 If you want to improve your first touch and you're looking for some ball control exercises that'll help you take your skills to the next level, I'm going to show you none of that. I'm going to show you 11 easy ball control exercises you can do on your own in small space to improve your skills. Obviously, if you're outdoors, you can challenge your touch a little more, setting the ball up higher, but no excuses, you work with what you have, you make the most of it. So I'll show you 11 different exercises, give you a few ideas on how to perform each technique more efficiently, improve faster. So number one is this toe control. OK, so toe and I'm trying to cushion it, almost think of like a foot stall. You don't have to do it like that. But think of the idea of a foot stall. When you're doing a foot stall, your foot isn't going through the ball. Your foot is actually absorbing the ball into the ground. OK, so do that with the toe. I'm almost bringing my leg backwards rather than putting my foot through the ball. I'm actually going to bring, but I'm hitting, I'm not hitting me here. I'm hitting on the toe of the boot, absorbing it and almost bringing my leg back rather than this. You're going to have a lot more success already. Next would be a inside control. And when I'm practicing these, I'm just going to practice that touch, let it settle and pop it up. Go again on the other side. Let's give it a little cleaner contact. OK, I'm trying to hit with the inside of the foot, not on the toe here, not on the heel. Nice cushion here in order to do that. I need mobility. I need the mobility and the flexibility of the hips. A lot of players struggle. They can only open up their hip like this, but the more you practice this skill and really focus on flexing, really opening up. I want this to come vertical or parallel to the ground, horizontal, because it's actually the proper direction. OK, but I'd rather you turn it too much than not enough at all. Because if you don't turn it enough, the touch is going to go that way. This inside touch, I just wanted to set right in the middle. OK, so really focus on twisting, twisting that leg more and making contact right in the middle here, curling the toes upwards, just cushion. Now, let me just say when I'm doing all these drills, you'll notice when I do it in the demonstration, I want you to get away from one, two, three, four, five, six, pop and then perform the skill. You try to settle the bowl as quickly as possible. You're trying to get it back up in the air as quickly as possible. OK, so obviously you still need to perform the technique. So if you're rushing yourself and you're not allowed and you're not allowing yourself to perform the drill properly, then slow it down a bit. But if you're confident, you want to improve, you want to push yourself as soon as that ball settled, pop it up. And let's go again, popping up different techniques, different parts of the foot. Yes, we're getting to those. But just keep that idea in mind, trying to settle the ball as quickly as possible, pop it back up as quickly as possible, perform the next skill. Lace untied. Let's keep it natural, keep talking. I'm going to go outside touch now. So similar to similar to that inside touch, I need the mobility here. Outside touch, I need that mobility there. Just play with that. You might be stuck in this range of motion right here. Really try to flex it and even like I might do something like this in a warmup, but realistically, those are the same touches, same movements. OK, so if you want to perform that skill properly, you have to have the ability to twist the foot and it's the tightness in the hips and the groins in here. OK, so again, just like you were trying to hit the middle, not this side, not the toe. A lot of players will struggle with the proper contact point. So they're either hitting it here or they're hitting it here and it's bouncing off. You're trying to hit right in here. Make that flush, make that flat and the point of contact. You want to meet it here, not here, not here. I want to meet it here and just settle that ball play as quickly as possible, especially on your weaker side. This one took me a while when I was younger. It took me a while to get that on the weaker side. It feels really awkward. But the more you play with it, the more you compare it, you're right to your left. You're going to figure out that weaker side, flush contact, play it quickly. Next, I'm going up the body. I'm going to go with a thigh contact. So similar to the toe control. Remember, absorbing the ball. A lot of players, when they come to do their thigh, for some reason, they're going through it again, bring it down, absorb the ball. They only get the ball on the ground as quickly as possible so I can play it unless I'm trying to set myself to play in the air. OK, but for these, I'm trying to absorb as quickly as possible and then play. Think about the contact point. I want to hit on the thigh called thigh control, not a knee control. Thy control, obviously, sometimes it might come off the knee. And if it is off the knee, it has to be even more delicate because that's more bone. It's a harder surface. It's going to produce a bigger force if I'm going through it. And even if I'm coming down, I really got to absorb it. Chest. So with the chest control, for me, a lot of players, first of all, scared of the ball. So when it's time to chest, it's it's not an actual chest. They're not actually chest unit. They're kind of half. They're not showing their whole chest. I want you to open up. Open up and show yourself to the ball. Open up rather than scared or making a smaller surface. Open this up and then the other