Player Perspective: Technical Juggling

Training at home is the key to unlock the levels of individual skill.

Technical Juggling was explained in Learning Soccer Juggling In Steps.  As a player trains to learn this skill, she may struggle to find the precise moment to strike the ball.  The idea is to create a flat surface with the laces of the shoe by raising your leg waist high and flicking your knee to project the ball.


So when to step in?  At which moment do you engage with the ball?

  If we get to it too late, striking it too low will produce spin, and if the ball is below our knee, we will curl our ankle in order to create the surface to project the ball up.  Striking the ball below the knee is juggling, but we lose the technical tool of molding our striking posture and body mechanics.


Yet if we touch it too early, while it is still above our hips, then it will likely end up behind us; for it flies over the head easily.



Technical Juggling, when done well, creates a perfect form of bodily mechanics generating power.  So learning to juggle in this specific way is worth the hours spent chasing the ball.

 

What How To Soccer tried to show in the below video is the timing trick to technical juggling.  This video is fun to watch, but it did not capture the intended perspective.  There may be something to learn from this video, however, without a clear view showing the footwork, the timing will have to be explained.

Player Perspective: Technical Juggling

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• The player should keep in mind that the foot should present a flat striking surface
• The player should lock the ankle and point the toe
• The player should bend at the ankles, knees, and hips to achieve the posture
• The player should strike the ball at waist height
• The player should use a controlled touch sending the ball no more than 6 feet
• The ball should raise straight up from the foot
• The ball should have no spin

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Once the player has the weighted touch to send the ball about four feet, straight upwards every time, then the timing becomes easier.  You learn to engage when the ball starts to fall.  So you reach in with your next leg--because you learn to alternate and use both feet, as in everything--when the ball is at its highest point.

Remember that we can practice the body mechanics using a balloon. As we take our ball into the lawn, learning to juggle with a bounce is a strategic tool.  A bouncing ball may require you find a flat sidewalk or floor and that the ball is properly inflated.




In the beginning the touch is all over--part of the reason we use the balloon.  Yet this game holds many rewards to be unlocked, and there is always a higher level to which we can aspire to reach.  Training at home is the key to unlock the levels of individual skill.




Yet the core of this game is social.  In all things we do within the game of soccer, if we understand that the social aspect is primary, and anything we do with the ball is the flourish to a great outing with our talented friends on both teams, then we understand the Spirit of the Game.

Mind                    Body                    Spirit          Soccer