The Stepover v2 (continued)

The Stepover v2 (continued)

Well, continuing from where i left in the last part in my stepover practice. After making sure you've warmed up and done some stretching, go get a ball (of course) and place it slightly ahead and in between both foot. What i tried is basically having the the ball in a single place ahead of both my feet and then performing an 'immobile' stepover to get used to the movement and distance between foot and ball. The forward and sideward gap between the foot and ball really depends on the person, so try finding a comfortable position. When starting to do the step over on-the-spot, start slowly by moving each foot over and around the ball. At first, the main objective is to avoid any contact between the ball and your foot. This on-the-spot stepover also happens to work your thighs, ankles and knees depending on what kind of stepover you're performing.

Next, as you're getting more comfortable try increasing the speed at which you're stepping your feet around and over the ball, one method i tried is trying to synchronize my upper body movement along with my legs, this, might come in handy later when you want to do a body movement fake or turning at speed. One more thing, try not to be in a very upright and straight posture as the center of gravity might be affected too. Once you feel that it is somewhat starting to become effortless to do the on-the-spot stepover, try not to look at the ball or even better, try the inward / instep step-over. Well, this part of the practice is pretty simple to master and i found that in less than a week, if done everyday, it becomes easier and it was time for the next level, which if i will post in the next post ( and i'll try putting some pics too). So to all Cristiano Ronaldo and Robinho wannabes, stay tuned.

The Maradona 7 - Shoulder

The Maradona 7 - Shoulder

Juggling using your shoulder is the 5th and 6th of the Maradona 7. It's important as it test your ability to coordinate your upper part of the body namely shoulders and head. To improve this, here's some useful hints that you can use:

Step 1

Start by throwing the ball at head height and position your shoulder exactly below and pointing towards the center of the ball. The center it is, the more straight it goes. Then, follow through it with your shoulder.

Step 2

Start familiarising with your dominant shoulder first. Practice while building rhythm until you feel comfortable. Then practice with your weaker shoulder by juggling a couple of times using your shoulder. Always try to beat your previous score in order to improve and staying motivated.

Step 3

When you're somewhat familiar using both of your shoulders. Challenge yourself by combining your shoulder juggling from left to right or vice versa. Combining your shoulder juggling will naturally improve your flexibility and coordination. Though practicing your weaker ones will take massive amount of time and dedication. You can start using your head as well, juggling from right to left and finally using your head to finish it off.

That's it for today, stay tuned for the final part of Maradona 7 - Head.

The Maradona 7 – Thigh

The Maradona 7 – Thigh

This is the simplest among the other Maradona 7. In fact, it’s one of my favorites when I first juggled a ball. Here it is step by step:

Step 1

Place a soccer ball on the surface of your knee. You start with your dominant knee first. Find the flatter surface of your knee. Then juggle the ball with your knee by lifting upwards and follow through it. Juggle it once and catch the ball. Do this a couple of times. The point of this step is to find your knee surface where you’re most comfortable at so that the soccer ball would go straight upwards.

Step 2

From here onwards is all about juggling with your knees without letting the soccer ball fall onto the ground. Start with your dominant knee first and as you feel comfortable, you can practice with your weaker knee.

Step 3

You start juggling with your knees from left to right or vice versa. Try to emulate your previous record which would improve your technique quicker.

That’s it for today. Stay tuned for next week: The Maradona 7 – Shoulder

Ronaldinho's 'Espaldinha'

Ronaldinho's 'Espaldinha'

The guffawing magician. (picture taken from Reuters)

Well, i was watching the Uefa Champions League soccer game between Barcelona and Werder Bremen the other day and noticed another one of Ronaldinho's dazzling soccer tricks. It's what he calls an 'Espaldinha', a move where he flips the ball past the opposing player with his back and then follows this by performing a smooth back heel before sending a perfectly weighted cross-field pass to Giuly. He later went on to score a cheeky free kick which grazed the grass underneath the jumping wall of Werder Bremen. All this, in front of 95,000 plus fans in the Nou Camp. In my opinion, he is currently the best pro footballer playing for a club that can perform freestyle soccer tricks during matches. Pure Magic.

The Maradona 7 - Foot

The Maradona 7 - Foot

Welcome back, today we begin with a simple foot juggling. It's the most basic technique that any soccer or freestyle players would start with. Here are some hints showing you step by step.

Step 1

First off, let the ball bounce and kick it up to knee height and catch it. Kick it up a couple of times to find the right contact surface that you're most comfortable with. It's a good idea to start with your dominant foot first and then work on your weaker one.

Step 2

Once you've found the right spot to kick on. Try juggle with your right and then left or vice versa and then catch the ball. As you get better and more comfortable, try and juggle the ball without letting it fall onto the ground. Try to beat your previous record, that way you'll improve your juggling techniques.

Step 3

At this stage, you're probably can juggle the ball using both of your feet comfortably. Here's how you can improve your touches and coordination even further, whilst you've already know how to juggle at a stationary position, challenge yourself by juggling the ball with both feet while walking. Start at a slow pace, then as you build rhythm, increase your speed gradually. A more advanced practice is to juggle using both of your feet round a set of cones. A training method used by the former Chelsea player Gianfranco Zola .

That's it for today. Stay tuned for next week: The Maradona 7 - Thigh.

The Maradona 7

The Maradona 7

A well-known freestyle soccer trick which popularised by the man himself, Diego Armando Maradona.

The soccer trick enables a player to juggle the ball with right foot, then the left foot, then using your right thigh, then your left thigh, followed by juggling with your right shoulder, then on your left shoulder and finally the head.

For the next few weeks, we're going to look through each soccer trick with some hints and tips to help you improve and master the Maradona 7. The key ingredient is to practice, practice and practice.

For a start, you can do some basic warm-ups like a light jog, stretching your calf muscles, stretching your knees, rotate your foot and stretch your groins. I would highly recommend that you do some basic warm-ups first before you actually kick a ball because your body parts especially the lower areas are more relaxed and therefore makes it easier for you to juggle and improve on your performance. There you have it, be sure to stay tune for next week's first part of the Maradona 7 soccer trick:The Maradona 7 - Foot

The Step-Over v2

The Step-Over v2


One of the first freestyle soccer trick that caught my eye, the step over is definitely one of the more eye catching tricks. Here I’d like to share my own personal experience in learning the trick, with step by step methods and how to practice this trick and eventually master it, so that I could pull it off during matches. Firstly, before starting to practice, I’d make sure that I’d have warmed up and done the necessary stretching. As the step over requires you use the whole leg from the groin and thigh area all the way to the ankle and in some cases the heel.

After watching some videos of players performing this trick, I noticed that there are several ‘types’ of step overs, firstly the famous Robinho step-over, where robinho lowers his body to lower the center of gravity while somewhat closing himself down towards the ball, making it quite hard to tackle. He seems to be bending and using the knee more rather than using more of the thigh and groin to rotate around or over the ball. In my opinion, this would suit players who are smaller in size and length. Anyway, since I’ve got some free time now, I’ve decided to sharpen my step over skills and start all over from scratch.

Basically, the step-over creates time and space for a player who is up against a defending player. While being a very catchy skill, it can sometimes be very risky and unforgiving if its done in the circumstances. Next on, I’ll put up steps and methods that I’d try when practicing this skill. Stay tuned for more in the next post.