How important is juggling?
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Anonymous
| My DS is 8 and plays for a local club. He can reliably get 5 or 6 juggles, but not much more than that. His coaches seem to put an emphasis on juggling as a measure of improvement, but I don't have a good sense as to what a realistic goal is for a kid in the 8-9 year old range. |
Anonymous
My daughter is an ECNL player. Every practice begins with juggling and if there is downtime/water break, you will always see kids juggling. Her coaches always say, "Juggling doesn’t make you a good player on its own but every good player can juggle." Let your son pick out a goal for himself and challenge him to juggle 10 min per day. |
Anonymous
Anonymous
On a top U9 team, the coach said the kids needed to be able to do 100 Now on U10, the coach says 175. I'd guess about 50% of kids have made the goals. Juggling isn't just about gaining skill...it shows the coach who's willing to put in the work when they're not at practice, since getting good at juggling has little to do with skill level, and is all about repetition and hard work. |
Anonymous
Oh, some of this couldn't be more off base. Juggling shows comfort and touch on the ball. Moving the ball around from foot to chest, to knee and so on does demonstrate work ethic AND skill. Correct, nobody juggles in a game but everyone receives a pass at a bad angle or has to trap a goofy ball. The ability to volley a pass for a goal all these things come from comfort with the ball that juggling can be a part of providing. First thing is to simply get proficient at juggling. That should occur by U13. Then work on tricks and moving the ball around off of different parts of the body or objects etc. But once kids get proficient it can be addictive for many but it is breaking through the 10, 20, 50 100 juggle barriers that are the hard part. |
Anonymous
It's great to see the bar being held high for kids, but my personal opinion, as an adult who can juggle until I'm too bored to keep going, is that 100 for an 8 year old might be overambitious. I'm sure some kids can do it, but many will struggle and if there are consequences for not being able to do that many at that age, then the stress for the child isn't warranted. Instead, I would tell each kid that they are competing with themselves (as opposed to with teammates or with others in the wings who will take their spot if they can't reach the goal). Let's say an 8 year old has a record of 18 juggles. Not bad, not great. I might say, "Okay, let's see if we can add another 50% to that in the next month." This means the kid will probably hit 30 in the next month. The following month, they'd be at 45 and the month after that almost 70. From 18 to 70-ish in three months feels reasonable. Ambitious, in fact. Meanwhile, a teammate who might have been at 36 when this started will have reached around 120 in that same 3 months. The player who can do 70 may still have better soccer IQ and vision than the kid who does 120. The important thing, as someone else mentioned is that there's really no such thing as a great player who's a lousy juggler. So, it's kind of a requisite for any chance at being exceptional. But the flip side to this idea is that there are plenty of outstanding jugglers who are lousy players --- some of whom even go onto become competitive freestylists and Youtube sensations. So, to the OP, I would suggest that juggling is critical and shouldn't be ignored. But by the time your child is 11 or 12, it becomes more of a way to command respect from opponents when they see him juggling during warmup. Assumptions are made about strong jugglers and there's actually a form of relaxation and confidence that comes with your opponent feeling like they have to give you space in the game because of the probability of your being able to dribble, pass and shoot as well as you juggle. |
Anonymous
| Technique is not being able to juggle a ball 1,000 times. Anyone can do that by practising. Then you can work in the circus. |
Anonymous
It's too bad your kid is on a top team and doesn't have a good coach -- or at least one who doesn't communicate well. Juggling is incredibly important to developing touch and receiving skills...and quality over quantity. |
Anonymous
It is ok, you don't really understand the point of juggling. To the OP. Essentially, don't stress about it. The first 20 are the hardest. Regardless of what the PP says, the practice and the technique are the point. Certainly a person could learn to juggle, do all the tricks and NEVER play a minute of soccer. But all kids who play soccer at a high level should be able to juggle. By mid teens, yes a player should be comfortable enough to hit a 1000 juggles. Does it mean they have too? No, but they should be comfortable enough with the ball that they could if they tried. Juggling just demonstrates mastery of the ball. |
Anonymous
I love you, whoever you are, for bringing Johan Cruyff into this. I feel like his quotes could keep soccer discussions happy and active until eternity. So many good ones. This one (above) is neither in support nor in opposition of mastering juggling. But let's all kick back and watch him juggle for a cause : https://youtu.be/tBnN6i9lajs |
Anonymous
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i have a U13 ECNL girl who only juggles to about 20.
She has decent foot work, good aggression and great awareness of the field. |
Anonymous
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"Technique is not being able to juggle a ball 1000 times. Anyone can do that by practicing. Then you can work in the circus. Technique is passing the ball with one touch, with the right speed, at the right foot of your team mate."
Johan Cruyff |
Anonymous
Juggling improves touch. Does your kid have the best touch on the field? |
Anonymous
I'm pretty sure that if you are incapable of juggling 20 times nothing that Cruyff said will likely ever apply to you. Again, not all great jugglers can play but all great players can juggle. |
Anonymous
LOL if you can’t juggle, you will not be one touching, with the right speed, at the right foot of your team mate. Also after you break 100 juggles consistently you juggle for time- ie 2 minutes, 5 minutes, etc. |