. PASS and/or SHOOT against a WALL. Find a wall and pass and shoot against it and control the rebound. This may sound simple and basic, but it is no different to going to the driving range to practice your golf shot or using one of those machines at tennis that serve balls to you. You can work on passing, shooting and controlling the ball and start with controlling the ball first and then passing or shooting and then build up to first time passes and shots.
3. TURNS. Practice all six turns, INSIDE HOOK, OUTSIDE HOOK, DRAG BACK, STEPOVER, CRUYFF and STOP TURN. Master each turn at game like speed and then do combinations of turns e.g. inside hook, take a touch into space and then do a stop turn. Keep working on this until you can do routines involving all 6 turns one after another.
4. MOVES/DRIBBLES. There are so many fancy moves, some named after stars e.g. Stanley Matthews, Maradona, Scissors, Touch Touch etc. You don’t need to know how to do all of them. Just perfect two moves that you can do with both feet and that you can both take on the defender on their inside and outside. When I say perfect them, you need to be able to do these at game like speed without looking at the ball and be able to produce an end product, either a shot or a pass.
5. CONTROL. Find some open space and kick the ball up in the air. As it comes down work on controlling it with your feet, thighs, chest and head. Once you get the hang of controlling the ball, then add a turn or a move or a shot or pass against the wall.
There you are, 5 Simple Exercises you can do on your own for 30 minutes a day that will significantly Improve Your Soccer Skills.
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49 Responses to “Paul Walmsley explains 5 Ways to Improve Your Soccer Skills”
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Soccer Talk…
[...] How Can I Improve My Soccer Skills. Well, the old saying still applies, Practice Makes Perfect. The great thing about soccer is that you don’t need any expensive equipment or a coach or teammates to help you get better. … [...]…
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Thanks Katty, feel free to ask me any questions and let me know how I can help you.
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4th place is beyon dthe Villa now. Hopefully they can pull off a result in the FA Cup.
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The best show on earth is at South Africa but who’ll win it?
What is your primary preference for the World Cup, who’ll win it?
My heart is with England but my gut feeling is with Argentina
I want England to win it, but my gut tells me Argentina
Great tips, these are useful and this site rocks especially for beginners like myself…
Here’s a bit of history from a historian :
The modern rules of football are based on the mid-19th century
efforts to standardise the widely varying forms of football played a
t the public schools of England.
The Cambridge Rules, first drawn up at Cambridge University in 1848, were particularly
influential in the development of subsequent codes, including association
football. The Cambridge Rules were written at Trinity College, Cambridge, at a meeting
attended by representatives from Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Winchester and Shrewsbury schools.
They were not universally adopted. During the 1850s, many clubs unconnected to schools or
universities were formed throughout the English-speaking world, to play various forms of football.
Some came up with their own distinct codes of rules, most notably the Sheffield Football Club, formed
by former public school pupils in 1857,] which led to formation of a Sheffield FA in 1867. In 1862, John Charles Thring of Uppingham School also devised an influential set of rules.
These ongoing efforts contributed to the formation of The Football Association (The FA) in 1863, which first met on the morning of 26 October 1863 at the Freemasons’ Tavern in Great Queen Street, London. The only school to be represented on this occasion was Charterhouse. The Freemason’s Tavern was the setting for five more meetings between October and December, which eventually produced the first comprehensive set of rules. At the final meeting, the first FA treasurer, the representative from Blackheath, withdrew his club from the FA over the removal of two draft rules at the previous meeting: the first allowed for running with the ball in hand; the second for obstructing such a run by hacking (kicking an opponent in the shins), tripping and holding. Other English rugby football clubs followed this lead and did not join the FA, or subsequently left the FA and instead in 1871 formed the Rugby Football Union. The eleven remaining clubs, under the charge of Ebenezer Cobb Morley, went on to ratify the original thirteen laws of the game. These rules included handling of the ball by “marks” and the lack of a crossbar, rules which made it remarkably similar to Victorian rules football being developed at that time in Australia. The Sheffield FA played by its own rules until the 1870s with the FA absorbing some of its rules until there was little difference between the games.
I am rooting for Spain, but I am not sure about things now.
Awesome work on the article – thank you.
Well, great post, thanks. I love to read pda soccer posts and articles, thanks for sharing.
New to the sport, my son’s (12) first year ever playing and was selected to go into competetive soccer. Just want to help him get better. Thank you
Hello Mark, Thanks for the comment.
That’s great that your son has already been selected to play competitive soccer. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help.
Thanks for being part of the community here at soccercoachingblog.com. Please spread the word!
Cheers.
It’s true that ‘Practice makes perfect’. Your 5 ways of improving soccer skills are touch, pass or shoot, turns, moves/dribbles, control are really great, and accordingly soccer coach supplies – equipments are also equally important. Such skills related information’s are helping many soccer players. Thanks for sharing…
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