little jump

[mak9]

watch this video

kcuTQf_kfrY

why was the milan coach so obsessed with the "little jump"?

[snolly g]

why was the milan coach so obsessed with the "little jump"?

it's to reinforce balance/form. it's not so much the jump as the landing, which forces you to compress/bend your knees/stay on the balls of your feet so that you can move immediately after receiving the ball. the motion also makes it more natural to check to the ball when receiving a pass.

[Antonio81]

It's also to absorb the pass cleanly and make sure it doesn't end up three feet away from you after the first touch. The bending the knees part is very important too, not just for passing and receiving, but also for dribbling and doing stepovers.

[Habitat]

My dad tells me this and was never a soccer coach or a player. When you receive the ball you don't want to stop it dead, you want to control it in a way that its ready to be passed or for you to run with it right away..Good tut tho.

[Ronaldihno34]

i don't know

[ChrisSSBB]

Good points by posters above. I always say to play the game, you need to be flexed in the knees but also hips and ankles.

Controlling the ball in front of the player but not too far or stuck underneath is an essential skill. Players will learn that controlling the ball too far away is not a good thing but then often go to the other extreme of stopping the ball underneath them. This will often happen when the player relaxes the ankle/foot and contacts the ball above the mid-line.

To consistently control the ball at a proper distance in front of you, I believe you need to have a firm ankle and make solid contact with the ball at the center line. Of course, if not done right, the ball will go flying away.
This is where the little hop comes into play by allowing the player to adjust and absorb. Also, if you watch the pros, they seem to have a downward motion when they contact the ball which provides a little backspin keeping it from going too far away.

It is something that a player needs to practice quite a bit to be able to consistently place the ball just where he/she wants with the first touch.
When a player can put the ball exactly where they want every time, the game becomes much easier.