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On my blog at http://ift.tt/1TxSxGU 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.

For more help and ideas to improve your soccer skills visit http://ift.tt/1TxSxGU