Soccer is a fun game to play. The better your skills, the more fun you’ll have!
A great way to improve your skills is to play with friends or play on your own.
Here are a bunch of things you can do at home or in the local park. Most of the activities have links to video demos.
Try some of these activities. If you get bored with one, try a different one, or create your own. Most importantly, have fun!
NTH Junior Academy Girls skills list
Ball control and fast footwork activities:
These activities are excellent for helping you develop good ball control and quick feet! What does a good soccer player need? Good ball control and fast feet! So if you want to get better, you’re in the right place!
But these activities can be boring. You can add excitement by challenging yourself to complete a certain number of repetitions in a certain amount of time. For example, can you get 30 happy feet touches in 15 seconds? If so, challenge yourself to get better and see if you can get 35 touches in 15 seconds. Or create a footwork list and see how long it takes you to get 10 reps for each activity on your list.
If you get really bored, switch from these activities and skip to dribbling activities. Dribbling is much more fun!
Happy feet- Sole taps (also called toe taps, toe touches or sole touches)
- Inside and outside of the feet
- Triangles
- Squares
- Pull-push patterns
- Other fast footwork combinations
Dribbling activities:
- Basic dribbling skills
- Dribbling turns
- V-pull moves
- Stop and go moves
- Moves to get behind a defender
- Dribbling courses
- 1v1 dribbling games (electric fence, snow cones, Texas Draw and more)
Passing (ball striking) and Receiving (first touch) activities:
- Basic inside of the foot passing
- Striking the ball with the laces
- Basic receiving skills
- Directional first touches (receiving turns)
- Receiving air balls
- Passing and ball striking games (Slam!, soccer golf, soccer tennis and more)
Juggling activities:
- Juggling basics
- Foot surfaces juggling challenge
- Heights juggling challenge
- Soccer tennis (partner juggling)
- 4 square (group juggling game)
Soccer quizzes:
If your body gets tired, but your brain still wants a challenge, check out our soccer quizzes:
- Soccer skills quizzes
- Soccer sense quizzes
- Soccer sense quiz #2 (from the U10 6-aside days from the mid-2000s through mid-2010s)