2 Techniques For Dribbling a Soccer Ball

It's just you, the sweeper and the goalie. Your approaching the sweeper thinking of what move you'll use to slip past him and then it happens. You trip and the ball continues to roll heading right for the sweeper like a present on his birthday. How could this have been avoided? By mastering the art of dribbling. Read on to learn 2 techniques that will assure this scenario never happens to you.

We all have seen how great the Brazilians are at ball control. But how do they do it? Rhythm. They are in tune with the ball like a seductive dance. Their upper bodies are relaxed which enables them to adjust their body and the ball to any situation that arises. If your upper body is stiff then so will your dribbling style and it's effectiveness.

The first technique as over viewed above is to keep your upper body loose and flexible. When you dribble you need to keep a low center of gravity, kind of like a running back in pro football. This can be achieved with a loose upper torso allowing the flexibility to propagate throughout your body. To train yourself to have a loose upper body, practice dribbling with your soccer balls having your palms facing forward. It sounds crazy but it works and allows your upper body to be more flexible and mobile.

The second technique involves your legs, more specifically your knees. To obtain optimum ball control keep your knees slightly bent. This, like the first technique will give you a better lower center of gravity. It enables you, the player, the ability to maneuver better with sudden and precise moves leaving your opposition dead in their tracks. A good drill to practice this is to dribble the ball and every 10 seconds or so, if you don't have a coach to blow the whistle, is to stop the ball with one of your knees. This will teach your body to dribble with the knees bent and also forces upper body movement as explained in the first technique.

Be sure to practice these two techniques often. They'll greatly increase your dribbling ability and improve your juking ability. With a lot of practice you won't have to worry about ever tripping over the ball a blowing a perfect opportunity at a goal.