Question Number: 30867

Other 10/6/2016

RE: beginner

Eduardo of National City, CA USA asks...

What soccer drills can I practice to improve my fast foot work,dribbling,control,skills,first touch and passing the ball and how many time do I need to spend?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Eduardo
We are a referee Q&A site and while we have a knowledge of all aspects of the game our forte is not in coaching.
There are many publications on drills some free on catching websites and on web video sites. Some names of coaches that jump out at me are Horst Wein, Bert Van Lingen, Joe Luxbacker, Henry Kormelink etc
Simply do a web search with the words *soccer drills* and there is wealth of info there

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Eduardo,
it is never a bad idea to learn or become a referee as you work to be a better player for in understanding the LOTG you can use them to your advantage in ways many players are unaware of. Only perfect practise makes perfect skill sets so be very wise in how your training is fundamentally sound and the direction your mentoring takes you. Research clinics and coaching programs, to find one in your area with a good reputation. Question the programs and skill sets and get them to explain the idea of how and why they teach what they do . Motor mechanics, kinesiology, the study of how the body moves all relate to how you develop your talents. I will tell you this, the players I saw MAKE it to the elite level had a ball on their foot everyday to and from school. The issue of practise in a group, you get little time for the individual skills so you must do much of it away. I always ask my players to show me something different with the ball at every practise session. be it a simple step over or run the ball up the back leg and flip it over the defender. Those that SPENT the time with the ball at their feet AWAY from practise soon proved to develop better skills during practise as long as they did not fall into bad muscle memory traps where by doing something blatantly incorrect it becomes difficult to change later. So listen carefully to those that teach and be sure to do the procedures correctly. Good luck
Cheers