Table Of Contents

Introduction ----- 3

1. Mentality ----- 5
- Soccer IQ
- Belief in yourself
- Secret mental method
2. Routine/Organization ----- 9
- Schedule
- Morning routine
3. The Ideas ----- 12
- Watching pros
- Learn from the best
- Play everyday
- Joining a team
- Repetition
- Improvement
- Take action
- Crave more
- MVP
- Consistency
- Whole foot
- Secret Sauce
- Time management
- Sacrifices
- Healthy eating
- One v one guide
- Effective moves
4. Drills ----- 29
- Dribble everywhere
- Juggling
- Cardio
- Fitness with a witness
- Basics
- Weak foot
- Shoot!
- Placing
- Targets
- Dribbling drills
Helpful Resources and References ----- 39

Bonus! ----- 42
 Intro

Thank you for picking up this e-book and taking a step towards your
improvement as a player! I want to say first and foremost that I ended up
giving this e-book away for free, so if you paid for this book, get your
money back.

That aside, this book goes over many ideas, strategies, techniques and more
that are going to help you improve your game as a footballer. It will help you
become more aware of the different areas you need to be working on and
will hopefully introduce you to some new ideas which will either in the long
run impact your game in a great way, or at the first least help you figure out
an issue in your game that you are currently going through.

I’ve made it so that you can come back and refer to it time and time again
when you need a new approach, idea, or just need a refresher. Many of the
ideas in this book may seem simple, but sometimes the most simple idea are
the ones that have the most impact.

An important point I want to make is that just reading this book alone isn’t
going to allow for change. You will need to actually apply what you learn
here. Start experimenting with some of the ideas and I even leave you
exercises after most ideas so that you can start getting a feel for what it’s all
about.

So once you have the idea and it resonates with you, be sure to take the
action. The action taking is what is going to allow for growth. You can know
everything there is to know. But you if you don’t take action, it won’t matter.

I recommend you read this ebook all the way through, and then go back over
sections where you need more clarity or you want to start applying the ideas
of. However, you can of course go through this anyway you’d like. That is
just my suggestion.

Finally, I decided to make this e-book free after much thought and that it felt
right to do so. This way the book will reach more players since I realize not
everyone can afford a paid e-book or course. All I ask is that you share this
e-book with everyone you believe it will help by sending them to
simplysoccerpro.com and asking them sign up for the free course with the
download now button. That way not only will they get this book, but the free
email course as well!

I don’t really have a goal with this book, but I would like it to reach and
impact as many players as possible in a positive way. Regardless of how big
the impact is.

Thank you so much and I hope you enjoy the e-book!

- Dave
 Chapter 1:MENTALITY
Introduction

This is unfortunately one of the most overlooked areas in not only soccer,
but in most other sports in life. There is a reason that some extremely
talented players never make it and some do. They may have unquestionable
talent, but their head isn’t in the right place.

This chapter will go over some techniques you can use in order to start
getting your head in the game. Don’t neglect this part of yourself because it
can be the difference between success and failure.

Soccer IQ

So what is soccer IQ? Do you ever watch soccer matches and hear
commentators rave about how certain players are geniuses or they have an
amazing footballing brain? These are players that have a high soccer IQ.
They are able to see things happening on a football pitch before they happen.
They know where their team mates are at all times, they know where they
have to play the ball next, they are aware of all of their surroundings.
Combine that with skill, and you end up with a player like Zidane.

The good news is that you can improve your soccer IQ. It isn’t easy, but
the more you immerse yourself in the game, the better your soccer IQ will
become. Unfortunately, there isn’t really any quick way to do this. It comes
with experience

However, one of the best ways to increase your soccer IQ is to watch as

many professional matches as possible. But don’t just watch them, analyze
them. As you are watching be aware of what is going on and why certain
players are doing certain things. Also watch players who possess a high
soccer IQ. Looking at the best in the world usually helps as you need a high
soccer IQ to be that good. Players like Messi, Ronaldo, Suarez, Pogba,
Hazard and so on.

EXERCISE: Start watching as many high level soccer matches as you

can. Make sure you are not only watching, but that you are also analyzing.
Figure out why players do certain things in certain situations. What they do
off the ball along with on it.
Positive Mindsets

Negative breeds negative and positive breeds positive. If you have

negative self talk and always put yourself down, you will have low
confidence. If you have positive self talk and you are always encouraging
yourself and empowering yourself, you will have confidence in abundance.

Your personality goes from in to out, not out to in. What that means is,
what happens internally is what you project outwards. So if you are negative
internally, you will be verbally and physically negative. If you are positive
internally, you will be verbally and physically positive.

This has a powerful effect on your self image. Ever realize that people
who genuinely believe that they’re awesome tend to be much more positive
people? It’s because they have a positive self image of themselves.

Here’s a little test, I want you to describe yourself right now. Go on, I’ll
give you a minute...

People go one of two ways with this test. Either they go through
everything they are good at to describe themselves, or they’ll rattle off the
things they are not so good at. So for example, someone might describe
themselves as a funny, charismatic, and passionate, while another person
might describe themselves as awkward, anti social, and lazy. Who do you
think has the positive mindset?

If you are someone that describes yourself negatively, then we need to

address that. It will be difficult to achieve anything with that kind of
mindset.

EXERCISE: I want you to start describing yourself in a positive light.

Anytime you are about to have a negative thought about yourself, observe it,
tell yourself it isn’t true, and then replace it with a positive thought about
yourself. This may be difficult to do at first, but stick with it and you’ll start
to improve. You’ll also start to become more positive!
Belief In Yourself

One of the most important mindsets that you are going to need to create
is a belief in yourself and your own ability. You need to believe that if you
are faced with a problem, that you can deal with it. That if you are faced
with a challenge, you can rise to it and complete it.

Becoming a good soccer player is very difficult without belief in your

own ability, but don’t worry, it can be developed. This is an area I struggled
with for a lot of my life. Positive mindsets, like we discussed previous, are
essential in developing belief in yourself.

A good way to determine if you have belief in yourself is to imagine

yourself taking a penalty kick. Are you 100% sure that you’ll score? If not,
then you lack a little belief in yourself my friend. There are a few ways to
start trusting yourself more.

First one is repetition. You want to believe that you can do something?
Then do it over and over again. Then you’ll have the feedback that you can
do it. So if you are nervous taking penalties, take 50 everyday. Do you think
that you are going to be nervous when you go to take one in a match if you
have been taking 50 everyday beforehand? No. You can apply this to any
area of your game that you are lacking belief in yourself in. Unsure of your
ability to beat a player one on one? Practice skill moves everyday. Get
nervous when one on one with a keeper? Practice your finishing everyday.

The other way to really develop self belief in yourself is, like mentioned
before, positive self talk. Encourage yourself when you need to, praise
yourself when you do well, and don’t be too hard on yourself when you mess
up.

It is really important that you take action (repetition) but you need to make
sure that the thoughts in your head are assisting you, not causing you to
regress.

EXERCISE: Write down one area of your game that you lack belief in. I
want you to list the drills you can do that would improve that area of your
game. Practice every single day. Get in as many repetitions as you can. For
example, don’t trust your ball control? Juggle for 10-20 minutes everyday.
The Secret Mental Method

This method I was going to include in a different product altogether, but

I’ve decided to include it briefly in this one. The reason I was, and probably
still will, going to create a product around this idea, is because it is so
effective. I’ve had it work for me and have had numerous other players
contact me telling me how well it has worked for them. So there is no reason
it won’t work for you.

Basically, our minds are extremely powerful. Sometimes, our brains

can’t differentiate between reality and visualization. Visualization is when
you concentrate very hard on an outcome or a story in your mind. So let’s do
one really quick.

I want you to visualize that you are at a sunny beach. It’s nice and warm
and you can feel the suns rays on your back. The beach is peaceful, there are
only a few people besides yourself there. You let out a long relaxed breath
and feel your whole body start to loosen. You start to listen to the sounds of
the waves lightly crashing into the sand and the seagulls chirping above...

Were you able to visualize that? The amazing thing about this is, if you
concentrate hard enough, you can hear all the sounds you visualize, you can
almost experience the feelings you visualize and you can induce a state of
relaxation. Another great thing is that visualization can help our
performances in soccer.

Now we are going to do something similar for soccer this time. In order
to get an idea of this, watch this video on the subject.

