Soccer players train together as a team. On average, they will spend 4 to 6 hours on training every day for 5 days a week. Take away 6 hours from 24 and you have 18 hours that can also be invested into practice.
There is no shortcut to becoming an exceptional soccer player other than increasing your training. Perhaps, this is why a lot of aspiring superstars are eager to know how to practice soccer at home.
Key Takeaways
- You can practice different skills at home with cones, a ladder, or just the wall of your house
- You only need a space of about 5 meters by 5 meters to practice most soccer drills
- When practicing soccer at home, make sure that your routine cuts across different skills
Practicing soccer at home allows you to reach your peak performance faster. If there is any skill that you have been eager to learn, practicing soccer at home will facilitate the time it will take you to perfect that skill.
Agility, balance, ball control, and footwork are some of the skills that you can practice at home. When practicing soccer at home, cones, ladders, and nets are indispensable pieces of equipment that you need to have.
Nevertheless, there are other practices that you can do at home that require nothing other than your ball. We will tell you all the ways you can practice soccer at home depending on the skill you want to enhance.
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How to practice soccer at home?
To be the best soccer player, you need to do more than what average soccer players are doing. Most professional soccer players spend long hours practicing with a personal trainer or practicing at home.
When practicing soccer at home, you will likely be dealing with limited space. Therefore, you will have to modify your training to fit into the limited space.
However, an empty garage or a lawn/garden measuring 3m square should be enough for you to practice soccer at home. Regardless of the size of the space you have at home, the outcome of practicing soccer at home is huge.
The biggest challenge that people who practice soccer by themselves face is the loss of motivation. However, setting small targets and checking them off each time you hit each target can keep you motivated.
That is why it is always important to start small and walk yourself up the ladder. Below are some of the skills that you can improve at home and the drills that will help get you there.
1. Footwork/dribbling
Footwork describes how you move your feet in soccer. Developing your footwork makes it easier for you to deceive your opponent. By developing your footwork, you will also be working towards having a good first touch.
Good dribbling skills can help you to get out of tricky situations in soccer and create goalscoring opportunities for your team. It is not surprising that the best soccer players also have great footwork/dribbling skills. The following drills can help you to improve your footwork at home.
Simple inside and outside movement
This drill helps to increase your muscle memory which makes it easier for you to improve your dribbling over time. For this drill, all you need is your soccer ball.
- Step 1
Standing in one position with the ball between your feet, use the outside of your foot to give the ball a small push. Bring it back to the initial position using the inside of your foot.
- Step 2
Do this for 1 minute with one foot and repeat the process with the other foot. Start slow and increase your speed as you get more comfortable.
Make sure to keep the ball as close to your body as possible during the movement.
Pull Push (Inside, outside, and laces)
This drill helps to improve memory. In addition to that, it also makes you used to kicking the ball with different parts of the foot. Interestingly, it can be done from a standing position.
- Step 1
Standing with the ball just in front of you, pull the ball back with your forefoot and give it a light kick using the inside of your foot.
- Step 2
Pull the ball back again using your forefoot and give the ball a light kick with the laces
- Step 3
Pull the ball back again and give it a light push with the outside of the foot. Then start all over again.
Do this drill for 10 reps with the left and right foot to help you develop controlling the ball with both feet. Start slow and gradually increase your speed.
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For this training simply arrange your cones in a straight line with a gap of about 50 cm between each cone.
- Step 1
Starting from one end, play the ball through the gaps between the cones using the inside and outside of the same leg.
- Step 2
When you get to the other end of the cone arrangement, change your foot and repeat the process from the beginning. For example, if you started with your right leg, use your left leg during the return.
Start slowly to condition your muscles to the movement. As you get more comfortable, challenge yourself by increasing your speed.
Square cone
The good thing with cones is that you can use them for soccer training in homes with very limited space of about 2m by 2m. There are several agility drills that you can perform in this space but you will need a friend to pull them off.
- Step 1
Arrange four cones into a square of 2m by 2.
- Step 2
Stand on one end of the square while your friend holds the ball and stands with the ball.
- Step 3
Standing on one edge of the square, your friend will throw the ball towards you, kick the ball back to your friend and move quickly to the other edge of the square and repeat the same throw and kick.
There is no limit to the number of drills you can do with this set up including kicking with a certain part of the feet or introducing heading. See the video demonstration below.
2. Aerial ball control
Working on your footwork and dribbling skills will also improve your ball control for balls rolling on the pitch. However, soccer players frequently get aerial passes from their teammates and need to control the ball to execute their next move.
The good thing about soccer drills is that one drill will usually improve more than one skill. For example, soccer drills for aerial ball control will also improve your first touch.
Juggling
One of the best drills for improving aerial ball control is juggling. It helps you to get used to balls approaching from a height.
- Step 1
Throw the ball up in the air and juggle it with one foot, making sure that the ball doesn’t touch the ground. Do this for about 1 minute and change to the other foot.
- Step 2
Try juggling the ball by alternating between both feet while also making sure that the ball doesn’t touch the ground. Do this for 1 minute.
3. Heading
Taller players usually have the edge when balls are crossed into the 18-yard box. They are often the targets for corner kicks. Developing your heading skills can make you an indispensable player in your team and help you score important goals.
