To become a good dribbler, you need to spend time with the ball and
take to heart these six key fundamentals.
Steps
- Use all the surfaces of your foot. Most often
you will be using the front portion of your instep, especially when
you are dribbling at speed. However, to become a good dribbler of
the ball, make sure that you are adept at using the outside and
inside of both feet. This way you can cut the ball away from
pressure and keep control of the ball no matter where the defensive
pressure comes from. You can also use both sides of your foot, like
a hockey player's stick.
- Touch the ball with each step you take with the
ball. In very quick succession, touch the ball a little
bit ahead of you when you dribble. This will create both good
control and increase your dribbling speed with the ball. With this
kind of control you can elude defenders when they try to reach in
and steal the ball, you can just cut the ball away since it is
always so close to you. It is almost as if you are trying to get as
many touches in as you dribble forward with the ball. Go slowly and
exaggerate this at the beginning when you are practicing, to ensure
you are getting a touch on the ball with each step.
- Change the pace. This is the key to going by a
player on the dribble. You don't necessarily need to be extremely
fast to beat someone on the dribble; rather, you need to lull the
defender to sleep for a second and then break past the opponent
with a burst of speed.
- Lift up your eyes. Subtly be aware of your
surroundings as you still maintain focus on the ball while
dribbling. Lift your eyes slightly so you know if someone is making
a run, another defender is approaching, or there is space to
attack.
- Improve your weak foot. The best advice is
just to use it. If you continue to strike the ball against a wall
with your bad foot, slowly but steadily you will see improvement.
Have patience. However, there are always exceptions; if you look at
one of the best players in the world 'Rivaldo', he only uses his
left foot, simply because his left foot is so incredibly powerful
and he positions his body so well to protect the ball. He is a
player who is so experienced and so skilled with his left foot,
that he can get away with it.
- Use your body to protect the ball. Shield the
ball with your body when a defender gets close. Try to keep the
ball on the foot that is furthest from the defender and your body
protects the ball.
Tips
- Tips/Drills: A great drill is simply weaving in and
out of a set of cones, and you can of course get creative. Make
variations in the drill and put rules on yourself to make it more
difficult.
- Put about 8 to 10 cones in a line, about three yards apart, and
dribble in and out of the row of cones without touching or knocking
over the cones.
- Also, try not to touch the ball too far away from the line of
cones; instead, keep the ball close to you and don't dribble out
away from the row of the cones.
- When you have this down, you can then vary the way that you
dribble through the cones and set rules on yourself: just with the
right foot and then just with the left foot, and then alternating
feet, where you touch the ball to the left and then to the right as
you weave through the cones, just with the inside of the feet, and
so on.
- You can make up other restrictions to put on yourself to try to
improve a specific part of your dribbling technique.