If you do this daily, or at least before every single match. You will be
absolutely amazed at how well things go for you.

EXERCISE: Watch the suggested YouTube Video all the way through.
After you are done, I want you to try the technique out yourself. Follow
exactly what the video says. Try this out before a practice or match as well
and see what happens!
 Chapter 2: ROUTINE/ORGANIZATION
There are only going to be a couple of ideas in this chapter, but don’t
think it isn’t an important area because of that. Having good progressive
routines and keeping those routines organized will contribute greatly to
whether you succeed or not.

So use the following ideas to organize yourself and develop routines that
help you progress on a daily basis.

Make A Schedule
I am going to do this in three parts. You should have a daily schedule that
lists exactly what you are going to do on a certain day, a weekly schedule
that goes over your week and also a monthly general schedule. I would also
recommend creating a morning routine that you will do everyday as well.

Monthly Schedule: I have found that keeping a monthly schedule has

helped me to follow through on more things and also to stay more
accountable. Realize that many of these things can move around, so don’t be
afraid to change something if something more important comes up.

I personally use what is called a Panda Planner. You can google that and
check it out if you wish! I find that it really helps.

Each month I will write out the things I want to accomplish during this time
and also any appointments or events I have going on. For example, I’ll write
out days I have matches, when I need to do certain videos or other important
dates.

It’s almost like a general outline for what I need to do on a certain day or
have done by a certain day. It gets more specific in the weekly and daily
Schedules.

Weekly Schedule: So, every Sunday I will sit down and reflect upon the
week that just happened.

I will also plan out the week ahead. I’ll take my goals, habits and other areas
into consideration when creating this.
I simply print out a template which you can find here: weekly template.

I then fill that out with what I am planning to do during the week. Now
remember, these things can change. So don’t be afraid to switch things
around if you need to. But I find having the schedule written out makes me
much more productive and helps me focus on what I need to get done.

It usually takes me an hour or so every Sunday to create this schedule. That

may seem like a long time, but would you rather take the hour to create a
weekly schedule that is going to help you improve, grow and be productive?
Or would you rather wing it and get very little done?

Obvious answer by the way.

This can apply to other things you have going on in your life and not just
soccer. But I do plan out my training sessions for soccer and fitness during
this process. It really does help me stick with them.

Daily Schedule: So now we are on the actual day! I personally use my

panda planner for this which has a template to follow, but you don’t need
one to do this.

If I didn’t have my panda planner, I would simply write out the night before
what my goals, priorities and focuses are for the next day. I would then
check that again in the morning so I know what I should be focusing on.

Mainly, I would follow what I have written out on my weekly schedule. But
sometimes things will change. If that’s the case, I will make that clear on my
daily schedule.

I will also write out what my priorities for the day are (what needs to get
done first) along with what my goals for the day are. This only takes me
about 10-20 min.
Morning Routines

I have created a video around this idea, and I will link to it after I explain
it here. Basically, we all act based on our habits. Habits are consistent daily
behaviors. So, for example, biting your nails is a habit. If you have that habit,
you’ll sometimes even do it without noticing.

By creating daily, morning routines, we allow new habits to be formed.

In order to create a new habit, we have to do it everyday for at least 21 days.
So what does this have to do with soccer?

Simple. We want to create the habit of not only being healthy in the
morning, but of playing soccer everyday. If we create a morning routine that
includes, we must juggle a soccer ball every morning for 10 minutes, we will
be creating a habit that is going to improve our soccer game through
juggling. Remember, consistency is key and what causes us to improve. I go
over this concept a lot more in this video.

My morning routine consists of many activities that are designed to help

me get ready for my day. For example, I have mediation and journal as
activities I’ll do during my routine. They aren’t necessarily soccer related,
but they help me out anyway.

EXERCISE: Come up with some ideas for your morning routine. What
will help you get ready for your day and what habits do you want to create?
Write out a list and then choose the ones you think are the most important
for your morning routine. Remember, you can always adjust your morning
routine later, so don’t be afraid to include something you are unsure about. If
a week from now you don’t think it is helping you, simply remove it.
 Chapter 3: THE IDEAS

This will be one of the more important chapters in the book. Our ideas
about ourselves and the world make up a lot of who we are as people.
Therefor if you have self deprecating ideas or ideas that do not serve you,
you need to remove them and replace them with ideas that do.

Having said that, some of these ideas are simply suggestions for some
methods, techniques and practices that I recommend you doing. You’ll see
what I mean the more you read on.

Watching The Pros

Want to be the best? Then learn from the best. It sometimes astounds me
how many soccer players don’t actually watch the best players play. I have
learned so much about soccer from simply watching games on the telly. It
has helped me improve my skill moves, shooting, positing, and tackling
among other things.

You will start to see patterns in games after you have watched many
matches. This is you developing your “soccer brain”. You are now starting
to understand more about soccer, which will in turn help you more on the
pitch. I remember vividly watching a professional soccer match as a kid the
day before I had a game. A player pulled off a move in the game and beat
two players. The next day in my match, I was faced with a similar situation.
I copied exactly what I had seen the pro player do and ended up beating two
players and scoring my teams game winning goal. This happened simply
because I watched that match and was able to apply it to my own game
situation.

You can also watch compilations of players on YouTube. But be warned.

These videos usually only show skills and goals. You can’t appreciate
everything that happens in a game and everything that a player does in a
game unless you actually watch the full match. So I would make sure you
are watching both. A few good leagues to watch would be the English
Premier League, Spanish La Liga and the German Bundesliga.

EXERCISE: Commit to watching at least 1 high level match each week.

Watch a game from one the leagues I recommended above, or watch a high
level Champions league match. The more games you watch, the more you
will understand the game from a tactical point of view. It will also help you
in matches because you will learn what to do in certain situations. I can’t tell
you how many times I have used moves I’ve seen in pro games in my own
matches.

Learn From The Best

We already went over briefly that you should be watching pro matches
so that you can learn from them. I am again stating that you should do that,
but there are other players you can learn from as well.

Is there a superstar currently on your team or at your school? Perhaps

there is a kid you have played against that is just so good. Instead of getting
jealous of them, why not learn from them.

It’s always a good idea to observe good players that are around you. So if
there is a player on your team that is amazing, watch what they do. What
makes them so good? Are there certain moves they do? Do they train
incredibly hard? Are there subtle things that you just can’t see at the moment?
Find out what makes them so good and learn from it. You can definitely
learn from the players around you.

For example, if there is an amazing player on your team who keeps

beating players one on one? Would it make you a better player to learn that
move and master it? Probably.

Always be willing to learn from those around you. The worst thing you
can do is be jealous of someone who is currently better than you. Instead try
and learn as much from them as you can.

EXERCISE: Identify at least 1 player that you play with who is

extremely good. The next few times you play with them or see them play,
observe them. Analyze them and figure out what makes them so good. Then
apply what you can to your own game.
Playing Everyday

We are what we do every single day. What do I mean by this? I simply

mean that we are the sum of the actions and decisions we make on a daily
basis.

If you want to be a great soccer player, you will need to be playing or

practicing in some way every single day. I already mentioned how daily
routines can effect our productivity. Playing soccer everyday needs to be
something that is included into that daily routine.

Even if you only play for 10 minutes a day, every day, you will improve
more than the player who practices for an hour only once a week.

Of course, you’ll want to try and practice longer than that each day, but it
is a good place to start. I am trying to show you that playing everyday is one
of the most beneficial things you can do in order to improve yourself as a
player. Some days you may be able to play for hours, other days maybe only
10 minutes. Regardless, make sure you are getting out there and getting
touches on the ball everyday. This is one of the most important ideas when it
comes to your development.

Of course, you need rest days as well. But even on those rest days
spending 5 minutes juggling won’t hurt you. This will ensure that you don’t
break your momentum. Momentum is going to be one of the biggest
contributors to you improving massively as a player. You don’t want to break
your momentum if you can help it.

EXERCISE: Are you practicing everyday currently? If not, it’s ok. don’t
get down on yourself. But what I want you to start doing is setting 10
minutes aside each day to kick a ball around. After you have that down, you
can move onto practicing for longer periods of time. Don’t bite off more than
you can chew. Concentrate on doing a little bit so you get used to it, then you
can move onto practicing for extended periods.
Joining A Team (That You’ll Play On)

It is true that if you work hard and you practice everyday, you’ll get more
out of individual training than team training. Individual training allows you
to concentrate on what you need to get better. It allows for what’s called
deliberate practice. But that doesn’t mean team training isn’t important. You
need both! If you are not on a team, you need to find a team to play on so
that you can gain match experience.

