Why is it so hard for me to get more fifteen or twenty touches before I let the ball hit the ground? I can do a lot of ball tricks: stalls on both feet and thighs, hitting the ball behind my back, and I can dribble and trap very well. I think I generally strike the ball pretty decently too. I've had offers to play at my university and for good club teams, so the answer isn't that I just suck. Ball control skills are probably the best part of my game, but I always seem to have a succession of bad touches when I start juggling, especially if I'm not warmed up. I can usually get a good rhythm going with soft, quick hits alternating feet, but my best ever is probably about 30 in the Predators I wear now and a little better than that in my Sambas and slightly worse with bare feet. It is a little embarrassing that I have trouble with something that I practice quite a bit and other guys were doing in junior high.
I Love Your Title Dude I played center fullback so I mostly just kicked people in the shins as hard as I could and was good at handballs in the box. I also was very good at getting red cards for high kicks. I never considered myself a dirty player, I was only making absolutely positive the ball never went in the net. Before someone says so, no I am not from El Salvodor. So the answer to your question is I have no idea because I was my teams enforcer. They brought me in to keep the peace. : ) -VON
I have the same kind of problem, but I'm pretty sure I know what's wrong. Find some exercises to strengthen your ankles. I have good touch and ball control by NCAA Division III standards, and my greatest strength is accuracy on long passes, crosses, or long-range shots. (The main reasons I don't get playing time: injuries that have forced me to miss more than 80% of my college career to date, and abysmal speed, something like a 7-minute mile and more than 6 seconds for the 40-yard dash. But that's a different story altogether.) But I can't juggle for more than about 15 touches. The problem isn't touch, I don't lose control so much as fail to make the next touch even if it's right in front of me. I've broken my left ankle twice and sprained it many times, so it's very weak now, probably beyond hope of recovery, and juggling puts stress on the ankle in two different ways. When hitting the ball with my right foot, I put all my weight on my left foot; and the motion of flicking the ball with the left foot also strains the muscles and ligaments in the ankle. I can make 2 or 3 touches with my left foot in any given 2-3 minute period, and can stand on my left leg for 4-5 consecutive right-footed touches before it needs a rest. That works out to about 15 touches if planned well. If I had a stronger left ankle, I think I could last 10 times longer.
Speed, etc. A good ay to break that 7:00 mile is to run constantly. I ran Cross country and it helped my soccer tremendously. So when you train this summer, along with your soccer training, run long distance, run hills, run sprints, do anything and everything(legal, mind you) to increase your speed. Also, if you can strengthen your ankles, do so.
To help your ankle try swimming. I sprained my ankle really bad about a year ago. When I started swim class last semester it hurt for the first few weeks of class but after that the pain was gone.
When, you're injuried you can also try water running. It is an excellent form of cross training which will leave you coming back after injury stronger than when you left.
I think it's about time to retire anyway. There's already almost no chance of recovery - the ankle's been broken twice and sprained at least 30 times in the last five years. I haven't suffered any new injury to the ankle since October, but it still hurts to even walk longer than a few minutes.
say it ain't so elninho Interesting I ran into this thread in a forum I rarely visit. Have had ankle problems all my life - and like lawmill not a good "juggler" of the soccer ball although, I have one of the best free kicks in my men's league, play offensive center mid and striker, dribble/juke well, exceptional passing and trapping, etc. never thought much that the ankle weakness could be a reason for not juggling very long with the feet. Elninho, my ankle problems are actually sub-talar (junction of foot and ankle) and I had a Brostrom-Gould surgical procedure to tighten those ligaments damaged by repeated sprains (I can recommend a good orthopedic surgeon in Atlanta who did extensive training in ankle and foot). The pain is better but not gone (but the stability is 10X better no exaggeration). I am considering doing the same thing to my other ankle. ps-I turn 30 later this year. don't retire just stop walking around the mall with your wife, standing in line, and stop grocery shopping, take the elevator and save your ankles for the field!
most likely you either juggle with too much spin or you just lose concentration and get bored after 20 touches. Try it in regular running shoes, it is way easier for me like that than in cleats. If it always hits you in the shin then just flatten your foot more I think that is the most likely problem. Maybe try hitting it a bit in front of you and walking forward at first rather than standing in place. If you lose concentration just do some brain clearing exercise first where you transfer the side of your brain to each side ( I don't know what I am talking about but just basically clear your mind). Hey for free kicks.....how do you get that nice top spin?? I have been working and I can curve the ball awesomely now. But I still can't get that top spin, I need help Main thing that I am wondering is whether your foot is supposed to be locked down in a shooting position or more up in a chipping position, or sort of in between. I hit on the other day and it was so awesome, looked like it was gonna clear the net and land like 10 feet behind it and 20 feet to the right, then the curve kicked in and I just hit the post. Of course, this was in practise but now i want to be able to do that again !! Thanks in advance for the help.
Re: say it ain't so elninho Uh, I'm 19. And I've broken the ankle twice in less than 5 years. I've posted my injury history before. It's probably the worst of anyone here. Let's just put it this way: in three college seasons, I've made four substitute appearances between injuries. In three of the four matches I came off injured - two of those incidents occurring after being on the pitch for less than 60 seconds (one of these extremely brief appearances ending with a broken ankle). In the other appearance I suffered a concussion with 3 minutes to play and played on. I still play in the intramural league, and have had a bit more success there (though I only played three times last year due to injuries). We have a very good intramural league here, mostly because of the European grad students in it - we play eleven-a-side every week for the entire winter and spring quarters. In intramurals I almost always play central attacking mid and take a lot of free kicks and corner kicks (whereas I'm an out-and-out striker when playing for Caltech). hambone: to get topspin on free kicks, lock your ankle down and FOLLOW THROUGH. Chipping the ball puts backspin on it, which is the opposite of what you want.
"Why can't I keep it up for very long? " Diabettes? ------------------------ You get off balance most likely. Keep your feet moving and try to make the touch without putting spin on the ball. ----------------------------- On ankle problems I have had them all my life also. They can get cronic when you come back to early from an injury even a bad sprain. Get one of those long elastic bands that they give and tell you to use in recovery therapy. Then flex the ankle using it for the rest of life, not just while your in recovery. Later, besides using it skip rope, and don't come back to early from injury. My ankle was so weak I broke it running for a bus. I taped it up and played any way. A stupid move. Then to top it all off my angke and shin was completely seperated. Foot was attached to the ankle by some skin from a gun accident a shotgun. The accident part was the shooter accidently shot me there instead of killing me like he was supposed to. Very unprofessional of him. So know I hobble with a ton of metal in my leg to hold it in place.
I have had some kneee and leg muscle problems, but my ankles are bulletproof. I'm twenty by the way. This sounds right. I usually juggle with very delicate touches, mostly using my ankles to generate power, so there is a lot of backspin. I will also try to move and save the ball instead of lunging and going for fancy saves. Thanks. I run at the ball perpendicular to the direction I want to kick it, then lean forward as far as is comfortable as I kick. I lock my foot (try to visualize your lower leg as a golf club) and hit the side of the ball facing directly away from the goal, dead-center height wise. Kick very hard (much harder than seems right for the distance) and don't break your form. The ball should curve very sharply and dip pretty hard. It took me a lot of practice, but is a valuable skill once you learn it. Watch David Beckham take free kicks, he does this perfectly.
I always juggle with a #4 ball. This is probably harder, not easier, but maybe if you tried a smaller ball for awhile you'd find you'd be better when you went back to a #5. Just a guess though, and a personal preference.
My brother went to med school in Brooklyn. He was mugged 3 times at gunpoint. Beautiful place, Brooklyn.