 In this tutorial I want to help you improve your vision. Now vision is extremely important if you want to be a great attacker, a good playmaker, but it's also important if you want to become a better defender. So when you are attacking, you have the ball at your feet or your team's in possession, you're focusing on the term that you've heard before, which is vision. But when you're defending, vision is actually reading the play, knowing what's going to happen before it actually does. So I want to help you improve vision on both sides of your game. So first of all, in order to improve your vision, you have to be more aware of your surroundings. So if I am just ball watching, which a lot of players do, as the ball travels, the only thing that they're focused on and the ball won't be in my hand, it will be out there. But let's say the other player is on the ball, even my own teammate, all I'm doing is standing there, flat-footed, focusing on him. Okay, I'm not aware of his teammates making runs in behind me. If that's my teammate on the ball, I'm not aware of where my teammates are if that ball comes to me. So I'm just ball watching. If this is the habit that I'm in, the mistake that I'm making, when that ball does come to me, I have no idea of what's around me where I should go. So if you want to play quicker, you want to be faster, you want to know where the pass is before that ball even gets to you, you have to be more aware of your surroundings. So the whole time you're playing, whether that's defending or attacking, let's focus on attacking. My team is in possession. Yes, I'm moving to get into space for the pass. You can play me a pass right here. But I'm always aware of where the space is around me, okay? I'm thinking about where are the opportunities. So if I do get the ball, where are the opportunities for me to either dribble into space or the opportunities for my teammates to make a run so I can play them a pass? If I don't know that, play me the ball again, and I'm just focused on the ball, I get it. Now I turn or now I'm dribbling. People are already closing me down. I don't know that my teammate was on a breakaway if I just played him the pass quickly. So in order to know that, I have to be constantly shoulder checking the whole time. First of all, catch yourself ball-washing. If you ever, now that you're aware of this idea, catch yourself making the mistake of just ball-washing and not being aware of everything that's going on around you, where the defenders are, where they're trying to close me down, where my teammates are. So first of all, you're constantly watching, yes, play me the ball, yeah. Okay, so I already know, boom, I can play him into space, something like that. I already knew he was there because I'm constantly aware of my surroundings scanning the field. So just get in the habit of always, where's the space? When you're attacking, focus on where's the opportunities for my teammates. Play that ball again. I already know, boom, first time, if you want to be able to play first time a lot more or play more quickly, you have to be aware of what's around you. Now defensively, we said this is called reading the game, I have to be aware of where the danger is. So attacking, I'm focusing on opportunities, spaces for my teammates, spaces for myself. Play me one more time. So even spaces for myself to dribble, okay? The vision is also being able, understanding where to dribble. But defensively, I need to be aware of where the danger is. So if I am, again, watching the player on the ball, just hold it for now, just watching the player on the ball. I only know where he is. I don't know that that guy's making a run in behind me. I didn't know that this guy's showing to space. Okay? I didn't know that, hey, I have to help out because it's a three-on-one back there. So when you're defending, yes, you need to be aware of where the ball is, but you also have to be aware of where the danger is. Okay? This guy's making a run. I have to stay with him. Or my teammate needs help at the back post. I have to get there. Okay? But if I don't know, I have to be aware of where the ball is. But if I don't know where the danger is, then I'm not going to be able to get there. Another important piece of having better vision, being able to see a pass, being able to see an opportunity when you have the ball at your feet, is you have to play with your head up. So play me a pass, please. So I'm sure you've heard it before. Your coach has told you a million times, play with your head up. And this is when players get in the bad habit. When they dribble, they're just like this. The only thing that they can see is right here. So they just end up dribbling into trouble. Or maybe they even beat a few players, or they're good at dribbling. But they can't see that, hey, it wasn't time to dribble. I should have played a pass then. Okay? So you need to get in the habit of whenever you have the ball, your feet dribbling with your head up. Now eventually, you'll be able to do it naturally. In the beginning, it will feel awkward for you. You may have to look down at the ball every time you touch. But get in the habit of getting your head up so I can actually see where the space is where I should dribble, where my teammates are in a better opportunity than me so I can play them in the pass quickly before the opportunity is gone. Get in the habit of getting your head up. Now obviously, this is something you can practice. If you just want to practice basic dribbling back and forth with your head up, not looking at the ball, looking at the space, scanning the field, using your peripheral vision. I can still see the ball, but I can also see where my teammates are, where the defender is closing me down. You can practice very basic, however, I would just get yourself in the habit of every time you dribble, tell yourself, get your head up, get your head up. The final thing I want to say about vision is even if you have vision, you have the ability to see a pass, you know which space you should attack, where you should dribble. It doesn't matter if you have vision, if you're too afraid to take that opportunity. So you may be able to see that pass and a lot of players will see the right pass, but they're not confident in their ability to play that pass, or they're too afraid to play that pass because they think they'll make a mistake and everyone will yell at them. So having vision is the first step. Having the confidence, the bravery, the courage to actually try and play that pass to your teammate, well that's the second step. So play me a pass again, please. So whether you are trying to dribble into space, you're trying to play a nice through ball, or you're trying to get a shot off, get a shot on goal. You need to have the courage and the bravery to actually try that. So vision is the first step, but when that opportunity is there, take it. If you make a mistake, if the pass doesn't get to where you wanted to go, your shot wasn't a good one like that, or you dribbled and you made a mistake, at least you tried. You can take that experience and you can learn from it. So be brave enough to try.