When it comes down to it, we train hard so that when it comes game
time, we play well. But if you are not on a team, you aren’t playing any
games at all!

You need to be testing your ability against other players in order to gauge
what level you are at now. Being on a team will teach you this, along with
team work and other valuable skills.

Here is the catch though. Yes you want to play on the best team you can
currently get on. But, if you are not getting any game time, you won’t be
benefiting. Make sure you are playing on a team where you get game time,
that is essential. You can always upgrade to a better team once you have
improved, but if you are on a great team, but not getting game time, it will
stunt your growth.

Think of how the pros work. Many of the best teams in the world have
some very talented youngsters. These teams are aware that since the
youngsters are not going to get any time in the first team at that time, that it
will stunt their growth. So how do they handle this situation? They loan out
their players to other teams where the player will get first team football.
That is how valuable first team football is!

So you should adopt the same mentality. If you are not playing on your
current team, and it doesn’t look like you’ll be getting game time anytime
soon, don’t be afraid to change to a team where you will. No matter where
you are, there should be local teams. Don’t use this as an excuse to not work
hard however. Dropping down a level should only be temporary. Once you
have improved, go for a really good team again.

EXERCISE: Examine the amount of game time you get on your current
team. Are you getting a good amount of time every game? Or are you only
get a few minutes here and there or sometimes none at all? If you are getting
game time, good. Stick with that team. But if you are not, start looking for
other teams you could potentially join where you would get to play. Be
careful with this decision. Sometimes not getting into a team will provide a
challenge that you can then rise up to.

Repetition Makes Perfect

I mentioned this vaguely a little earlier, but it deserves a more in depth

explanation. Soccer is a sport of repetition and muscle memory. What this
means is the more you practice a certain aspect of soccer, the better at that
area you will become so long as you are practicing correctly.

Yes it can be boring at times to do the same thing over and over again. I
get that. Nobody really wants to take a ball and do step overs over and over
again in their back yard, or to juggle over and over again when they would
rather be taking shots or doing something else entirely.

The fact of the matter is, that doing this will cause you to improve
significantly. Let me repeat that,

Doing this will cause you to improve significantly.

So you have to ask yourself, is it worth disciplining myself and working

on a certain area over and over again? The reward is significant
improvement so I should hope that you said yes.

I’ll tell you what, let’s try it out. I want you to pick 3 skill moves that
you really like. Ones that you would love to be able to pull off in matches.
Here is a video with 10 skill moves: MOVES.

Now, pick 3 and I want you to do each of these moves 5 times with each
foot as fast as you can everyday for a week.

Yes I understand it may seem boring to do these 3 moves everyday for a

week, but humor me here. What if I told you that by the end of the week,
you will see obvious improvement? Would it be worth it then? Besides, it
will only take you about 10 minutes a day in order to do this little
experiment.

You’ll start to see notice something a few days into doing this. You’ll
notice that it is starting to feel more comfortable when you are doing the
moves. Compare how well you can do each move on the 7th day, with how
well you were able to do them on the first, and you will see a considerable
difference. Now remember, this will only work if you do the moves everyday,
if you skip a day, it won’t work as well.

EXERCISE: Pick 3 moves from the video and commit to performing

them 5 times each with both feet everyday for a week. I promise that you
will see results. If you like what you see, keep going! You are under no
requirement to stop after the 7 days are up.

Actively Seek Improvement

One thing I have learned while I’ve been on the path of self development,
is that it is very easy to become comfortable once you experience a little bit
of progress. You start to feel good about yourself because you’ve
accomplished something, and although this is not a bad feeling, it can cause
you to become a little less motivated to improve further.

Perhaps in the last match your hard work paid off and you scored a
couple of goals and were man of the match! Good for you! You obviously
don’t need to practice hard anymore right? You had a great game.

WRONG!! Do you think Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo say “Ok,
I’ve won the Ballon d’or. No need to train hard anymore”. Absolutely not.
They go back to training the very next day and give it their all in order to
become better and better. Ronaldo even famously went and trained
immediately after receiving his latest Ballon d’or (best current player in the
world award).

What separates good players from great players is that great players are
actively seeking ways to improve themselves. Good players only put in the
minimal to average amount of effort hoping their talent alone will propel
them, while a great player puts in as much effort as they can muster and then
some. This means they work hard, eat right, do their research, try new things
that might cause them to get better and so on. They are proactive when it
comes to their improvement. They don’t wait for someone to come to them
in order to help them improve and they don’t leave anything to chance.

If you can adopt a similar mentality, you will not only go very far in
soccer, but in life as well.

EXERCISE: Have you been working as hard as you can? Are you
committed to become a great player, or simply a good player? Start
analyzing your life and pinpoint some areas you can improve on that will
help you along the path of becoming a great player.

Implement Ideas (Take Action)

For some of you, this next idea may be obvious. Yet even if it is, very
few players take this all important step. This important step is to actually
take action. Not to just think about it, but to implement it.

So many people fantasize about what their life could be like if they were
to go out and take action and then never do it. It’s no good to do a ton of
research, gather information and then take no action. Improvement is all in
the action taking.

So when I tell you that juggling for as little as 10 minutes a day can
make you a better player, you can’t just hear that and expect the magical
soccer gods to make you better! You have to actually go out an practice it.

The great thing is that you can change yourself from someone who
suffers from analysis paralysis to someone who takes action in a short
amount of time. You just need to start. Just start, no matter how little that
start is. Movement creates momentum, while stagnation simply encourages
more stagnation.

So give it a shot. Next time you read about an idea, technique, practice or
whatever that really resonates with you, try to implement it every day for at
least a week even if it is only a few minutes each day. See what happens
when you create momentum. The progress you can make in a short amount
of time when you take action may surprise you.

EXERCISE: So know you now that you need to take action, it’s time for
some implementation. Choose one practice, drill or technique that you think
will help you improve and I want you to do it for at least 5 minutes everyday
for a week. Once the week is done, compare how good you were on day one
to day seven.

Craving More and More (Always Be Challenging Yourself)

Here is another idea that would be very beneficial to adopt. Stagnation is

one of the biggest banes of man. People will get to a certain level or point
and say “done!”. They will accomplish something and believe that they are
finished, that they have made it. They’ll convince themselves that they can’t
get any better or that they don’t need to. This is what causes them to fall into
what I call a stagnation state.

Here’s the deal. You can always accomplish more, you can always
improve upon what you have already achieved. Many people think that it
will take too much work in order to keep moving forward. Trust me, once
you become addicted to the process of working hard and challenging
yourself, it becomes one of the most satisfying things in life.

Imagine waking up each morning a better person than the last. Imagine
waking up and seeing all that you’ve already accomplished and envisioning
everything that you could accomplish still! It invigorates you for life. It
makes working hard fun and fulfilling. Apply this to soccer and you’ll
become a machine!

EXERCISE: Identify one area of your life that you once considered you
couldn’t achieve more in and reevaluate it. Are you sure you can’t challenge
yourself more in that area? Apply it to soccer. Identify an area of your game
you are very pleased with. Are there any ways you could challenge yourself
more in that area?

Finding The MVP In YOU

Look at any team and the most valuable players on each of those teams
probably have a few attributes in common. Sure, they are usually very good
player, but they are not necessarily the best player on the team skill wise.

In order to become your teams MVP you have to become one of your
teams most important players. In order to do this, you have to be someone
who is willing to take risks. Very rarely is the most valuable player the one
who never takes a chance. You have to be willing to shoot when no one else
will, try that risky through ball, and beat that player one on one.

An MVP knows when to be a team player, and when to be more selfish.

Usually, players are one or the other. They are either too selfish, or too much
of a team player. Yes, you can be too much of a team player. You see,
sometimes taking a man one on one is more beneficial to your team than
passing. Sometimes taking that shot is more helpful than retaining
possession. The most important players have a balance between selfishness,
and team work.

Learn to take risks more often. You’ll soon learn when the appropriate
time to take one is. You’ll learn when it is best to pass, dribble, try a through
ball, or take a shot on goal. Sure, you may mess up sometimes, but you’ll
also succeed sometimes as well. The impact of your successes will be much
greater than your blunders.

