Sole rolls and tick-tock
Transcript
The sole of your boot lets you roll, drag and turn the ball. Here are two moves for close control. You need a ball and two cones, one metre apart. Stand between them, in your lane. Watch. Sole rolls. Roll it across with one sole and back with the other. First, keep it inside the lane. Now tick-tock. Tap it inside foot to inside foot. Then, pass it between your feet. Find your tempo, then speed up for one minute. Three rounds of each move is our target. Then take the free test at footballreach.com.
What it trains
Close control with both feet. The sole lets you roll, drag and turn the ball and change direction and speed; tick-tock moves it quickly from foot to foot with the insides.
Set up
- A ball
- 2 cones
- 1 m apart
- Stand in the lane
How it works
- Set two cones 1 m apart on flat, dry ground with about 3 x 3 m of clear space. Use a size 4 ball at U12-U13 and a size 5 from U14 (size 3 up to U11).
- Sole rolls: stand between the cones with the ball in front of you. Roll it across with one sole, stop it with the other sole and roll it back.
- Start with 30 s to find your tempo. Then do 3 rounds of 1 minute at a higher tempo, with 30 s rest between (our target), keeping every touch clean.
- Tick-tock: tap the ball from the inside of one foot to the inside of the other, eyes up. Same timing: 30 s tempo, then 3 rounds of 1 minute with 30 s rest.
Coaching points
- Keep it inside the lane. Roll the ball across the grass like wiping a table, with quiet, light touches, so it never runs past a cone.
- Pass it between your feet. Small passes from the inside of one foot to the inside of the other. Keep the ball inside your shoulders and your eyes up, so you can see the space around you.
Not this
Rolling or tapping too hard, so the ball runs out of the lane or wider than your shoulders, and staring down at the ball the whole time.
Dose
- Speed up for 1 minute
- 3 rounds of each move
Our target: 3 rounds of 1 minute for each move, with 30 s rest between, is our own target, not an FA or FIFA rule. With the tempo and rest time it takes about 10 minutes, the daily ball-mastery block in the Football Reach plan. The tempo idea is borrowed from a FIFA technical activation (passing) circuit: 30 s to find your tempo, then at least 1 minute at a high tempo, in drills of 2-3 minutes for a group of 5. FIFA sets no rest time and no number of rounds.
Harder / Easier
Harder
Do tick-tock while moving forward 10 m and back on a clear, flat 10 m strip of grass, with your eyes up on a far cone.
Easier
Go slower and stop the ball under your sole before each roll back, until every touch stays in the lane. A futsal ball helps too: the FA says it is smaller and less bouncy, so the sole is easier to master.
Safety
- Flat, dry ground with about 3 x 3 m of clear space around you, never a road.
- The ball can roll under your standing foot, so use grass or a non-slip surface, never a polished floor.
Sources
- England Football Learning - how using the sole of the foot can benefit players (opens in a new tab)
- FIFA Training Centre - mastering ball control (opens in a new tab)
- FIFA Training Centre - technical activation circuit 1 (opens in a new tab)
- England Football FutureFit - ball sizes by age group (opens in a new tab)
Not sure which skill to work on first? The free Football Reach test gives you a Player Development Score and shows which of the four corners of your game to work on next, in about two minutes.
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