Dribbling & Running With The Ball

"Football is about joy. It's about dribbling. I favour every idea that makes the game beautiful." - Ronaldinho

Dribbling and running with the ball are different skills, but we've grouped them together as they fit nicely side by side. To clarify, with dribbling, you're encouraging your players to develop their ability to manipulate the ball whilst moving, keeping it under close control. Think Messi at his absolute best, where the ball seems to be stuck to his feet. Running with the ball involves the skill of knocking the ball out of your feet and into space, still maintaining control, but not with the ball as close to your feet as it would be whilst dribbling. Both are ways to beat players, but the skills involved are different.

In addition to the below, have a look at the 1v1 / Ball Mastery section - the tricks and skills featured there are crucial to developing good dribblers of the ball.

Dribbling & Running With The Ball - Key Points & Considerations

We've collated some of the key coaching points and things you may want to consider when setting up sessions based around dribbling, running with the ball and taking players on. Remember - getting all the coaching points across in one session is impossible - these are meant as a source of ideas that you can introduce slowly and layer on as the players' understanding and ability level increases over time.

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Dribbling Circuit

This dribbling circuit can be adapted for older / younger / more / less able players. It involves tight dribbling round cones or poles, passing and receiving in and out of a dribble, accelerating away after dribbling, beating a player and shooting. Plenty to adapt to make it easier or harder and lots of variety for players. With the right number of players and size of area, all players should be on the go almost constantly, with no waiting around for their turn.

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Running With The Ball Practice

This practice gives players a chance to work on the skill of running with the ball, knocking it out of their feet into space and using their pace to progress down the pitch. We start simple, with a focus on the basic technique, then introduce some pressure from a recovering defender to give the players the chance to see how they handle that.

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