EXERCISE: Start taking a few more risks in training. Again, you need
balance, so don’t only take risks. But start taking more one on one
opportunities, through balls and shots.

Consistency

There are many strategies I can give you, skill moves that I can show
you, and techniques that I can teach you. Many of them are contained in this
book! But here is the issue. If you don’t learn consistency, it doesn’t matter if
you know all the techniques, skills and strategies in the universe!

That should give you a general idea of how important consistency is.
Think about it, can you really improve at something if you don’t practice it
often? You may, but certainly not as much as you would want. Consistency
is the difference between the average person you encounter on a day to day
basis and someone who stands out and obviously has done something
that separates them from the pack. This not only applies to soccer, but to
most things in life.

So, if you truly want to become not only better at soccer, but truly great
at soccer, you have to master consistency. This means practicing all the time.
Every. Single. Day. You should be finding the time and a way to improve
your game every day of the week in some form.

Now, I understand that this isn’t easy, especially if you haven’t engaged
in deliberate consistent behaviors before. In order to help this process, I
recommend creating a schedule. I tend to write out what I want to do on any
given day the night before.

You should also begin to create a routine that you do every single
morning. But you also want to have separate drills that you do on certain
days. So for example, let’s say that Monday and Wednesday you work on
your footwork. Tuesday and Thursday you work on ball control, and so on.

Even though your individual focus will change each day, your routine
should include the same drills everyday. For example, my morning soccer
routine I concentrate on the areas I think are the most important, ball control,
dribbling and technique. So I juggle, shoot against a surface, pass and
receive and practice a few skill moves.

Consistently practicing will help commit them to habit. This will make
you skyrocket when it comes to improving you game.

EXERCISE: Start thinking of a morning routine you can do that will

help your game. Make sure you write it down so you don’t forget. What
areas would you like to improve the most? These areas should be involved in
some capacity in your morning routine. To learn more about developing a
morning routine, watch this video: MORINING ROUTINE (insert)

The Whole Foot

Sometimes I wonder if some players forget that their are many parts of
their foot that they can utilize. Most tend to use only one part because they
are not accustom to using any other part of their foot.

This puts them at a disadvantage though. I can’t tell you how many goals
I have scored and how many goals I have created while using the outside of
my foot. If you are only utilizing the inside of your foot, you are limiting
yourself as a player.
 The main two parts of the foot that are used in soccer are the inside and
outside. You can also use the sole and the heel of your foot, although for now
let’s concentrate just on the inside and outside.

The reason learning to use both effectively is important is because it will

give you more options when playing. It will also allow you to react more
quickly when in certain situations.

You’ll also be able to learn more moves, score more goals, create more
opportunities, pass better, and become more unpredictable. Watch any high
level professional match and watch how often they use different parts of
their feet.

The only way to improve this area is to start using both parts of your feet
in practice. So when you are training, try to use both equally. There really is
no shortcut here, but it is worth it in the long run.

EXERCISE: Start to use both the outside and the inside of your foot
when you are practicing. Practice passing with both, shooting with both and
controlling the ball with both areas of your foot.

My Secret Sauce

This really isn’t a well guarded secret, and I have mentioned it many
times. So if you have an evil plan in the works in order to steal my “secret
formula”, you can tell plankton that it’s ok, I’m about to give it to him.

Spongebob references aside, this idea is actually very simple. I have also
gone over it already in this book. I want you to know that this is probably the
single most important idea that has helped me dramatically improve in
soccer and my life in general. And that idea is consistency.

Through consistent behavior you develop habits. Through habits you

develop skills. Through skills you start to develop who you are. If you do
something every single day, guess what!? You make that a habit. It will start
to become apart of you.

This means if you juggle a soccer ball every single day, you will develop
incredible ball control.

If you practice the step over, body feint, and elastico every single day,
you will begin to master those moves.

If you dribble every single day, you will become one of the most feared
players to your opponents.

Do you get what I am saying? You should realize how important this is
considering that I have gone over it twice and named it as my “secret sauce”.
You might think that this isn’t a big secret at all! But are you consistent on a
day to day basis? Do you work everyday on the skills that you want to
improve? I consider this my secret sauce because this is truly what has
caused me to become a high level soccer player over EVERYTHING ELSE!

So if you really want to become an amazing soccer player, you need to

start mastering consistency. Everything you have read and will read in this
book can be mastered through this one simple idea.

Consistency.

Time Management

We have already gone over the very important idea of consistency. Well
this next idea will help you achieve that consistency. You are going to have
to do a little bit each day if you want to improve at something. In order to
help us, we need to have effective time management. It just makes
accomplishing our everyday goals much easier

It’s our small everyday goals that need to be met if we are to eventually
attain the big goals that we have. Whether that goal is to make a certain
soccer team or to to simply see constant improvement, they are achieved
through consistent practice.

So how to we open up the time we need in order to practice everyday?

The fact of the matter is that everyone already has the time available to them
in order to practice. It’s just a matter of prioritizing and scheduling out when
you will practice.
 Time is one of the most precious commodities in the world. It can’t be
bought with money, many people waste time, and there doesn’t seem to be
enough time in the day. Once you learn to use time in your favor and learn to
manage it, you can productively go about your day.

First off, you need to have a daily list filled with what you want to
accomplish on that day. You’ll have all of your small goals on this list. For
example, my list for today looks like this:

Morning routine
Rest Day
Live Stream
Daily Habits
Instagram post
Work on video for Sunday
Etc

The first one on that list is a morning routine I do everyday. I have gone
over the importance of having one of these in place. This is the main
constant in my schedule (something that doesn’t change much). There
should always be some constants in your schedule as well. It should include
things that you want to create rituals for. So for example, my morning
routine consists of things like yoga, reading, soccer, meditation and so on.
These are activities that I want to create habits for.

Once you have what you want to do on any given day clearly written
down and in front of you, you’ll be able to start managing your time more
effectively. Once you are managing your time more effectively, you’ll
suddenly find out that you have plenty of hours in the day.

EXERCISE: Write out a list of things you want to complete with the
remaining time you have left today. Start getting in the habit of writing a list
out everyday.
Sacrifices

We have gone over a few things that tie into this one already. The fact of
the matter is that you are going to have to sacrifice some things and activities
if you want to utilize your time and become a great soccer player. Some of it
you may not like.

For a start, it is very important that you get control of your diet. I will
cover this in a little more detail later, but know that unless you are eating
healthy already, you are going to have to make some sacrifices when it
comes to the food you eat. If you are eating candy everyday, you’ll need to
stop. If you are eating junk food, you’ll need to stop. You can of course
continue with your old eating habits, but you’ll be limiting how much you
can grow as an athlete if you do so.

Other sacrifices you’ll have to make are stopping behaviors and activities
that may not be benefiting you, but are time consuming. If you play video
games for hours each day, you’ll need to stop that. If you watch TV for hours
a day, same deal. People tend to complain that they don’t have enough time
to get what they need done. Those are usually the same people that go home
and watch 5 hours of TV before going to bed.

Trust me, you have the time. I am not saying you have to completely cut
out the things that don’t technically benefit you. I still watch TV and play
video games from time to time, but you need to make sure that they are not
dominating your life and stunting your growth. Feel free to relax, just make
sure you cut down on those activities.

EXERCISE: Identify some activities that you do that you should

probably cut down on. Make sure you are honest with yourself. Do you
watch too much TV? Play video games for too long? Maybe you just lay
around on your phone and don’t get anything done. Whatever it is, start
consciously trying to do less of it. Then fill your time with things you know
you need to get done which I show you how to do in time management and
creating a schedule.
Healthy Eating

I mentioned this briefly above, but I want to go into a little more detail
since it is one of the most important areas for athletes and especially soccer
players. People seem to not understand the importance diet has on the
quality of our lives. It is almost impossible to be a high level athlete on a
crappy diet.

Think of your body as a machine. In order to fuel the machine so that it

functions properly, you have to give it what it needs. If you give it junk food,
processed foods, and other unhealthy food all the time, it will rust and
perform at a very low level. While if you fuel it with clean foods, organic
foods, vitamins, and nutritionally rich foods, if will not only perform on the
highest level, it will also begin to grow and improve.

