Soccer Training Videos

Video hub for the NCFC Royals

Table of Contents

Since this is a rather long list of videos, I’ve broken them down into the following sections:

1. Skill drills
   - Dribbling and ball control
   - Ball control for kids!
   - Goalkeeping
   - Juggling
   - Shooting
   - Speed, agility and quickness + stamina (or SAQ)
2. Attacking tips & how-tos
   - 1v1 dribbling
   - Shooting and finishing
   - Passing and receiving
3. Defending tips & how-tos
   - 1v1 defending
4. Goalkeeping tips & how-tos
   - Technique
5. Performance tips
   - Mental — playing at your best
6. Soccer concepts
   - Basics
   - Player positions and roles
   - Tactical concepts

1. Skill drills

The more touches you get in each week (especially on your own), the faster you’ll improve. You can do these slowly over time at practice, or you can take it upon yourself to get better faster. It’s up to you!

Dribbling and ball control

• 50 ball mastery exercises to improve foot skills and fast feet (7mlc)
  A rather exhaustive list of fifty foot skills you can do at home!
• Coerver Ball Mastery Exercises (CoerverCoachingNW)
  Several great foot skills to master from Coerver® Coaching Northwest
• 5 simple drills to improve dribbling skills (Unisport)
  7MLC demonstrates 5 easy to set up drills for you to train on your own.
• Improve ball mastery | 5 drills for ultimate control (Unisport)
  Five more drills from 7MLC for improving foot skills on your own.
• 10 essential skills in 7 minutes (Unisport)
  JayMike demonstrates ten important, basic skill moves for every player.
• 20 dribbling / ball mastery drills (Coach Thomas Vlaminck)
  Basic dribbling skills to practice around cones.
• 10 minute ball mastery workout you can do at home (7mlc)
  Using a single cone, you can do 7 simple drills to improve ball control with only 10 minutes a day.
• 5 Step Over variations you need to learn (Unisport)
  Five basic step over moves to develop, including the classic step over (a.k.a. “scissors”).
• Step Over Turn (Football Skills Coach)
  Learn how to do 2 variations of the step over turn, which is useful for shaking defenders off your tail.
• Learn 3 variations of the Rainbow Flick (Unisport)
  There’s more than one way to do a rainbow!
• Coerver Technique of the Week 18 (CoerverCoachingNW)
  Push-pull V cut + Pull-back L-drag, which is a particularly good combo of skills to learn.
• Training drills for central midfielders (7mlc)
  Simple workout for central midfielders that you can do at home with a friend, sibling or parent.

Ball control for kids!

• Basic ball mastery for kids (Fast Feet Home Soccer Workouts)
  10 simple foot skills to improve ball control.
• Fast footwork for kids (Fast Feet Home Soccer Workouts)
  7 ball mastery drills for faster footwork and better control.

Goalkeeping

• Solo drills for goalkeepers (Conor O’Keefe)
  Simple drills you can do at home with very little equipment (during the pandemic) to improve your goalkeeping.

Juggling

• 3 quick tips to improve your juggling skills! (Unisport)

Shooting

• Full finishing training session (7mlc)
  A full 20 minute session on improving attacking movement and shooting.
• Three essential finishing drills for attackers (7mlc)
  3 very simple shooting drills for forwards.
• Three easy shooting drills to do for 30 minutes (UniSport)
  JayMike offers 3 simple drills that are similar to 7mlc’s above with some additional tips.
• Three additional finishing drills you can do alone (UniSport)
  Simple finishing drills you can do on your own to improve goal scoring.
• Improve your scoring with these drills (UniSport)
  Easy drills you can do alone with little to know equipment. You just need a goal and a ball.
• Finishing Masterclass (Leyton Orient Football Club)
  Great set of drills to work on with other strikers or a partner.
• Harry Kane’s Finishing Challenge (Tottenham Hotspur)
  Awesome shooting drill / challenge to improve finishing.

Speed, agility and quickness + stamina (SAQ)

Increasing your foot speed, agility and stamina will improve your game in all areas on the field.

