Real Salt Lake Soccer Tips - Dribbling

Chris Klein from Real Salt Lake gives beginning soccer players the basics of dribbling the ball.

Video Transcription

Ori Hoffer: We are taking with Chris Klein, a midfielder for Real Salt Lake; Chris, thanks so much for joining us. Chris Klein: Thanks for having me. Ori Hoffer: We are going to be taking about the skill of dribbling and, obviously, you can't use your hands, so you have to use your feet; one of the most important skills in the game. Chris Klein: This ball is very valuable and so when we get it we like to keep it. One of the ways that we can keep it is by dribbling. The thing I like to remember when I am dribbling is I am the most dominant with my right foot. So I am most comfortable dribbling with my right. So if Ori comes out here and he is defending me, if I only have a right foot Ori is, obviously, going to force me to my left. It's going to become very difficult for me to keep the ball. So one thing I would like to remember is we want to use both feet, inside and outside of our foot. So if I just dribble Ori down to the other end here, I could come in and out using both feet to kind of keep Ori on his heels. When he dives in that's when I can go by him. That's the first thing we would like to remember. Now the second thing we would like to remember is we want to keep the ball close to us. If I am dribbling towards Ori and I just kick it blindly it's going to go right to him. Small touches keep control of the ball. Sometimes it's not always about speed. So we want to keep control on the ball, nice and close, so that he can't get the ball. The third point and finally if when I dribble my head is looking at the ball and I dribble like this, he is going to come in and steal the ball, very easily. So the third thing we want to remember is head up. As you progress in soccer this becomes a lot easier to do. This ball become second nature and when we dribble we can keep our head up looking for other options, either a pass, or an opening where we can dribble or shoot. So those are the three things we would like to remember. Inside, outside, both feet, keep the ball close to use, and finally keep our head up. When we have mastered the skill of keeping the ball close to us using both feet in and out, there are times when Ori is going to leave me no choice but to throw him a few moves so we can get past him. So let's say I am dribbling towards Ori, I am going to send him that way and that's just a little step over. It is one thing we like to call step over where I get all my weight and Ori's weight going that way and I take the ball with my opposite foot and go the other way. So if I am dribbling towards Ori, again, and you are off. Sometimes you get yourself in a little bit difficult predicament where you need some trickery to get by him. Let's see if this one will work here, and we are on the other side. Soccer is a game of creativity. One thing that I like about it is you can't really put players in a box. You can be as creative as you want.