thing is the arch, the lean back. If I really want to cushion that there, I have to lean back. But again, absorbing, I'm not going unless I'm trying to run with the ball, I'm not going through it. If it comes at any more pace or a lot of height, I have to absorb it. So just think about opening up more, lean back more and having a better touch than that. Next, I was doing a head control, again, very small space. So when you're practicing this small space, it's actually good because you're working on that delicate touch. I can only hit it so far. If I hit it too hard, I'm hitting the ceiling here. So I'm trying to get the right weight of touch, but different techniques. And here I'm just thinking of wherever it comes, just dealing with it. So sometimes it might be more direct. Sometimes it might be coming from a little higher, but it's just a little touch. I'm not powering through it. Again, I'm absorbing, I'm absorbing all these touches, just getting on the ground, play as quickly as possible. Next, I went into more ground control. So on the half, all the, as soon as the ball, as soon as the ball bounces, then I'm going to get on top of it with these different techniques. So a lot of players, when they're first starting, they can't get the timing right and the ball's bouncing too much and they're trying to get down on it. If that happens, sometimes soccer, sometimes you have to make it work, but you're trying to get the perfect timing. So as the ball hits the ground, boom, I'm on top of it and I'm putting it back into the ground. It's like a half volley. Full volley, you're striking the ball out of the air. Half volley, you're striking it right after the bounce. Think about that. Right after the bounce, I'm getting on the ball. So the first one I actually did was a sole. And I wouldn't do that too many times in a match. You see Marcelo, Marcelo does that sometimes, like 50 yard ping across the pitch and he's just casual and then go and play. But it's a good skill to practice ball mastery. And if you're comfortable with it, use it in the match if it works for you. So again, perfect timing. I'm watching the ball. When I get really good, I can go no look, but I guess I can't even. But I want you to actually watch the ball with your eyes. I always say this and it sounds so self-explanatory and so obvious, but so many players, whenever you're performing technique, I'm not actually watching the ball. For example, if I was about to shoot, before I even make contact, my head is already up. I'm already looking at the ball before I even struck the ball. Or I'm playing a pass and before I make contact on the exact spot on the ball that I want to hit, I'm already looking up at my target or I'm already looking or worried about a defender trying to come and tackle me. Okay? So when you're performing this skill, I want to see the focus and the effort to actually watch the ball until it meets the ground. The next ground controller, it was an inside touch. So right after that half fully, inside touch and really focus on the movement. Technique is important. It's how you move with the ball. It's how you move your body. Be more athletic, be more on the toes, less on the heels. But I'm really, I'm getting that touch with the inside of the foot. Touching with the inside of the foot, getting over the ball. I'm bringing my hips over the ball. What I mean by that is I'm turning my hips over the ball as opposed to just putting my foot out there and then moving. I'm trying to move. I'm trying to move with my first touch and if I want an even bigger changing direction, I'm turning my hips over even more. Same with the outside of the foot. Okay, you can see I'm, again, watching. I'm focused, perfect timing body over the ball. You don't want to be back here if you don't have to. Always want to be over the ball because even if I have a bad touch, I can still get to the ball quickly. But this one, even more so, I'm focused on. My hips are rounded and I'm traveling with my first touch. I'm going somewhere with my first touch. Croyd, same. This one is trickier, but it's the same principle. It's timing of it and just getting on top of the ball. It's like a little hop. It's like a little jump because I'm actually, I'm focusing on getting my planting leg out of the way because if I don't, it's going to hit it into my soap. So a little drop will help me get that planting leg out of the way. But just like a Croyd turn, for me, a lot of players when they do a Croyd, they're actually doing a chop rather than really curling the toes and dragging the ball behind them on that line. So when you're doing this Croyd from the air, I really want you to curl those toes. It's not here. You're going to chop me in here. I want that foot turned here. Almost go too much the wrong way and you'll probably end up going centered. Okay, but just practice. And it's all about the timing, getting it right on top of that bounce. The last one I did was just the air control. So just don't let the ball hit the ground. Here you can have a little jumble, but still just go one, two, hop, one, two, hop. And I was using all different techniques, all the ones that we practiced. Okay, just going to drop the ball, but a few little touches, pop it up, control that ball. 11 ball control exercises or ball control drills you can do by yourself in a small space at home. Obviously, if you're outside, like I said, test yourself with that touch, go a little higher, that'll make it more challenging. Play with the speed of your movement. Don't put the ball on the ground, pop it up, and let yourself get set. Play more realistic. Settle that ball as quickly as possible, pop it up as quick as you can.