In Oz, we grow up with a football from a very young age so our coordination the ability to handle the ball is second nature for most of us. Over seas, and in the US in particular, there is a huge following and close to 100 teams that play every Saturday just like us here that haven't had the years of handling the ball like we have so here's my tips:
Picking Up the Ball
The beauty of our game, or the problem, is that our ball is oval which means unlike a round ball, it can bounce anywhere at anytime and you never know which way it will go. The best way to go here is to simply attack the ball as hard and as fast as you can. The less chance you give the ball to bounce, the better chance you have at getting it. If you are new to the game tough, initially you will want to run as fast as you can at the ball but the 1 - 2 steps before you're about to pick it up, slow down a little to give yourself a little more time to predict which way it will go.
With a partner you can simply have them kick or roll the ball towards you while you run to it, starting about 5m away and increasing the distance and the pace of the kick/roll as you go along.
By yourself, you can kick the ball in front then run onto it to pick it up on the run.
Above all just handle the ball as much as you can whether it be at home, with your mates or at training.
I was put onto your blogs by a friend who wanted an opinion on your information. I think the majority of what you write is quite informative but my advice would be to leave the skill development stuff out as this is very poor overall advice reeking of old cliched footy talk. To correctly teach picking the ball up off the ground you first need to realise that their are two distinctly different techniques required. One for when the ball is rolling towards you and another when it's rolling away. You have also spoken nothing about body positioning, spending time over the footy where the ball should be in relation to the body when you pick it up. My advice would be to stick to the S & C and leave this off your site as it is very amateurish at best
ReplyDeleteHey Mate,
ReplyDeleteThis site has followers from players overseas (as well as locals) who have hardly seen football, let alone picked one up. It's amateur information for you, but to them it's what they need.
Thanks for reading though, constructive criticism is good.