My rule for eating healthy is that you should eat organic, clean, and
healthy at LEAST 80% of the time, and the other 20 you can use to eat the
foods you enjoy. This is a great place to start as it will begin to transform
your body and help you grow as a player and person.

Make sure you are doing your research when it comes to healthy eating.
Most people wait until there is a problem before they start researching what
they should do. Get ahead of the game by doing yours now. Take your health
into your own hands.

EXERCISE: Start researching healthy foods and meals you can prepare.
Really go deep with your research and find out why some things are healthy,
what makes them healthy and what nutrients or other good things they
provide for your body.
One On One Guide

Coming in a close second after shooting, beating a player one on one is

probably the most sought after ability among soccer players. Some players
like to consider themselves very skillful, while other seem to think they just
weren’t born with skill. That isn’t true, everyone can learn skill moves and
become good at them.

Like anything in soccer, and life for that matter, the more you do
something, the better you become at it. So is there a certain one on one skill
move that you wish you could do? If that is the case, let me tell you how to
do it.

Whenever you have a daily soccer practice (you should have a daily
soccer routine) at the end, practice up to 3 moves that you want to get better
at. If that is a step over, practice that along with two other moves. It should
take you no longer than 10 minutes to practice these moves.

All you have to do is perform the move 5 times each foot (10 times in
total). If you mess up, don’t worry, but that doesn’t count towards your 5.
Don’t worry if you aren’t doing it that well yet. As long as you are doing it to
the best of your ability, then you will get better and better. Because you will
be doing it everyday, you should get good in a short amount of time.

So pick 5 moves and do them 5 times each foot EVERYDAY!. Here is a

video of 10 attacking moves if you are having trouble picking 3: MOVES

EXERCISE: Watch the above video and identify 3 moves that you enjoy.
Then I want you to commit to practicing those 3 moves every single day like
we discussed. You do that, and you will see massive improvements.

Effective Over Fancy

Continuing on the topic of skill moves, I am briefly going to go over

which kind is better, effective or fancy, and I am going to explain why I feel
this way.

You probably already know the answer, it is in the name after all.
Effective moves will always trump fancy moves, Sure fancy moves look
cool, and people might be surprised when you pull them off. But there is
beauty in performing an effective move perfectly.

Not only is there grace and beauty in it, but it will also work more often
and that is what you want to concentrate on. We want to incorporate moves
into our game that WORK. This is what will elevate our playing level.

One of my favorite players growing up was Zinedine Zidane. One of the

reasons I loved the way he played is because he performed the basics
perfectly! He wasn’t fancy, he was effective and elegant. He had the basics
mastered, and because of that, he became one of the best players ever.

You wouldn’t see him attempting Neymar or Cristiano Ronaldo like

tricks. You would see him retaining the ball, knowing when to play fast,
when to beat a man, when to pass, and when to shoot. Want to truly see how
effective this guy was? Then just watch this: Zidane

I would encourage to mold a lot of your game off of Zidane. If you want
to use fancy moves for fun or when you are among your friends, then that is
fine. But when it comes game time, make sure you are sticking to the
effective moves.

EXERCISE: Watch the Zidane video to get an idea of how effective

beats out fancy. Then imagine all that you could do once you learn how to
utilize effective moves.
 Chapter 4: Drills

Having just had you read a bunch of ideas I thought it a good idea to now
provide you with some drills and practices that you can start using
immediately in order to put those ideas to good use!

Like I already mentioned, ideas are great, but if you don’t take any action,
they won’t help. So all the ideas that are listed above this only work if you
actually start taking some action. I have given you an exercise after each one,
but this section will give you specific soccer drills in order to improve
specific areas.

I recommend coming back to this area whenever you need a drill to

improve a certain area of your game. Here we go!

Dribble Everywhere

Here is a very simple one to start off. Although this one is simple, it is
also one of the most effective out there. You may think it is silly at first, but
this can truly take your, dribbling, touch and close control to the next level.

Understand that soccer is a muscle memory sport. The more times you
do something over and over again (repetition) the better at it you become.
Basically muscle memory means the more times you do a certain movement
or practice with your body, the more used to is your body becomes. This
applies for touches on the ball as well.

So based off of this idea, what is one of the best and easiest ways to
improve your dribbling, ball control and other areas while just going about
your day? Simple! Dribble everywhere you go. Have a ball at your feet as
often as you can.

I am not saying you have to do intense drills with the ball at your feet.
You could just be walking through the house. Just make sure you are
walking through the house with a ball at your feet. The reason you want to
do this is because you want to maximize the amount of touches you get on
the ball on a daily basis. The more touches on the ball you get, the better
your ball control and dribbling will become.
 Most players only get touches on the ball when they are at team practices
and even the players that practice everyday individually probably only get a
few hundred. But with this method you will be getting thousands of touches
on the ball on a daily basis! Remember the idea of muscle memory. The
more touches you get on the ball, the more used to the ball your feet get.
Imagine how quickly you’ll improve by doing this one simple thing
everyday.

So when you are walking from place to place, when you are outside,
when you are just standing around, even when you go out somewhere, take
the ball with you and just casually dribble it as you walk. You will be getting
a ton of touches on the ball.

Of course, be smart about this. Don’t go doing it near a busy road or

anything. But you’ll be surprised how often you could be doing this as you
are just going about your day.

EXERCISE: Try it for a day. As you are moving through your house,
yard, or anywhere else, try and have a ball at your feet the whole time.
You’ll notice that you dribbling improves dramatically because of this
practice.

Juggling

This is a drill that every player has heard of. Some players enjoy it,
others dread doing it. But what if I told you juggling can be one of the keys
to you becoming a great soccer player? You see, juggling teaches us many of
the fundamentals of soccer, the big one being ball control. If you can juggle
for a long time without the ball hitting the ground, this usually indicates that
you have good ball control. And we all know how important that is.

One of the reasons I think many players shy away from juggling as a
serious drill is because they think it is too simple to cause them to improve.
“You’re telling me I can improve my game by simply hitting a ball in the air
repeatedly? You’re crazy!”

Perhaps it really does sound too simple. But whether it does or not, it is
still one of the best ways to improve your ball control and to gain a
familiarity with the ball. Remember, when broken down, soccer is a simple
game. So it is no surprise that such a simple drill can be so effective in
elevating our ability.

Through juggling you are getting many touches on the ball in a short
amount of time. You will also become used to hitting the ball hard, soft and
in between. Your body will learn the difference between all three and be
better at being able to do whichever one you want on command.

Give it a try. I challenge you to juggle for 10 minutes everyday for a

week and to see if how much you improve from day 1 to day 7. Remember
to use both feet equally if you can. I promise that if you make juggling a
habit, you will improve.

EXERCISE: I want you to commit to juggling for 10 minutes a day for

a week. Find the time and get it done.

The Dreaded Cardio

Speaking of drills that some players dread, we are briefly going over
cardio next. Although this may stress a lot of players out and many of them
hate it when their coaches tell them to run at the end of practice, it is an
important component in soccer. If you have a weak cardiovascular system,
you will struggle to become a good soccer player.

I get it, it’s hard. It is an area I struggled with for a long time. But you
need to be running. Luckily there are literally hundreds of cardio workouts
out there. Finding one that appeals to you is almost guaranteed. Choose one
that appeals to you and that is also going to give you a good workout.

One thing I’ve found helpful with cardio is to just get started. We tend to
become paralyzed because there are so many drills and so much information
on the subject. Just start by jogging and sprinting. Then start trying out other
cardio workouts you find. Remember, everyone’s body is different. This
means you are going to have to experiment with different drills in order to
find out which work best with you.

Having said that, you want to make sure that you do incorporate sprints,
plyometrics and Interval training into your cardio routine. Those are some of
the most important areas when it comes to soccer.
 EXERCISE: Start by just taking action. Go on a jog everyday and do
some sprints. Start experimenting with different cardio routines and find that
ones that work with you. The best thing you can do is to find a system that
works for you. Whether this is a free/paid program or even something your
coach told you to do.

Fitness With A Witness

We are all aware that we should be working on our fitness. But that
awareness alone is unlikely to make most people actually go through with it.
Some of you may have already taken steps in order to take care of your
fitness. But for many of us, this is a problem area.

