 If you want to get on the ball more often, this video is for you. And I have to start by saying it is extremely important that you get on the ball as often as possible. If you wanna make an impact on the game, you wanna help your team win, you wanna have an influence with your play, you wanna stand out when you play, you want coaches, you want scouts, you want other people to notice you. You have to get on the ball more often. Now, if you're watching this video and you're saying, yes, this is something that I want to do, this is the video for me, I want you to take responsibility because a lot of us out there are saying, oh, if only my teammates passed me the ball more, then I would get on it more often. If only they saw my great runs and gave me better service, then I would get the ball. If my coach wasn't playing me out of position, if I didn't have to play winger and I was more in the center of midfield, then I would get on the ball more often. There may be some truth to these statements, but the reality is these are just excuses that are holding you back from getting on the ball more often. So let's move forward, but before we do, I have to say that it doesn't matter how many of my videos you watch. If you don't take the ideas and implement them, you will not improve. Some players are out there saying, I've watched all your videos and I'm not getting better. It doesn't matter how many videos you watch, what matters is the ideas that you take from these videos and implement them into your practices and games. So in your next game or your next practice, I want you to honestly ask yourself, did I do the things that you talked about in this video to get myself on the ball more often? I promise if you make these efforts, you will see the results. So let's get into it. The first thing you need to do if you want to get on the ball more often is understand that what you do when you do not have the ball will dictate how often you get on the ball. So I'll say that again, what you do when you don't have the ball, that's what's going to determine how often you get on the ball. A lot of us, we complain that we don't get on the ball enough, but if you analyzed our play, we're sitting in the same position, maybe we're playing full back here, maybe you're playing in the central midfielder here. Okay, and you're hiding behind players. When you're off the ball, I want you to always think about where should I be right now to create a passing angle for my teammate. That can mean making a forward run, a forward run. That can mean supporting a play, giving little passing angles. Okay, always think about the guy on the ball. If he turns, or if he gets his head up, am I available for the pass? Or am I cut off by whatever? Okay, if I'm playing in the back here, I still have to be thinking about how can I be an option for him if he does get trapped? Don't react, so you want to be ahead of the play. If you know he's on the ball, you want to be ahead of the play, okay? So what I mean by that is if you're reacting, he gets trapped, he gets turned, and because we were reacting, now he's turned and now we kind of make these angles for him and try to help him out. Okay, you want to anticipate that he may get in trouble. So before that even happens, we're already thinking about where are these potential passing angles for the player on the ball? Okay, so think about your off the ball movement. Be more active, cover more ground. Now I'm not telling you to run around like an idiot all around the field. Say, yeah, give me the ball, give me the ball, give me the ball, because this doesn't help anyone. Okay, what you want to do is you want to be productive. You want to be efficient. You don't want to waste your runs, but if you know that there's open space and you should be into that space, then make the run, okay? Be honest with yourself, ask yourself, am I being lazy with my off the ball movement? So the next time you play, be a little more productive. Work a little harder off the ball when you don't have it. Make those runs, always create those passing angles, whether that's behind the ball or forward ahead of the ball, but always think about where should I be when I don't have the ball off the ball movement, okay? Another thing that you can do if you want to get more involved in the play, you want to get on the ball more often is do more defending, okay? A lot of us complain, yeah, I wish I was on the ball more often, but the truth is the opportunity to win the ball is there and you just stand there and watch your midfielder or just stand there and watch your defender do the defending, okay? Or a guy's in front of you and he's on the ball and yeah, you give him some light pressure or you just kind of let him run past you and say, I'm an attacker, I'll let the defenders defend. If you want to get on the ball more often, can you start pressing from the front? Can we win it up here? Now suddenly you're an opportunity to get on the ball more often. So wherever you are in the field, whether you play striker, whether you're in the central midfielder or your defender, okay? Defending is a great opportunity for you to win the ball back for your team and get on the ball more often. I promise you, if you put more effort into your defending, the next time you play, think about how many passes can I intercept, how many tackles can I make, how many times can I nick the ball, how many times can I force my opponent to give up possession and make a mistake, then you'll get more involved in the play. Everyone thinks about, oh, I have five shots or I scored two goals, I may want assist, okay? But how many tackles did you make? How did you influence the game defensively as well as offensively? Even if you are an attacking player, okay? So think about adding some defending to your game, it's going to get you on the ball more often. Another thing I want to say is, if you like this content, check out the Soccer Success Planner, you can download it for free. There's a link in the description below. And for advanced training, check out the Online Soccer Academy. If you get on the ball and then you lose the ball, I've talked about this before, it's so important because it happens all the time. I still do this and players do this every time you play. You may have to admit to this yourself. Let's say you're this red player here and you took too long in the midfield and you lost possession of the ball and you made a mistake or the ball came to you and you had a bad first touch and a bounce off and you made a mistake. Most players in this situation, after they make that mistake, what happens? They don't want the ball anymore. They won't admit that, but they don't want the ball anymore. So when it is time to receive a pass, maybe in a tight area, they really don't want it. So maybe they don't make the run into that space or when they do, they're hesitant and they're already thinking about getting tackled or in the attacking third, okay, a pass was played and they missed a chance. So the next time that opportunity comes, they don't make the run because they're scared they're going to get it again and miss the chance again. So if you make a mistake and give the ball away, you miss a chance, you have a bad touch, you take too long and you know you made a mistake. The very next opportunity, you go and search for that ball. Give me that ball again, have that mentality that it doesn't matter how many times I screw up, I want the ball again and again and again and again. Okay, so wanting the ball desire to get on the ball is what's really going to get you on the ball more often. Okay, a lot of us say we want to get on the ball, but if you look at our movement, it's like hesitant, we just stay in the same spot all the time. After we do make that mistake, now suddenly we don't want it. If we do get it, we're just making simple passes rather than being direct, being productive, being confident with our play. Okay, so you have to have the ability to shake off mistakes quickly, especially if you want to be a top level player. So if you make a mistake, you miss a chance, you give the ball away, as soon as that happens, that next opportunity, you go hunting for that ball, give me that ball. So you want the ball, you're going to get on the ball more with your mentality, with your attitude and also your off the ball movement as well as your defending. Thanks for watching this video. If you found it helpful, please remember to give me a like, a thumbs up, share this video on social media, subscribe. If you want to watch more videos, hit that bell notification. And please remember, it doesn't matter how many videos you watch. What matters is how many ideas you take and implement into your own game. If you like this content, check out the Soccer Success Planner. You can download it for free. There's a link in the description below. And for advanced training, check out the Online Soccer Academy.