Juggling within soccer is a very important part of the game. As it helps with passing and first touch. The other main thing is that it will boost the players confidence.
In this article we will provide information about how you can improve your ball control and make you a better player.
Let’s check it out!
Does Juggling Improve Ball Control?
The short answer is yes. Juggling the soccer ball will ensure that you improve significantly in your timing and body control.
When you practice a lot in juggling with the ball, you need to time your ball touches so that you can keep the ball in the air most of the time and continue to take good touches throughout.
Juggling also enables you to control the ball well and position your body perfectly in space to allow you to take good touches.
What Does Juggling Improve?
Juggling will improve any aspects of your physical and overall game in the following area, namely:
single-leg strength: Normally , during juggling, one of your legs will be lifted depending on which one you use.
Therefore, to balance appropriately, you will have to put your entire body in a perfect position to avoid fall. Thus, in the process, juggling will improve the strength of your legs and balance and strengthening your knees and ankles in the process.
Confidence Boost: During juggling, the ball will be in the air most of the time.
The more you practice; you will be able to retain the ball in the air a lot. Therefore, those who can juggle will improve their confidence to control the ball for long periods.
Improve First Touch: Often in soccer, the first touch comes from a bouncing ball or a long pass from another player.
Juggling will enable you to know how to handle such a ball, and you will find yourself improving in your first touch and take it with ease. Further, it will make you faster with the ball as you control it even if you are not a fast sprinter.
Improve Sprinting: Perfect ball control has a strong effect on improving a player’s capabilities when they are running or dribbling with a ball.
You can pass the ball well to another player even at high speed and in a tight position that is impossible to pass.
Improves hand-eye coordination: Research indicates that when you learn to juggle, it will accelerate the development of your neural connections, which are related to vision, memory, movement, and focus.
Therefore, your hand-eye coordination will improve, and your reaction time, strategic thinking, reflexes, concentration, and spatial awareness will become better.
Increases IQ: Research conducted by the University of Hamburg of 20 different players juggling the ball within one month of training has found out that the corresponding gray matter in their brains has improved significantly within the first seven days of practice.
What Should Be Done To Control The Ball During Juggling?
While ball control may appear like an up task for beginners, the key to improving to turn into a pro in no time is to practice continuously. This is what you can do to control the ball with your feet, head, shoulders, and thighs.
Hold the ball in front of you directly to your chest position:
Drop it to the ground and let it bounce; at its descend, once it has bounce, kick it before it drops into the air and use your dominant foot in the process to kick it hard enough until it ascends to your chest height.
During this time, try to keep the ball proportional to your foot angle somewhat upward.
Ensure that you use your laces, keep them up, and keep your angle locked so they remain strong and angled because a wobbly ankle will lead to the ball dropping due to a wobbly kick.
Slightly keep your Knees Bent:
You will have better ball control when you keep them bent. At this point, do not lock your knees. The other leg that you are not using to kick the ball should remain flat and be steadfastly planted on the ground. It is crucial to balance it during the juggling process.
In between touches, you can rebalance it to help control how you will be hitting the ball from every angle every time.
Remember to stay balanced on your toes and to make a quick movement as the ball bounce. The key to achieving a good balance is to keep your eyes steady on the ball and keep your knees bent.
Practice always until you can catch the ball in front of your stomach with ease:
this exercise is to help you to balance well and avoid leaning or try to catch the ball. You can also try to practice it with your other foot and keep in mind that your non-dominant foot will be even harder to achieve.
Does Juggling A Soccer Ball Build Muscle?
Yes, it does improve your muscles. Juggling the soccer ball will ensure that your single-leg strength becomes strong.
Being in one leg trying to balance and placing your body in good positions will help in strengthening your legs, knees, and ankles strength.
Your muscle memory will improve with a continuous juggling practice session. The more you improve on your first touch, the easier it will become to shoot and pass the ball.
Juggling helps strengthen biceps, triceps, and shoulder muscles which every soccer player needs to work on their strength to help them keep their balance and posture well in place when shielding and receiving the ball.
Since the ball in soccer game can be airborne in most cases, juggling aid in helping to strengthen the neck muscles to help a player head the ball in different angles to the right direction player and score goals with ease.
Balancing the ball while juggling with both feet will improve the legs muscles of a player.
This prepares a player’s legs to be strong and has some power to help them endure a lot during an entire match when running up and down.
Therefore, they can play the game at a high-intensity level and stay injury-free with strong muscles after quality exercise to improve their abdomen, back, and sides muscles.
Does Juggling Help With Baseball?
Juggling is essential in improving eye-hand coordination in baseball. Therefore, baseball players who practice juggling will improve on their drill and become comfortable with monitoring the ball movement and where it is.
A baseball player will improve their hitting and fielding with constant ball control and develop their ball skills. Therefore, they will improve on hitting a home run, watching the baseball flight, and positioning their bat correctly at the right time.