 If you want to improve your soccer skills right now, this video is for you. Dylan Tooby, Progressive Soccer, I'm about to show you five simple but very effective soccer skills tutorials that will actually make you play better in your next match. When it comes to dribbling, the most important thing for me is being direct. Have purpose. Do something when the ball is at your feet. Don't be hesitant. Don't be slow. Try to drive towards net. Take up that open space with purpose. On the other side of things, you don't want to overcomplicate your play and take too many touches when it's not necessary. Some of you are going to look at this clip and say, I want to dribble like that. Yes, you need to have skills. You need to be creative when the ball is at your feet, but you have to do something with the ball. Don't be a Neymar wannabe trying to faint and beat a guy six different times when all you have to do was beat him once. Be direct with your dribbling. If the space is there, take it without hesitation. Without being an effective dribbler, you have to develop the ability to go both directions. I'm always going to encourage you to work on both feet. Have two strong feet. But if you favor one foot more than the other, you still have to be able to go both right and left. Otherwise, you become very easy to defend and very predictable. The best dribblers dribble with a low center of gravity. They get low to the ground. Their touches are sharp. They change direction quickly. Most players, when they're on the ball, they're too upright. There's no bending their knees. They don't get low to the ground. They can't protect the ball. They can't shield the ball. Obviously, this is very overemphasized, but this is how most players turn and dribble. When you're dribbling, I want you to focus on the quality of your body movement as much as the quality of your touches. So bend your knees. Be explosive with your turns. Protect the ball with your body. So my simple but effective advice for better dribbling. Number one, be direct with your dribbling. Eliminate hesitation and do not overcomplicate your play. Number two, develop the ability to dribble in both directions. Obviously, if you can be a two-footed player, you're going to be more effective, but make sure you're able to go both right and left with confidence. And number three, focus on having a lower center of gravity. Bend your knees when you turn. Make quick, sharp cuts and explode in the opposite direction. The first tip for better ball control is what I call making visual contact with the ball. Now this may seem silly, but most players, when they're about to control or have a first touch, don't actually watch the ball all the way to their foot. So whenever possible, watch that ball all the way to your foot to ensure that you make better contact and have a better first touch. It's also really important that whenever possible, you move quickly to get behind or underneath the ball as opposed to lunging for your ball. This applies to receiving passes and balls in the air. Instead of lunging, putting out your foot, quickly move your body as quickly as you can to get behind the ball or underneath it. Even if you have a poor touch, you'll be on top of the ball and you'll be able to react quickly. So instead of lunging for passes or lunging to control balls out of the air, quickly move your feet, get there and focus on a good first touch. Please understand, your current skill level is the direct result of the amount and quality of practice that you have put in. So if you want to improve your skills, you want to improve your ball control, juggle every single day. If you can't hit 500 consecutive juggles, I would encourage you to juggle every day until it becomes a reality. Once you become comfortable with that, start working on other ball control techniques, becoming comfortable with all different parts of your feet and body. So to recap my advice for better ball control, number one, focus on actually making visual eye contact with the ball to your foot. Number two, instead of lunging for passes or lunging to control the ball out of the air, quickly move your feet to get there and focus on the quality of your first touch. Number three, practice juggling daily, especially if you're a beginner. If you cannot hit 500 consecutive juggles right now, that is your current ball control goal. Whether it's 50 or five yards, I want you to focus on the quality of every single pass. Most people are lazy and careless when it comes to their passing. I want you to overemphasize your passing technique. Get your body over the ball, make strong foot contact, follow through to your target. Next I want you to think about shaping your passes. It's okay to play a straight pass, but if you're always playing across your body and you're unable to curl the ball away from the defender, you're more likely to get your passes intercepted. So think about where is the defender? How can I curl it away from him? And also how can I curl the ball into the path of my teammate to make it easier for him to control? Just like any other skill, it's very important that you're confident passing the ball with both feet. If I know you only have a right foot, you become very easy to defend. Even if you favor one foot more than the other, make sure you can play a confident pass with your weaker foot. Advice for better passing. Number one, overemphasize your technique and take pride in the quality of every single pass. Never give the ball away due to a careless or lazy pass. Number two, shape your passes away from defenders and into the path of your teammate. And number three, develop the ability to pass effectively with both feet so you're unpredictable and hard to defend. When it comes to shooting, the most important thing I want you to start with is actually having the desire to get your shots off. So many players getting good situations and they hesitate or end up passing to a teammate because they're afraid to miss. Whenever you have the opportunity, drive with purpose and get your shot off even if it isn't the best. The biggest mistake players make when shooting is trying to hit the ball with too much power. It usually ends up in losing control of their body or making poor contact with the ball. Instead of focusing on power, focus on good technique. Use about 80% of your top power and you're still going to be able to hit the ball with great pace. You'll be surprised at how good your shots are when you start to focus on technique rather than power. And in many situations, it's probably better for you to get your head up and place the ball. Don't rush your shots. If you have time, pick a corner, put it there with pace, but pass it into the corner rather than trying to blast the ball as hard as you can. When most players have the opportunity to score, they're actually thinking about missing rather than shooting technique. Now this seems crazy, but think about a time when you had a great goal-scoring opportunity. Were you thinking about your shooting technique or instead, were you thinking about missing the target? The opponent tackling you, your teammates and coach getting upset. When it's time to score, focus on what you can control and that is your shooting technique. After all the missed shots out of your mind, visualize the goal. Recapping advice for better shooting. Number one, actually have the desire to shoot whenever possible and don't pass up scoring opportunities. Number two, prioritize technique over power and whenever possible, instead of blasting as hard as you can, actually place your shots. Number three, when it's time to score, focus on scoring, not missing. Realize yourself putting the ball in the net. Focus on good shooting technique. If you want to learn some freestyle tricks to impress your friends and show off a little, that's cool. It will help you improve your ball control, but do not tell yourself that this is actually making you a better player. It isn't helping you get closer to your goals. So number one, you have to focus on real match skills that are actually going to help you perform better in games and allow you to help your team win more matches. Tricks are fun. I went through a phase when I was younger of mastering these skills, but in my opinion, the best trick is putting the ball in the back of the net.