• How to get faster feet in soccer (soccer.com)
  Several drills you can do at home in your driveway with former USWNT player, Yael Averbuch.
• 30 agility ladder drills (Redefining Strength)
  Thirty different agility ladder drills you can use to improve your footwork — from beginner patterns to more advanced.
• 5 fast feet exercises to improve foot speed at home (7mlc)
  Simple drills you can do at home to improve your foot speed.
• Fast feet training without equipment | 10 exercises (7mlc)
  Ten simple drills to do at home without equipment.
• 5 drills to do without the ball (Unisport)
  JayMike demonstrate five simple drills to do without the ball to improve fitness and stamina.
• Full speed training session (7mlc)
  A full 20 minute training session with 7MLC on improving top speed, acceleration and explosive power.
• 8 exercises to improve speed, agility and power (Soccster)
  Exercises that will improve your speed, power, agility and coordination.
• Improve your explosiveness with these 5 drills (Unisport)
  7MLC teaches you 5 drills to improve your explosiveness and speed.
• 3 ways to improve your speed and agility (Unisport)
  Three simple drills from 7MLC to improve your speed and agility.
• 5 essential speed and agility drills (7mlc)
  Five very simple drills you can do in your backyard with a handful of cones.
• Become faster with these speed drills (Unisport)
  In-depth speed training from Tanner Speed Academy in Sweden.
• Practicing acceleration on the soccer field (Dick’s Sporting Goods)
  Tips on acceleration with Becky Sauerbrunn of the US Women’s National Team.

2. Attacking tips & how-tos

1 v 1 dribbling

Taking on an opponent in one on one situations is a crucial skill to develop. Below are some tips and drills to improve your game in this area.

• How to beat a defender one v one (7mlc)
  Tutorial video with tips on beating defenders.
• How to beat EVERY defender 1v1 (AllAttack)
  Another video with tips on beating defenders.
• How to win 1v1 situations (Unisport)
  Three tips on beating defenders from JayMike.

Shooting and finishing

• 4 essential shooting techniques explained (Unisport)
  7MLC gives some solid tips on the proper technique to strike the ball, and the adjustments you can make to change how the ball behaves during flight.
• 7 ways to increase shooting power (AllAttack)
  Shooting with power tips. Great break down of the technique with some tips to practice (even when you don’t have a goal!)
• 5 quick tips to improve your shooting (Unisport)
  Lock your ankle, lean over the ball, aggressive run-up (power in plant foot), strike the center of the ball, practice game-like.
• How to shoot with power (7mlc)
  Long strides in run-up, aim with planting foot and bend knee, use arm for balance, strike the center of the ball with your instep, lock ankle, big back swing, lean over ball, follow through and land on shooting foot.
• Shooting with power (FourFourTwo)
• Top 5 ways to shoot a ball and score more goals (AllAttack)
  Five different shooting techniques.
• How to score a knuckleball (7mlc)
  7MLC teams up with the “Knuckleball Twins” to give you tips on how to kick a crazy knuckleball!

Passing and receiving

• Receiving the ball under pressure (Dick’s Sporting Goods)
• How to ping (and other passing techniques) (F2Freestylers)
  Overview of the different passing techniques, like the ping, lofted pass, trivela, whippage, etc. from these famous “tekkers”.
• Passing and striking with Becky Sauerbrunn (Dick’s Sporting Goods)
• Maximizing your first touch (Dick’s Sporting Goods)
  Tips on how to use your first touch to create better passing options from Becky Sauerbrunn of the US Women’s National Team (USWNT).
• How to control a ball in the air (AllAttack)
  Tips on controlling/trapping the ball when it’s is in the air.
• Controlling the ball in the air (Unisport)
  7mlc with Unisport demonstrates 5 different techniques to control the ball in the air.

3. Defending tips & how-tos

1 v 1 defending

• How to defend in 1v1 like a pro (360Player)
  Will John gives some tips on defending in 1v1 situations.
• Gaining possession from the attacker (Dick’s Sporting Goods)
  Becky Sauerbrunn of the USWNT gives tips on defending.
• Anticipating and intercepting a pass (Dick’s Sporting Goods)
  Tips for defenders on anticipating and intercepting passes from Becky Sauerbrunn.