So I want to introduce an idea to all of you. An idea that has worked very
well for me in the past when I was struggling with my fitness. Fitness with a
witness is exactly as it sounds. I want you to get a buddy of yours who also
wants to workout and workout with them every time.

The reason this is so effective is because you two will more or less be
doing the same workouts, but also motivating each other and holding each
other accountable. We tend to give ourselves many reasons to not work out,
but when you have a friend there doing it with you, they won’t let you quit.
If you choose a good partner that is. You will both push each other to
improve. It may even become a little competitive which is good. You don’t
want your friend to outshine you so you’ll have to work harder!

The only down side to this is that yes, there will be times when you both
can’t workout together. But if you do this for a while, you will have the habit
of working out developed so that shouldn’t be an issue. So even if your
partner can’t work out with you on any given day, you’ll still get it done.

My fitness skyrocketed when I adopted this method .

EXERCISE: Start identifying people who would make good workout

buddies. Remember, you want someone who is also committed. It is no good
doing it with someone lazy or someone who will make excuses and skip
workouts.
Master The Basics

Many players sometimes forget that if you break soccer down, it is a

very simple sport. Yet many of us have the tendency to over complicate it.
Soccer can be very simple so long as you know how to make it that way. The
best players in the world are amazing at doing the simple (basic) skills
expertly.

Many times when people who either don’t play or never played for long
see a pro take a perfect touch they’ll go “wow, that looked incredible
complicated.” And perhaps to someone who can’t do it, it may seem that
way.

But when you break it down, it is actually very simple. The reason the
player can do that is because he worked on his ball control so much, that it
became second nature to him. If you master the basics in soccer, you can and
most likely will go far.

Here are the basics that I recommend you work on. They are: Ball
control, dribbling, passing and skill moves. There are of course more, but we
want to focus on the areas that are going to improve us more overall. If you
concentrate on these areas daily, you will become an accomplished player.

Let’s say for example, that you juggle, dribble around, pass against a
wall and practice 3 skill moves on a daily basis. This can take you as little as
15-30 minutes a day to do. But by taking this short amount of time to work
on all of those areas, you will improve.

Keep in mind that at the end of the day, soccer is a simple sport. So if
you can master the basics, you can go far. Make sure you are training
SMART by working on the right areas and by practicing EVERY day. This is
what will cause you to stand out. Your work will pay off.

EXERCISE: Create a practice routine you can do daily that works on

the basics. Don’t worry, it can be short. You only need about 15-30 minutes
on a daily basis to work on these areas. Having said that, don’t be afraid to
practice even longer.
Weak Foot Improvement

What you may have picked up on as you’ve gone through this book is
that I consistently ask you to use both of your feet equally with each drill.
This is because I can’t tell you how many players I’ve come across who
have been held back in their improvement because they have a useless weak
foot.

At the very least you want your weak foot to be functional. This means
being able adequately control the ball, pass the ball, and shoot the ball with it.
If you can’t, your opponents will pick up on it quickly and try to force you
onto your weak side. Then what?

Luckily, this can be practiced and therefor prevented. I know that it is

difficult at first, but practice with your weak foot at least as much as your
dominant foot. That means if are juggling, alternate feet. If you shoot 10
times with your dominant foot, shoot at least 10 times with your weak foot
and so on.

If you want to accelerate your progress in this area, do 5 more reps with
your weak foot than you do with your dominant foot. I can’t emphasize
enough how important this is. You will be twice the player if you have a
good “weak” foot.

EXERCISE: Start using your weak foot in your individual practice.

Make sure you are at the very least using it as much as your dominant foot.
If you want to increase your results, use it a little more than your dominant
foot.

Shoot Often

Especially if you are an attacking player, you should never be afraid to

shoot the ball. In fact, you should be excited to. Many players unfortunately
seem to have this fear of shooting because they are afraid that if they miss,
they’re teammates or coaches will yell or reprimand them.

Now, this may happen. Statistically, you’ll miss more shots than you
make. But understand that there is nothing wrong with this. Scoring in
soccer is not easy, and being a player that scores goals is not easy. This is
why the best player in the world is usually a player that scores a ton of goals.

The more you shoot, not only the more goals you’ll score, but the better
your shooting will become. You should never be afraid to shoot. If you are
an attacking player, make sure you are working on your shooting. In games,
take shots from 25 yards in at least. Don’t be silly and not pass to a wide
open man in a goal scoring situation. But if there isn’t a player in a better
position, and you have a chance to shoot, go for it.

EXERCISE: Start making the conscious decision to shoot more. Start

practicing your shooting more with a lot of emphasis on technique. Shooting
is generally 90% technique. You don’t need to swing your foot that fast to
generate power. Work on your technique most of all.

Here is a video that goes over shooting technique: SHOOTING

Place, Don’t Blast

An area of soccer that I have always seemed to be competent in is

finishing or the ability to put the ball in the net in many situations. Even at a
young age, I just knew how to put the ball into the back of the net. I was
always praised for this ability with many coaches telling me that I had a
natural ability to score goals and I believed them.

But was it really a natural ability? Was I really born with the genetic
code to score more goals? Sounds a bit silly when you put it that way. One of
the reasons I think many players panic when it comes to finishing is because
you’re told that you either have it or you don’t.

This just isn’t true. Sure, I used to believe that because I unknowingly
learned how to finish well at a young age. But I still had to learn how to do
it. I used to think it was a natural talent because I always seemed to be able
to finish better than most players. But what I didn’t know was that I simply
had learned earlier. One of the reasons is because I practiced my shooting all
the time when I was younger, so when it came game time, most situations I
found myself in a game I had already practiced at home.

This is good news for those of you who think you lack finishing ability.
You can learn it, and I’m going to get you started here. First reason I see
many players fail at finishing is because they panic. If you panic, you have
already lost. Most players when they panic in front of goal just try to hit it as
hard as they can in hope that it’ll somehow find the net.

This might work sometimes, but not most times. The first thing you need
to learn when it comes to finishing is to place the ball, not blast it. This is so
important. When you are in or anywhere near the 18 yard box and you go to
shoot, you should generally be looking to place the ball into the corner.

Finishing is all about assessing your situation calmly and quickly, and
taking the best course of action. Usually this requires you to simply place the
ball in the corner. Learn to keep a cool head in these situations. If you do so,
you won’t panic, which will help you clearly visualize what you want to do.
By practicing your finishing, you can overcome this panic. You’ll be more
confident in putting the ball in the corner if you’ve done it over and over
again.

So remember, when you are in a position close to goal, be calm, be quick

and place the ball. Don’t blast it. You do that combined with working on
your finishing, you’ll score many more goals.

EXERCISE: Go out and practice your finishing. When bearing down on

goal, work on placing the ball solidly into each corner. Doing this over and
over again will cause you to gain more confidence in your finishing ability
which will then transition into when you play in a match.

Target Practice

Since we just went over finishing briefly, let me give you another idea
that can improve that area and your overall shooting ability. In fact, this will
improve your accuracy for not only shooting, but for passing as well.

The idea is pretty simple. It is target practice. Now a few things may pop
into your head when I mention this. But I am going to tell you the most
effective way in order to go about this. Most of you probably thought of
shooting on net, but that is a very ineffective way to go about this drill.

We want to be training in a smart way that accelerates our growth. Sure,

shooting on a net will help you improve and I encourage you to do that
sometimes in order to work on your finishing, but we want whatever is going
to improve us quickly and effectively. The way to do that is to simply kick
against a wall.

Now I understand why you may shy away from this idea and wonder
why kicking against a wall would ever help you. Well let me explain why
this is one of the biggest ways I improved my game personally in ball
control, passing, shooting and more.

Kicking against a wall has a few advantages over kicking on a goal. First
off it saves time. Against a wall you always get the ball back right away. You
don’t have to go chasing after a ball you missed the target with and you
don’t have to collect the balls that are in the net. Second, kicking against a
wall allows you to improve your ball control because they ball comes back
at you, where with a net it doesn’t. So kicking against a wall is a
multifaceted drill!

So here is all you need to do. Pick a spot on the wall, if there isn’t a spot
you can use tape or chalk to create one. Now simply try and hit the ball
against that spot in different ways. I used to try and hit it with the side of my
foot, outside of my foot, laces, a curl shot, a chip pass you name it!

