Field Players

Juggling Basics – In depth and best training practices!

We’re going to review the basics of juggling a little further as it serves as a foundation for ball control and get everyone started off on the right foot in 2019! We’ll cover 1) Technique, 2) Mental notes, and 3) Rewarding Training Methods. These very same techniques will be taught in our winter program in January.

What’s significant about the simplicity here? We are an advanced ball control program and our team members are some of the best in the world including the 2x World Freestyle Champion from Poland. As world freestyle champion, it’s critical that the foundational touches enable everything from the simple to the most complex combos. And the complex only happens with efficiency (see #2 below). So let’s jump right into a review of the techniques!

Techniques

Last article we saw the juggling tutorial (click here if you missed it) and covered the following:

  • Make contact with the ball at the spot above the toes, not the laces.
  • Flick the leg out from the knee (2a, 2b), as opposed to lifting the leg from the hip joint (2c).
  • And last, aim to keep the ball around knee height when juggling.

As a reminder, the toes cushion the point of contact and prevent the ball from bouncing off of a hard surface such as the instep area of the foot. Keeping the ball knee-high makes for efficient touches and makes it easy to visually track the ball’s path.

Click here to Learn about -Mental notes, and – Rewarding Training Methods.