4. Goalkeeping tips & how-tos

Technique

• Proper catching technique and positioning (Will John)
  Basic body posture and catching technique (the W), plus low collapse dive, mid collapse dive, front smother, and high ball techniques.
• Basic goalkeeper positioning (GKeeping)
  Overview of the proper keeper stance and ready position. Note that what is often called a “W” in catching technique is more like his “arrow shape” in practical application. Hands should be over the ball in this W-like arrow shape.
• Modern scoop technique (GKeeping)
  Breakdown of the proper modern scoop technique for handling low shots (i.e. no knee barrier behind)

Equipment tips

• Which goalkeeper glove cut is best? (Soccer.com)
  Great overview of the basic cuts / styles of goalkeeper gloves
• How to choose the right goalkeeper glove cut (Keeperstop)
  A longer explanation of various cuts and hybrid cuts
• How to choose goalkeeper gloves (Unisport)
  Katrine Abel breaks down her favorite glove brands and preferences on cuts

5. Performance tips

Mental — playing at your best

We cannot forget that an important aspect of soccer is our ability to perform at our best, mentally—to stay focused and confident.

• How to play without fear (Unisport)
  How to have less fear of making mistakes, improve confidence and other tips.
• 3 habits that changed football for me (Unisport)
  JayMike teaches three simple habits to make you a better player.

6. Soccer concepts

Basics

• How offside works in soccer (Slate)
• Football’s new offside law explained (Tifo Football)

Player positions and roles

Ever notice how some players play certain positions differently than other players? What makes them unique? And, what type of player are you?

Below are some great explanations from Tifo Football on common player roles as well as a few unusual ones too.

• What is a False Nine?
  Understanding the role of the ‘False 9’ striker.
• The Different Playstyles of the №9, Lewandowski, Alcacer and Co.
  The variety of players that bring different technical aspects to the #9 role.
• What is a Raumdeuter?
  Thomas Müller’s uniquely invented position at Bayern Munich.
• Enganche, Trequartista & Classic #10 explained
  An explanation of a few of the many different forms of the playmaker role.
• The reinvention of the Number 10
  How the classic #10 role has been reinvented in modern soccer.
• What is a Regista?
  An overview of the “regista” or deep-lying midfielder role in modern soccer.
• What is a Mezzala?
  An explanation of the drifting central midfielder role.
• What is the Makélélé Role?
  The role named after one of Chelsea’s great anchor midfielders. Perhaps we could call it the Julie Ertz role too?
• What is a Libero?
  An overview of the free defender role, and its use in modern soccer.
• What are inverted fullbacks?
  How inverted fullbacks can be used to increase offensive pressure.

Tactical concepts

• High defensive line (Tifo Football)
  Understanding this counter-intuitive, yet highly effective defensive tactic
• What is positional play? (Tifo Football)
  Understanding a popular concept used by Pep Guardiola’s and Thomas Tuchel’s teams.
• Tactics explained: zonal & man marking (Tifo Football)
  Understanding the 2 types of marking in soccer.
• How to ‘park the bus’ (Tifo Football)
  Learn how to use this pragmatic defending tactic.
• What is a half-space? (Tifo Football)
  Understanding the terms ‘half space’ and ‘between the lines’, and how to use these concepts.
• Exploiting the half spaces (Matt Ford)
  An analysis on how to use half spaces effectively.
• What is gegenpressing? (Tifo Football)
  Understanding gegenpressing, a.k.a counter-pressing.
• What are pressing traps and pressing triggers? (Tifo Football)
  Understanding pressing with lots of diagrams!
• Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool pressing and how to break it (Nouman)
  Tactical analysis of Liverpool’s style of pressing: gegenpressing.
• Pep Guardiola’s 20 Zone System, how Pep sees football differently (Football Made Simple)
  Pep’s understanding of the different zones on a soccer field, and why this way of seeing things is so advantageous
• Football positions are evolving (Tifo Football)
  Great explanation of how roles and positions may differ in modern soccer.

Want to see more?

What skills or tips would you like to see? What videos am I missing?

Let me know in the comments below.