What drills or tips will help a high school soccer player with ball control?

Answer 1

There are loads of things you can do to improve your technique and first touch. you could follow the example of the great Stanley matthews, who played well into his 50s and got many caps for England, who used to keep a small rubber (squash?) ball in his pocket and do kick-ups (or keepy-uppie over here in the UK) whenever he had spare time.

the art of keeping the ball up is an important skill, as it allows you to control the ball first time, without it bouncing about, from a corner, cross or defensive clearance. it also makes you look pretty flash if you can wallop the ball into the back of the net with a volley. so, for exercises, buy a size 3 football (preferably foam-filled, as used by Brazilian school kids), and try to keep the ball in the air for as long as possible using your feet, knees and head. one professional footballer, shaun wright-Phillips, once said that his dad wouldn't let him in the house without keeping the ball up 50 times.

another is kicking a ball against a wall. it's easy to do on your own, but the key is to kick the ball against the wall without it hitting the ground, which makes it tough, as if you're close, you don't have much time to react. this makes your control a little more instinctive.

as a group, there is loads you can do. if there are 3-4 of you, make a small circle, and try keepy-uppie as a group. if you're not too confident about kicking the ball first time, allow one or two bounces between each kick, and work your way down to no bounces. or you could play head-tennis, much in the same way as kick-ups, but just using your head.

if the group is a bit bigger, you could just play a game of football, but with a bit of a twist. try just playing with one touch, so that every pass or shot is made without the opportunity to stop the ball, or playing only using your 'wrong' foot (like my left). also, you could practice one-on-ones with one person as the attacker, and one as the defender. plus, if you play with a size 3, it has a smaller sweet spot, so at first you'll find it a bit harder to pass accurately, but eventually your control will improve sufficiently that you don't have a problem. when you go back to a size 5, your ball skills will improve dramatically.

hopefully that'll help you out a bit. otherwise, try looking for training books (e.g. Soccer Skills and Techniques by Bobby Charlton).