You can of course create multiple spots on the wall and try to hit those in
order to provide more variety. You can even use no spots and just go and
kick a ball against a wall for a while. This will still improve your technique,
control, shooting and passing even if you’re not deliberately trying to hit a
target because you will be getting a feel for the ball still.

Try different methods for shooting and passing against the wall. Make
sure to use both feet as well. I accredit this to being on of the main drills
that helped me significantly improve when I was younger. Take advantage of
it as well.

EXERCISE: Find a wall near your house and start practicing different
shooting and passing techniques against it. Don’t catch the ball as it
rebounds back to you, control it instead. This drill is great because you are
working on many areas of your game at the same time.
Dribbling Drills

Okay, so I thought to finish off I would give you a few dribbling drills
that you can use in order to dramatically improve that area of your game.
Remember how I mentioned that you should be training often and smart?
Here is the smart part.

Drill 1 - Dribble everywhere: I know I have gone over this one already, and
you can revisit it if you want more details. But I mention it here again
because it is so important. The more touches you get on the ball, the better
you become. Your brain and body doesn’t know the difference between the
touches you take when actually practicing, and the touches you take when
simply walking through your home. Have a ball at your feet wherever you
go.

Drill 2 - The Ronaldo Box: This one is my personal favorite to develop

quick feet and close control. This drill was made famous by Cristiano
Ronaldo, and we all know how quick his feet are. Basically you set up some
cones or other objects close together in a small area. Then you dribble
through it over and over again as fast as you can while avoiding the objects.
If you want to see what it looks like, then watch this video. Ronaldo Box

Drill 3 - Spontaneous Dribbling: This is a drill that I loved to do when I

was younger. I also think it is one of the drills that helped me develop my
dribbling and skill moves the most when I was a kid. I would just have the
ball at my feet and go nuts for a few minutes doing every move that came
into my mind one after another without thinking. This video will explain it
more clearly: SPONTANEOUS

Drill 4 - Cone Drills: I have used cone drills to great effect throughout my
whole life in order to improve the quickness of my feet, my close control of
the ball while dribbling, and my ability to cut and turn very quickly! In this
video I go over some cone drills you can do in order to improve your
dribbling: Cone Drills

Drill 5 - Ronaldinho Box: This one is very similar to the ronaldo box, but
differs slightly. Instead of leaving the box, you are going to take quicker and
more in control touches to stay in the box. Great at improving your reaction
time and close control while dribbling: Ronaldinho
 Helpful Resources and References

To finish off, I want to give you some helpful resources and references
that you can come back and use time and time again! These will be videos,
articles, channels or anything else that I believe will help you out!

The Simply Soccer Channel

First and foremost is the channel itself! This is where I upload videos all
the time on different topics that will help you out. Many of the videos I
linked to in this e-book are from the channel. There are a ton of great videos
on drills, mindsets, motivation and so much more. This is probably the most
important resource I can give you as there is already a ton of good content
on there and we are adding more all the time!

If you haven’t already, check it out! Be sure to subscribe as we release new

videos every week: SIMPLY SOCCER

Simplysoccerpro.com (my email list)

If you are not already, you’ll want to get on my email list! The reason for
this is there will be times where I send emails out to my list that are not
available to anyone else

This will include things like first access to certain projects (this e-book for
example was available to everyone on my email list first), special email
training, and more that is exclusive to the email list.

To sign up, click on the link I am about to provide you and hit download
now when you are on the page. You will even get a free training course for
signing up! Simply soccer pro

Passing and Receiving Mastery

For those of you that don’t know, we typically do a 30 day challenge

every month on the channel! For one of the months I even created a course
around it!

This course takes you day by day through the whole 30 days! It gives you
the drills, mindsets and everything you need in order to maximize your
results in this area! I show you exactly how to do each drill as well.

Go here to take a look at the course: Passing And Receiving

How To Become A Standout Soccer Player

This is actually a mini video series I made on the channel a while back.
The video is so in depth and detailed that it probably could be considered a
course!

Anyway, it is completely free and I highly recommend you check it out if

you haven’t already. It goes over how to determine your weaknesses and
strengths and then how to start taking action to become a stand out player.
Many players have gone through it and seen great success with this series!

It’s done in two parts. I’ll link you to part 1 here. There should be a link to
part in the description of that video: Stand Out

Additional Videos I Recommend

Here are some of my favorite/most helpful videos that I recommend you

check out. I will also link you to playlists I find helpful! Feel free to browse
the channel for other videos and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss the
new videos we release every week.

Simply Soccer Podcasts

Playlist with all the in depth podcasts we’ve done.

Biggest Mistakes I Made In Soccer When I Was Younger

Going over the big mistakes I made so you can avoid them

Visualization For Soccer Players

A practice I believe to be very important

 Reasons You’re Not Tapping Into Your Soccer Potential

I give you 4 ways to start realizing more of your potential

Why Your Soccer Skills Are Not Working

Not able to beat people one v one? I go over why that may be.

How To Recover After A Game

An area normally overlooked but one that is so important.

Mental Side Of 1v1 Situations

Beating players is down to more than just knowing the moves.

How To Calm Your Nerves And Relax In Soccer

Many players panic in games. I go over how to get over this.

Your 3 Moves

A very important video if you are struggling with skill moves

How To Shoot A Soccer Ball

Goes over how to properly shoot showing you everything you need to know.

There are many more great videos and playlists on the channel so make
sure you go and check it out!

If you have an area you are struggling with, chances are we have a video that
covers it or will create one in the future!
 The First Week

As a small little bonus for this e-book, I will give you a first week
routine you can do. I will be mainly incorporating soccer practices in this
routine. So fitness and other aspects you will need to fill in based on your
needs. However I have provided one day for conditioning. After you have
completed the week, you can keep doing it, change it up, add your own, or
simply do a whole new training schedule.

Ok, so there will be a few parts to this. First, will be the constant
schedule. These are the practices that will be the same for every single day
of the week. Do this workout sometime before your main workout,
preferably in the morning (morning routine).

Second, will be the concentration for a certain day. So for example, one
day may be shooting, another may be ball control and so on. So let’s get into
it.

Again, this is an example routine that you can use, take things from, add
to or whatever!

Constant Schedule

This is the one you will do on every single day before the main practice.
It does not have to be right before the main practice, just make sure you do
this prior to the main one.

1) Juggle to 100 alternating feet (even if the ball hits the ground, keep going
until you are at 100)

2) Juggle to 25 with just your right foot, then 25 with just your left foot.
(Again, keep going if it hits the ground)

3) Find a wall, or a surface which will rebound the ball back to you and do
the following:
- 10 good inside of the foot controls, both feet. (20 in total)
- 10 good inside of the foot controls, both feet. (20 in total)

So pass against the wall or surface, and control the ball in the manner stated
for the designated number of reps. Make sure the ball has pace on it. You
won’t get anything out of it by controlling a slow rolling ball.

4) Skill move practice. Choose 3 PRACTICAL skill moves for this drill.

- For each, dribble the ball and perform the move to the best of your
ability. Be sure to burst into space after you complete the move. Here’s a
video on how to properly perform a skill move: How To Skills
- 5 times with your right foot and 5 times with your left. (You should do
each move 10 times)
- In total, you should do 30 different reps.

I would suggest that you do this routine in the morning shortly after you get
up. This will not only help you wake up, but will surprisingly help you
improve so much for something that seems so simple. Remember, even if
you don’t do this in the morning, do it before the main practice for
whichever day you are on.

Daily Concentration Schedule

1st day: Ball control

If you follow me, you know that I deem ball control to be the most important
physical skill in soccer. Today we will be mainly concentrating on this.

After constant schedule

Make sure you warm up

1) Juggle to 500 alternating feet. Yes I know you did them earlier, but we
are focusing on ball control today and juggling is a great way to improve it.

2) Juggle 50 times with your right then 50 times with your left. Again, I
know you did it earlier. I didn’t put this here by mistake.

3) Find a wall or some other surface that will rebound the ball and do
the following.
 - 10 inside of the foot controls from the air each foot. Throw or kick
the ball against the wall, and control the ball out of the air with the inside of
your foot. Do 10 GOOD ones each foot.
- 10 outside of the foot controls from the air each foot. Same thing as
the inside of the foot drill except now you are using the outside.
- 10 thigh controls out of the air each side. Kick the ball or throw it
against the wall and control it with your thigh. Do 10 times each side.
- 10 chest controls out of the air. Same idea, except now control the ball
out of the air with your chest.

