PSV Union Football Club

Juggling merely shows us the player has an interest in the ball. It simply gives you the player a fundamental foundation in order to work on other areas of a players game. Its a critical part of the game but is not more important than passing, receiving, dribbling etc.

For all of its benefits we rank juggling of equal importancer to the following:

* wall training (done correctly, more important than juggling alone)

* soccer/tennis (you need to be a good juggler to do this- juggling in groups is just as important)

* 'Coerver's', Aerial (hard/soft control) control. More important than juggling because you need to be able to juggle to actually work on this material.

* Passing/'weaving'/fugure 8's/cone dribbling combination passing/dribbling

Juggling helps strengthen legs and improve coordination. Players who can juggle on the run and for long periods of times will develop fitter and stronger payers while improving dexterity. Players who cannot juggle well wont enjoy soccer tennis or wall training. These can help your juggling too so it works both ways.

We are concerned when players dont find a simply wall interesting, or a basketball net or if soccer tennis is boring for them. This makes us worry!

"Not all great jugglers are great players. But I've never known a great player who is not a great juggler." Gary Ireland. 

Why do we ask players to keep juggling records? Juggling builds an affinity with the ball and improves timing, spatial understanding, touch, motor coordination, balance, body control, and leg strength while building confidence. 

Every player at PSV Union is asked to work on their juggling. It's not just about keeping the ball in the air. We focus on a broad spectrum of juggling: individual juggling, total number of juggles, juggling using a variety of touches, manipulating the ball (spinning, higher or lower touches, etc.), juggling in motion and juggling with partners or groups.

While juggling is certainly not the only skill we work on, it is an important part of the "toolbox" that we are building and developing in each player. 

Carine & Sunny 168

Sydney Carr 429

Amanda Shorin 167

Annie Kingman 137

Lauren McHugh 63

Jacey Pederson 61

Amanda Perez & Annie Kingman 207

Sunny Lyu & SIobhan Cox 167

As much as Im a big Fan and believer in juggling and freestyle and spent some time getting to 40+ ways of picking the ball up off the ground and trying every trick possible, I so spend more time showing and teaching the kids the importance of perfecting some of the more 'mundane' technical aspects of the game. Not to detract from anyone who dedicates so much time with the ball learning tricks and flicks which is impressive to say the least, what I'm more impressed with are players who dedicate their time to more 'practical' technical aspects of the game such as passing/shooting, receiving and dribbling. 

We rate juggling very highly and use soccer tennis and other juggling games to improve technique and decision making (e.g we play 'Rondo' with a juggling/1 touch-1 bounce rule) but i spend even more time on working on striking and receiving with all surfaces...

There was a player we once coached who reached a very modest college level who was obsessed with alternating feet juggling with no variation. She could not partner juggle and was poor when required to switch surface areas. Juggling in this case actually hurt her game, I feel. She would have been better off juggling with a group of players or juggling on the run/in motion rather than static. Her personality was already introverted so the solo juggling in a methodical way just made her more robotic, not less. This is why we insist on variation juggling or juggling with partners and dont allow players to juggle alone in their free time at the practice field. Along with "Rondo", playing soccer tennis is the best way to 'socialize' on the soccer field.   

Again, I think that juggling with a partner and juggling on the run have a more practical purpose and would benefit players more than individual/static juggling.