Is Juggling a soccer ball important to your game?

Juggling in today’s soccer world is one of the most over looked exercises in the game today.  Many coaches and parents dont feel as if the player will use the skill in an actual soccer game so why spend the time working on it.  To some degree they are correct the game has become such a possession game that is being taught to be played on the ground more and more.  So the skill itself isnt very useful.  This is why many coaches overlook the skill of juggling and it’s a big mistake.  Soccer Juggling - Why is it Important?

THE REASON YOU SHOULD JUGGLE 30 MINUTES A DAY

You won’t find yourself juggling in almost any situation on the pitch (unless maybe if you want to humiliate your opponents or the likes), but that doesn’t mean soccer juggling shouldn’t be trained. In fact, it’s one of the skills that are amongst the easiest to train and not only that, but you’ll also see the results very quickly.

Juggling affects an array of peripheral skills and most importantly, it’s fun! Learning and developing as a soccer player with exercises that are hard or boring isn’t the best way to do so, but if you can train and have fun at the same time, that’s a proven golden recipe. Here are some of the skills that are most visibly improved with the help of juggling:

Ball Control - Probably the skill that improves most with juggling is ball control. Doing constant juggling exercises, you’ll learn exactly how strong to tip the ball with your foot to stay within your range, which is basically what ball control is all about.

While juggling, you also get what I like to call "foot confidence" and you’ll soon learn to control the ball without actually having to focus on the trapping itself. This is extremely important since it permits you to control the ball naturally, allowing you to use those extra 2 seconds you would need to focus on receiving the ball, to already look up a player to pass it to.

Agility - While juggling, you will have to make quick adjustments to your body in order to keep the ball in mid air. In the long run, this improves your agility and you’ll be able to gain control of the ball faster in a match, in situations where lightning reflexes are needed. It also helps you with performing faster direction changes, which is great to have when dribbling the ball past an opponent.

Trapping and Receiving - This applies especially for balls coming at you in mid air that you need to gain control of. Soccer juggling allows you to quickly judge how soft or hard you need to hit the ball, in order for it not to get out of your body’s reach. Although having to trap a long ball with your thigh or foot won’t be the same as having to juggle a ball at the same height with your thigh or foot, it’s still a good basis to learn how to perfectly execute these moves.

The above is just information on what it takes to become a more proficient player. Do you have the 30 minutes it takes to improve a day?  Just reading this will not get the results needed DOING will.  Take the time to join the STAR JUGGLING CLUB and dedicated the minutes per day to improve your overall game.