Individual soccer skills training is often neglected by most youth soccer coaches.
They are so focused on looking like a professional team with quick one and two-touch passing, that they completely forget about the most important soccer skills training of all – individual soccer training.
If players don’t get really good with the ball at their feet, they are always going to struggle with the passing game. It’s that simple.
Basic soccer skills you need to be an effective 1v1 player
Keep in mind, that these same skills will help you simply keep the ball when under pressure and allow you to escape and make a pass to a teammate.
1v1 play isn’t all about simply dribbling past the other team. It’s about being able to keep the ball under pressure.
The core individual soccer skills you need:
- Change of Speed
- Change of Direction
- Body Feints (Dip the shoulder)
- Explosive. First step (change of speed and direction!!!)
- Close Control
- Be able to dribble with every step
To be able to use these skills effectively…
You need to be able to control the ball with all parts of your feet.
The better a player is with the ball, the more control they have, the more confident they are and the easier the game becomes!
When you can control the ball and keep it under pressure, everything else is easier.
You have more time for one thing, as defenders won’t just charge at you and you are less worried about pressure because you know you can handle it.
Finally, as they grow and develop proper individual soccer skills, who is going to become the better player?
The one who gets lots of touches, tries lots of things, keeps the ball under pressure to get out of it, or the one that never takes more than a touch or two and gets rid of it, even when not really under much pressure at all.
My money is on the first player.
Unfortunately, we are not grounding players in the foundational skill of ball mastery at young ages. So it’s up to the players to get those touches on their own.
The great news is you can do a lot of this soccer skills training at home with a ball, and a little bit of space.
Here’s are some individual soccer drills you can start doing right now
The more you train with focused intent, the faster you’ll improve.
Most players don’t train enough at all. Very few of them use focused, intentional training.
Simply training with focused intent will put you far ahead of your competition…
IF you’re willing to do it consistently.
Even 10 minutes a day of quality soccer skills training, EVERY DAY, will add up to big, positive changes over a longer period of time!
Who doesn’t have 10 minutes?
Especially when it can take your ability to a completely new level.
You have to work hard. You have to put in the time.
You have to push yourself to accomplish a lot of short term goals because it’s the short term goals that drive long term success.
It’s the habit you start today of getting 10 or 15 minutes of touches on the ball every day, that will have a big impact on who you are as a player a year from now.
Let’s say you get a thousand extra touches on the ball every day. In a month that’s 30,000 touches. In a four month season that’s 120,000 touches.
It’s 365,000 touches in a year!
Do you think that would make a difference in your performance? Of course it will!
The more you stick with it, the better your ball control, and the more your confidence will increase as well!
The more confident you are, the better you’ll play.
And then the more confident you will get! It feeds on itself. Preparation leads to confidence, confidence leads to success and success leads to more confidence.
If you want to quickly and easily take your soccer skills to the next level, check out Impact Soccer System.
Impact Soccer System is an easy-to-follow, powerfully effective progressive training program designed to turn you into a dramatically better player.
You’ll develop more ball control and more confidence.
