Dribbling is a fundamental foundational skill in football, and the main focus of it is to get past the defender while maintaining possession of your ball so that your team has a chance to score a goal. These are a few ways to get better at this skill.
1. Spatial awareness
It is an easy mistake for beginners to make to only focus on looking at the ball down at their feet. This leaves you open to getting tackled by your opponents as you would not see them coming and therefore not have enough time to avoid or redirect your path. Remember to look ahead regularly when you dribble to scan the pitch and decide your next move depending on your relative position to your teammates and opponents, while making sure you still have control of the ball. This may be challenging at the start, but with enough conscious effort and practice, it would become second-nature to any player.
2. Drills
During football training sessions, utilise various cones and markers on the pitch to practice drills that improve your dribbling skills. Crucial aspects include ball sense and control, turning and pivoting. By placing the cones in various configurations, you can start practising various drills such as the straight cone dribble, one-on-one controlled dribble and random dribble drills.
3. Core
To prepare your body for the rapid turning and pivoting with the ball during dribbling, it is essential to strengthen your core. This can be done through static holds and dynamic exercises such as plank poses, Russian twists, dead bug and shoulder taps. By building up your base core strength, you will be able to execute your dribbling more safely, quickly and effectively.
4. Balance and strength
Besides core strength to help with your twisting and turning, you should also try to build up your balance and body strength. While dribbling, you will encounter a lot of pushing and tackling from your opponents. It is important that you avoid getting pushed off the ball by being able to maintain your balance and resist these forces.
5. Keep the ball close to you
Dribbling can be broadly grouped into confined and long-distance dribbling. To practice dribbling in tight spaces and keeping the ball close to you is different from long-distance dribbling as they require different skill sets. Confined dribbling will demand more precision in your footwork which may be difficult to get used to at first. Remember to practice switching the ball from your left to right foot quickly and accurately to stop you from losing possession of the ball to your opponent.
6. Receiving the ball
To be able to even start dribbling, you first need to be able to receive a pass successfully from your teammates. While this may sound easy at first, there is a lot that goes into perfecting this skill. Your first touch when you receive the ball is crucial. This involves the direction you receive it in, the direction you cushion the ball to, and the area of the pitch you want to receive the ball in. This also requires synergy and communication between teammates, and practising this over time would help your team to improve overall on your teamwork, and success in setting up a goal together.
7. Learn from the experts
Dribbling is an art form within football, and the best way to improve is to watch those who’ve got it down to the last detail. Well-known dribblers include Neymar, Messi and Maradona. These professional players have perfected their arts and are widely celebrated to be the best in this aspect. Apart from this, you can also hire football coaches to train and teach you all the necessary techniques needed.
8. Practice makes perfect
Lastly, with any skill set, it is important to keep at it and continue learning and practising the right forms and techniques to get better over time. While it may be daunting to start and challenging to persevere, especially when faced with imperfection and disappointment in the beginning, having the passion and drive to keep moving forward will help you reach your goal of getting better at dribbling over time. Keep in mind to start practising correctly from the beginning so that you don’t waste your effort and time trying to correct your mistakes down the road, and you will get there sooner or later.
Happy dribbling!
Leave a Comment