EXTRA PRACTICE: While you are at the wall, you can simply kick
against it for 10-20 minutes and control the ball as it comes back to you. I
don’t have this as part of the mandatory schedule, but doing this consistently
can really improve your ball control, shooting, passing and other areas.

4) Out of the air control. You are going to throw or kick the ball straight
up in the air and try to control it in the following ways.

- 10 times each foot with the top of your foot. Cushion the ball out of
the air and bring it to your feet.
- 10 times each foot with the side of your foot. Same idea, except with
the side of your foot this time.

EXTRA PRACTICE: Again optional, but if you have the time, I would
do it. Kick or throw the ball straight into the air and this time touch the ball
in the direction you want to go. Do this 5-10 times which both feet for the
inside, and outside of your feet.

That concludes day one. Be sure to cool down at the end.

2nd Day: Dribbling

Another very important area. Make sure to do the constant schedule first
and also warm up.

1) Set up 2 cones around 20 yards apart and do the following.

- Dribble at mild pace using the outside of your right foot to the first
cone, and then back with your left.
- Do ALL the drills in this video: Dribbling Drills. Go through the circuit
at least twice. Need extra practice? Go through 3-4 times.

2) The Ronaldo Box: I showed this amazingly effective drill on my channel.

It involves taking many quick touches and cuts. Watch this video in order to
learn how to do it and to see how it’s done: RONALDO BOX. As the video
says, do the Ronaldo box 5 times. Dribble as much in the box as you can for
30seconds - 1 min and then rest for a minute, then go again.

3) Skill Move Practice: I know you practiced 3 moves in the constant

schedule. You are now going to pick 3 more moves and do them in addition
to doing the 3 moves you did earlier.

- Do each move 5 times each foot. Remember, do them at game pace.

That is the only way you’ll get better.

- Alternatively, you can do the same 3 moves you did in the constant
schedule again. This is up to you however.

4) Cone Dribbling: We are going to do a few drills with cones.

- Set up around 6 - 8 cones that are a few inches apart. Your dribbling
ability currently will determine how far away the cones are from each other.
- use only your right foot to weave in and out of the cones and back.
Then do the same with your right.
- now do the same drill but use both feet.
- Both techniques can be seen in this video: CONE DRILLS

EXTRA TRANING: Need or want to get in more dribbling? The easiest

way is to take a ball with you wherever you go. Simply dribble it around
when you can. Remember, the more touches you get on the ball, the better
your dribbling will become.

Ok, that is it for day 2

3rd day: Shooting and Accuracy

Even if you are a defensive player, you should be working on your

shooting, or at the very least your accuracy which can assist you when
passing.
1) Technique warm up: You’ll need a wall for some of the drills coming up
including this one. One of the most important parts of shooting is your
technique. It doesn’t matter how hard you can shoot a ball, if you have
improper technique, you will not be accurate. Proper technique while
shooting includes, locking your ankle, hitting the middle to upper middle of
the ball, and striking it on the big bone of your foot. Check out this video for
some examples of proper technique: SHOOTING TECH

- So, once you have discovered the technique you want to try and learn,
you are going to shoot against the wall 20 times with each foot while
concentrating solely on technique. This means it doesn’t matter how hard
you hit it, what matters is how well you hit it. You’ll find that once you get
the technique right, that you’ll generate power without swinging that hard.

2) Target training: At the same wall, pick a spot on it or use chalk to draw a
target. Then your goal is to hit that target 10 times with both feet. You are
not done the drill until you do so. So the better you get, the quicker you will
finish.

3) Crossbar challenge: This is only if you have access to a goal. If you

don’t, just do the target training drill a little longer than I have suggested.
From 18-30 yards you are going to try and hit the crossbar as many times as
you can for about 10-20 minutes. You can choose how long you spend on it,
but make sure you do at least 10 and you don’t go too long over 20.

4) Distance practice: So now we are going to actually shoot on net, if you

don’t have access to a goal, use the wall. Simply start shooting from 18-25
yards out with both feet from different angles. Concentrate on your
technique and experiment a little. You want your technique to be so good
that eventually it is automatic

5) Hit the panels: So this drill will be good for every player. You are going
to start at an angle from the goal on the 18 yard box. Take one touch forward
and then try and hit the far side panel of the net. I want you to hit the panel
with both your right and left foot at LEAST 10 times each. If you don’t have
a net, again use a wall and try and hit a spot that you have designated as a
panel. This is good for not only finishing, but also for passing accuracy and
ball contact. So even defenders can benefit from this one.

EXTRA TRAINING: If you still have some energy and you want to keep
shooting around (I know how you all love to shoot) then go for it. Just don’t
tire yourself out too much. You need to make sure your body recovers.

4th Day: Ball Control

Yes, this is going to be the same as the first day. Because ball control is so
important, we want to be concentrating on it more than once a week.

5th day: Dribbling

Same thing, it is such and important are that we want to make sure that we
are concentrating on it at least twice a week.

6th day: Conditioning

We should have at least one day a week that is dedicated mainly to

conditioning. If you are not in good enough shape do do all of the drills yet,
simply lessen the number of reps and work your way up.

1) 10 minute jog: This will be your warm up in addition to the other warm
up. We are going to be doing some burst and sprint drills and the last thing
you want to do is pull a muscle because you didn’t warm up properly.

2) We are going to start with some plyometrics. Find a bench or some

other sturdy surface that is off the ground and do 3 sets of 20 reps of box
jumps. Not sure how to do box jumps? Simply watch this video: BOX
JUMPS

3) Now that your body is really warm and you have worked up a sweat,
we are going to move onto a circuit. You are to perform each of these
drills one after the other with little to no break in between. Here they
are
- Jump rope to 100: no rope? Do 100 toe jumps with an invisible rope
- 30 seconds of mountain climbers
- 20 burpees - don’t know them, just search on youtube “how to do a
burpee
- 20 Squat Jumps. Simply do a squat and then spring up
- side to side line jumps 30. Simply find a line or create one and on your
toes jump from one side to the other 30 times
 - Rest for 1-2 minutes. Complete this circuit 3 times. If you are
struggling, decrease the reps. Over time you will be able to do all of the reps
and sets

4) Ok onto the last one, it is time for some sprints.

- (5) 35 yard sprints (about 2 18 yard boxes) Take a 30 sec between each
sprint
- (5) 18 yard sprints. Try and really concentrate on your acceleration
- (2) Full field fast pace. Around 80 - 90%.

Make sure you do a light cool down after this. Get a good stretch in as well.
This is actually an averagely intense cardio workout, so feel free to add more
when you are more in shape. Don’t do too much however as you can injure
yourself if you are not careful.

7th day: Rest/Stretch:

Congratulations on making it through the first week. Take it easy today but
make sure that you get in some stretching to keep you body flexible. You can
kick around for a little bit if you would like, but make sure you are not doing
anything too strenuous.

Remember, this is just a general routine. You want to start creating routines
and schedules that fit your need. Feel free to take drills from these routines
and add them to one you already have. Also, feel free to increase or decrease
the sets and reps as you see fit

Good job and keep working hard!

 Thank You!
I want to take a moment to thank you for going through the e-book! Even
though I did give this out for free, you should still find many of the ideas and
drills beneficial. Be sure to refer back to this book many times if you are
struggling with a certain area or just need to remind yourself of something.

Remember, with anything you need to put in hard and consistent practice if
you want to get results. So don’t just read all of this material and then do
nothing with it. Get out there and start the process of getting better! I gave
you a first week to follow if you want, or just go with a routine you already
know. Important thing is to get started!

You’ve done the first part which is finishing this e-book and you should be
proud of that, but remember, information is useless unless you put it into
action. Don’t fall into analysis paralysis.

Once again, thank you so much! If you haven’t already, please consider
subscribing to the Simply Soccer YouTube channel as I always release
content that I believe will help players to improve. Also, please share this
ebook with anyone you know who could benefit from it! Just send them to
simplysoccerpro.com and have them sign up for the free course where
they will also get this ebook! I want to get this e-book in the hands (I
suppose in front of the faces is more accurate) of as many players as possible
and I would love for this book to in some way impact the readers in a
positive way in one way or another.

Alright! That’s it for this book! Way to get to the end, and I wish you luck on
your journey!

Simply Soccer (Dave)