Soccer is one of the most popular sports in the United States to both play and watch, surpassed only by basketball and football. It is played by tens of millions, both young and old, every day.
Daily practice is incredibly important when it comes to enhancing your soccer skills, but a soccer field may not always be available or practical. So how do you practice at home?
Here are some tips to keep you in top form!
Know and Do Your Drills!
There are essential drills that soccer players complete to not only improve their skills but keep their minds and bodies in top form. These drills can be performed at home, and include the following:
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Wall Drills
Try wall passes, and use both the inside and the laces of your foot to strike, varying your distance from the wall as you complete your drills.
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Stamina and Dribbling Drills
These drills include cone dribbling, 25’s dribbling, push-pull and rollover dribbling, in addition to others. Dribbling drills can help you increase your ability to control the ball, and your stamina at the same time.
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Shooting and Passing Drills
One-touch shooting will help you eliminate any hesitancy you might have on the field, and shooting from the side drills can help you gain more mastery over your shooting and passing skills.
Juggling
Keeping the ball in the air for as long as possible is a great way to not only hone your skills but keep your mind and body sharp and ready to react, no matter what comes at you during the game. Try keeping the ball up (and under control) for as long as possible, and watch your skills and stamina grow.
Target Practice
Whether you are merely visualizing a certain target or setting one up, the goal of this exercise is to increase your accuracy and confidence. You can start with the ball being stationary, and then work your way up to more challenging set-ups, like dribbling around cones before taking your shot or controlling the rebound off a wall.
Heading Skills
To practice your heading skills at home, you can either throw the ball up the air yourself, ask a friend, or bounce it off a wall. It’s important not just to focus on heading the ball forward, but to the sides as well. With practice, you will be able to perfect your ability to judge and time your leaps more accurately, understand better how to place your feet and the rest of your body.
Toe-Taps
This is another great skill to practice at home! The ball is stationary for this exercise, and the objective is to increase your speed and even begin to move around the ball as you do your toe taps, creating a very challenging and intense way to improve your coordination, balance, and conditioning fast.
One of the great things about practicing your soccer skills at home (or in a field, park, parking lot, backyard, etc) is that you don’t have to wait to ramp up and improve your gameplay. The amount of time and passion you put into it is going to have the greatest impact on how quickly you improve, and we guarantee you’ll see the results on the field.
Use a Panna Cage
Another great way to get your soccer training in is with a Panna Cage! Instead of looking for a suitable wall or space to practice, you set your Panna Cage up just about anywhere, and practice your skills on your own time, independently. Panna Cages can be portable, and come with or without netting, have flooring options, and more, perfectly suited to the space you play, and how you want to practice!
If this sounds like something you’d like to learn more about (and you want to get out of the parking lot or practice with more confidence!) you can learn more about Panna Cages here.
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