Home Soccer Training: Getting The Most Out Of It

Soccer training is continuous and can take place anywhere. Therefore, you can create a flexible schedule to complement the other training you receive as a team during official practice or to improve areas you deem weak. Home training for soccer is a convenient approach that allows you to think outside the box, improvise and use customized training aids to fit your personal needs.

If you intend to train for soccer at home, here are tips that can help you meet your goals;

Work on Ball Control 

You can improve your first touch using only one foot while training at home. If your coach has mentioned that you need to improve in this area or feel you are not good enough with your first touch, focusing on it at home gives you an excellent opportunity to improve without pressure.

If you are alone at home, go near a wall and kick the ball forward and work on stopping it when it bounces back. You can decide the amount of pressure to place in the first kick based on how hard you want the ball to hit back at you. Then, keep increasing the distance until you reach the furthest point possible. 

This tactic works by assuming the wall is a player from your team kicking the ball to you for the first time from the far end of the field. You can improve your first touch by receiving the ball and kicking it back while still in motion. Alternatively, you can stop it with the edge of your foot before kicking it back. 

• Improve Your Ball Skills Using Household Items

As suggested earlier, home training allows you to explore your tremendous potential using all possible means. For example, you can use household items like small containers to replace cones and household ladder in place of the agility ladder.  

You can also use the wall as a rebounder to practice ball reception, first touch, and precision. When strength and stamina training, improvise by jogging up the stairs, helping carry heavy items, and running household errands, among other creative alternatives. 

Besides breaking the monotony of official practice, which your coach directs, you can have fun and customize what works for you as you train.

• Dribble the Ball Across the Yard

Improve your touch by dribbling the soccer ball across the yard, back and forth between cones or other objects you lay out in a straight line. You can control the ball's direction and speed using the front or edge of your foot. 

You can also practice dribbling with both feet or strengthen your dominant foot. Train your less dominant foot by pushing it to dribble the ball in and out of straight-lined cones. You can also jog with the ball in Infront of you and kick it with the weaker foot.

Learning to shift the ball from one foot to the other puts you in charge as you balance ball reception and passing with the most advantageous side. Maintain a good stretch when you dribble the ball while walking, jogging, or running in place.

• Practice Multitasking

The beauty of training and working out at home is that you are in charge of your routines and can choose a no-rules session. For example, try different ball skills when speaking on Zoom or FaceTime with friends and family to improve your multitasking ability.

You can incorporate simple dribbles, forward kicks against the wall, and controlling the comebacks as you engage in other activities to help your mind focus on all the field's dynamics when you get into a real game. In addition, this skill helps you manage your teammates' and opponents' activities without losing touch with the ball.

• Build an Obstacle Course

A soccer obstacle course offers customized all-in-one training routines consisting of five or more sections. This means you can achieve agility, strength, balance, stamina, ball control skills, dribbling ability, and accurate first touch at a go. 

You can start with simple warm-up exercises at the first point, stretching, squatting, and jogging a short distance. Jumping rope in the next step helps you prepare your body for the short sprints in and out of the cones before jumping on the agility ladder.

Bring the ball in at the fifth section, ensuring there is a wall or hard block in front of you to block and bounce it back to you. After ten repetitions, take the ball to the next stage, where you kick it through the cones. The last step can be dribbling, weightlifting, or jogging to prepare your mind to stop.

In conclusion, At-home soccer training workouts should be more fun and applicable without necessarily imitating what you always do during official practice with your coach. You can decide the suitable workouts without limiting your ability and explore your limits to the furthest point. 

Creating an obstacle course is a great start; you can engage your friends or teammates nearby to make it more competitive and exciting. Multitasking in the field is an important skill, and you can achieve this by Facetiming or Zoom calling family and friends while going on with your soccer ball business. 

Other exciting workouts include dribbling the ball across the yard and kicking it against the wall to build ball control skills.