The Art Of Dribbling
Soccer dribbling is something that you as soccer player need to know. Dribbling is not just about getting around your opponent. Instead, there are many other small parts that you need to master if you want to improve you dribbling skills. In this part of soccer-training-guide you will know exactly how to become a good dribbler.
Use your soccer dribbling skills in right situations
Don’t dribble just to show people how god you are instead use your talent by playing smart and keep the possession of the ball longer than your opponents. You need also to keep in mind that dribbling is never justified if you have an unmarked teammate near you. Passing the ball safely to a near teammate is much smarter comparing to an attempt to get through your opponents defensive line by yourself
When dribbling, you are actually altering the speed and direction of the ball with explosive movements in various directions with both of your feet’s. While dribbling you will have an advantage over the opponents, because they don’t know what you aim to do in the next coming moment. To stop you, opponents must kept guessing which way you will most likely take.
Try to relax
Soccer dribbling is not just how skilful you are with ball; you need also to have a lot of confidence in yourself. When dribbling you must really think that you can get around your defender. Try to not get panic every time you receive the ball. Instead, be calm and try to figure out the best way to get around your opponent.
Keep in mind that if you have a smart defender against you, he/she will offer you a way out of the situation. Watch out for this because it is probably a trick for stealing the ball from you.
Balance is important
Your main mission when dribbling is to fool your opponent and on that way make him/her lose the balance. At the same time you need of course to maintain your own balance. It will be easier to keep it if you can understand the basic laws of equilibrium.
Equilibrium and soccer dribbling
Equilibrium is an advanced subject but I will explain it to you very simple (what I have learned). Every human has a center of gravity and it is situated in the middle of your torso just at about the navel. Your body will be in equilibrium whenever an imaginary line form the center of gravity falls in the middle of the support area. In a soccer players body the support area is the space between your feet’s.
If you have your feet’s together your equilibrium will instead be less, this because the center of gravity can fall outside the area which is created by your feet’s. Here is a simple experiment of how you can try this out.
• Start by standing with your feet together
• Ask a friend to give you a push (not to hard)
• In the next moment you will lie on the ground, but what have you discovered?
Well, you have discovered that falling over will be much more easier than if you have your feet apart. This is because your balance is maintained when the imaginary line does not fall outside the large space between your feet’s. If you try to squat down having your feet apart, try to lean forward (just a little bit) and flex your legs lightly you will discover how easy it is to keep the balance.
Now start to dribble by following these steps:
• Have your feet apart
• Lean your body little forward
• Keep your legs flexed
• Have your haunches down
• Keep your arms relaxed and hardly moving
What you are learning now is another thing that is important when talking about balance.
Do you need proof?
Every movement that you make with the ball, no matter how small it is, will change the center of gravity, up and down, forward and backward. If you don’t really believe in this you could try it out by getting on a large weighing machine (if you can find one of course). When the indicator stops start to move you arms.
The indicator will start to swing up or down and moving your arms faster will increase the swing of indicator. What you have discovered is another important part of dribbling: The Rhythm! When dribbling you need to perform fast reactions and decisions but your movement must still have a certain rhythm.
How to find your opponents weak side?
Your opponents will always have a weak side; it’s up to you to find it. But before spending many hours on studying your opponents let me give you a little hint: Try to check whether your opponent is right or left handed. Now you may wonder what your opponents hand has to do with dribbling your opponent or not, I mean, aren’t we discussing soccer dribbling here? Of course we are discussing soccer dribbling but to locate your opponent’s weak side, you need to know his/her weak leg, and how do you find that out?
Well, if you dare you could just ask him or you could use another smart way to figure it out. Just check whether he/she is left or right handed. Now you may wonder you should know if your opponent is right or left handed? Well if your opponent is left handed his/her right leg will be the weaker one, and vice versa. He/she will also have more problems in intercepting the ball with the weak leg, but even more if that is his/her support leg.
Do not trust completely on this advice. There are skillful opponents that can handle the ball pretty well with both feet’s, therefore, watch carefully before deciding what leg is the weak one.
Finally, don't forget this one: To pass the ball to an unmarked teammate is much more efficient than trying to dribble through a wall of opponents.
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