Six Drills for Ball Control, Dribbling and Foot Skills

Ball control is not one skill. It is three that get lumped together: receiving, keeping, and travelling. A player can be excellent at one and hopeless at the others, which is why "work on your control" is such useless advice.

These six drills cover all three, need nothing but a ball and a few markers, and fit into fifteen minutes.

Receiving: the first touch

1. Wall returns

Pass against a wall and control the rebound with one touch, setting the ball up for the next pass rather than stopping it dead.

• How to set it up: Any wall, five to eight yards back.
• How long: 30 each foot.
• What good looks like: The ball ends up a comfortable stride in front, ready to strike.
• The usual mistake: Killing the ball flat under the foot. That is a stop, not a first touch.

2. Turn on receipt

Same wall pass, but the first touch turns the player ninety degrees rather than facing them back at the wall.

• How to set it up: Same wall. Alternate turning left and right.
• How long: 20 each direction.
• What good looks like: One touch does both jobs: control and turn.
• The usual mistake: Touch, then turn. Two actions where there should be one.

Keeping: close control under pressure

1. The shrinking box

Keep the ball inside a square, making the square smaller every thirty seconds.

• How to set it up: Start at three yards, shrink to one.
• How long: 4 rounds of 30 seconds.
• What good looks like: The touches get smaller as the box does.
• The usual mistake: Same size touches in a smaller box, so the ball keeps escaping.

2. Sole roll holds

Roll the ball side to side with the sole, keeping the body between an imaginary defender and the ball.

• How to set it up: No equipment.
• How long: 60 seconds, three rounds.
• What good looks like: Shoulder dropped, arm out, ball on the far foot.
• The usual mistake: Standing square. A square body shields nothing.

Travelling: moving with the ball

1. Outside-foot lane

Dribble twenty yards using only the outside of one foot, then back on the other.

• How to set it up: Two markers, twenty yards apart.
• How long: 4 lengths each foot.
• What good looks like: Ball stays on the outside, no inside-foot corrections.
• The usual mistake: Sneaking in inside touches to keep it straight.

2. Change of pace runs

Dribble slowly for five yards, then explode for five, then slow again. Trains the rhythm change that actually beats defenders.

• How to set it up: Four markers, five yards apart.
• How long: 6 runs.
• What good looks like: The acceleration is obvious and the ball keeps up with it.
• The usual mistake: One constant speed. The change is the skill.

A fifteen-minute session

• Three minutes: wall returns, both feet
• Three minutes: shrinking box
• Three minutes: outside-foot lane
• Three minutes: change of pace runs
• Three minutes: free play, no instructions