Heading drills are not complex and only require a ball and the assistance of a friend who will toss the ball to you. The most important thing when it comes to heading the ball is getting the right form to avoid brain injury.
To properly head the ball, you have to keep your neck stiff and keep your eyes open. When your eyes are closed, the ball can hit you on your nose, leading to a fracture.
- Step 1
Start with sitting on the floor with your legs pointing forward. Have your friend or sibling toss the ball to you and try to return it to him or her with your head while maintaining the right form. Do this for 10 to 20 reps.
- Step 2
Change to a kneeling position and repeat the first step.
- Step 3
Change your position to a standing position and repeat the first step.
- Step 4
Once you have mastered heading the ball from a standing position, proceed to jump to head the ball. Have your friend throw the ball at a height and jump to meet the ball.
4. Endurance
It takes endurance to go through the entire 90 minutes of a soccer game without tiring out from fatigue. Players without good muscular endurance will show clear signs of fatigue after making a few runs.
Thankfully, there are myriads of soccer drills you can practice at home to help boost your endurance. Try to accommodate as many of them as possible in your daily routine.
Skipping
Skipping or jumping rope is better done in an outdoor space so that your rope doesn’t get entangled in an obstacle. You can use your lawn or garden for this drill.
- Step 1
Hold the rope with both hands with the rope resting behind you
- Step 2
Swing the rope from behind and above your head
- Step 3
As the rope gets close to your legs, jump up so that the rope passes under your feet. Keep swinging and jumping for up to 3 to 5 minutes.
Pull up
Strength training exercises are good for soccer and can boost your endurance. This is because strength training requires muscle exertion, thus, helping your muscles to get used to working harder and longer.
Pull up can help to increase your muscle endurance. It also helps you to get a stronger upper body which will make it harder for your opponent to shove you aside during a tussle for the ball.
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- Step 1
Hook your pull-up bar to the vertical frames of your doorway.
- Step 2
Grab the pull-up bar and pull yourself up until your head is well above the bar. Repeat this for 10 to 20 reps.
5. Passing
Accurate passing is an important skill that every soccer player should have or they risk giving the ball away to their opponent all the time. Unlike popular opinion, you don’t need anyone to work on your passing skill.
The wall can come in handy when you want to practice passing at home. Wall drills have become popular among players who practice soccer at home. Below are popular wall drills that will improve your passing.
Bull’s eye
As the name suggests, the player is expected to hit a target on the wall repeatedly.
- Step 1
Make a mark on the wall where you want to hit the ball. It can be a circle or a star
- Step 2
Stand about 10 meters away from the wall and kick try to hit the spot. Do this for around 10 reps
- Step 3
Once you steadily hit this target without much difficulty, move 10 meters backward so that you are now 20 meters away from the wall. Try hitting the same target again.
- Step 4
Continue moving backward and attempting to hit the same target. This drill will help to increase your short and long pass accuracy if constantly done.
One-two simulation
As the name suggests, this drill simulates a one-two touch with a teammate. The only difference here is that your partner is the wall.
- Step 1
Mark 2 or 3 spots on the wall that are about 20 meters apart.
- Step 2
Starting from one end, play the ball to the first mark on the wall at 45 degrees. Make a run as soon as you kick the ball. You should be running parallel to the wall.
- Step 3
The ball will rebound at an angle. Meet the ball and kick it to the second mark. Continue the process until you exhaust your marks.
Alternatively, you can set up a mini soccer net and try to shoot the ball into the net from different distances. This drill can also help to increase your focus when shooting to score a goal.
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6. Agility
Soccer players need to change direction quickly on the pitch and that is where agility training comes in. Agility training is one of the soccer practices you can do at home using an agility ladder.
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- Step 1
Lay out the agility ladder on the ground
- Step 2
Starting from one end, jump into the first space between the rungs of the ladder. Continue jumping until you get to the end.
- Step 3
Switch things up by jumping through the length of the ladder on one foot. Change to the other foot when you get to one end.
Check our previously published post for some of the best agility drills to improve your game performance.
7. Speed
The game of soccer is becoming faster and soccer players know the importance of working on their speed. Unlike the 100-meter dash where the athlete tries to maintain the same speed from start to finish, soccer is split into short bursts and longer dash.
Shuttle run
One of the best soccer drills for improving short bursts is a shuttle run. All you need to complete the shuttle run is a space of about 6m in length.
- Step 1
Place the first cone at a distance of 2m from your starting point, then the second at 4m, and the third at 6m.
- Step 2
Run to the first cone, touch it and run back to your starting point. Then, run to the second cone and touch it and return to your starting position. Do the same for the third cone.
Conclusion
Although soccer teams train together, you can only get ahead of the competition by training on your own at home. From your wall to your lawn and garage, you have all your need to practice soccer at home.
Training together with your team has its benefits too. Firstly, it helps the team to build technical skills. Each player will understand the other and know the role they will play to contribute to the overall success of the team.
Also, when training together, each member of the team will serve as a motivator to their partner. However, when it comes to developing personal skills, you are better off practicing on your own and in your home.
While watching doesn’t sound like a practice, it is something you can also do at home. As a soccer player, you can learn a lot from other players by watching their game and taking note of how they play.
Hi there, I’m Jay.
Soccer is everything in my life! My friends and I have created this blog with all our enthusiasm, passion, and understanding after years of playing pro soccer. Hope you will enjoy it!