When it comes to looking up when dribbling, passing and receiving you’ll love adding these tips to improve your vision. There are usually two things players do or coaches say when it comes to vision in futbol. 1) looking down at the ball or 2) players look up without being able to see the ball. Neither of these is completely wrong, but there’s a way to do both at once. Let’s look below.
Improve your vision when dribbling and passing
To show how much this works, place a ball on the ground one foot in front of your feet.
Look straight down at it with your chin down. Then lift your chin and look 3-5 yards out in front in the grass.
With your chin up, look in the grass 3-5 yards in front and you’ll see EVERYTHING… Being able to see the ball, teammates and defenders all at once is key. You won’t see them super clear, but it helps you make quicker decisions.
Times where you have heavy pressure from a defender or when you take a bad touch, you’ll need to look down at the ball of course.
Other times you’ll need to look up/far for teammates without seeing the ball, but having this option to see EVERYTHING at once will help you in certain situations.
Look far and you’ll also see short
When you get the ball, look far and you’ll be able to see short, but if you only look short, you won’t also see far…
Johan Cruyff has a quote that says something like that. RIP to the legend…
Defenders playing out of the back
Not long ago an ECNL U-16 player from California emailed me asking for some advice…
He’s a center defender and his question was ‘where should he look when making a pass to his mids or forwards checking to’…
My answer: Most of the time you will look at the ball when passing. Before the pass you hopefully are able to look up at your teammates and the opposing team. Every now and then for advanced players you can make no look short 5-10 yard passes.
The same thing is true when receiving/trapping the ball… As you track the ball coming at you, have your chin up.
By keeping your chin up it helps increase your vision to see further.
Before receiving vs on the ball
It’s one thing to scan the field before receiving the ball. Then another to use your vision while on the ball [in possession of].
Both are important for every level…
Scanning probably takes longer to let it become part of your game.
Getting your chin up and looking into the space between you and the other players shouldn’t take too long.
It’s more of a knowing and being introduced to.
Add both of these to your game and you’ll improve your vision and play better.
Practice on your own [outside of team practice]
Players who practice on their own put themselves at a big advantage.
It’s such a rewarding and satisfying feeling during and after you train solo.
To learn more on how to train, find the search bar on my site and type what you want to know.
Also if you haven’t yet, get my online courses and do these at home! You’ll be happy and see improvement, but it’s important that you keep doing it.
Our Most Popular Posts:
- 3 ways to strike the ball with power
- How to boost confidence in soccer
- 8 best 1st- touch drills
- Expert dribbling tips
- Goal side defending
Follow @GFTskills on Social Media