The snow has melted, the domes are (mostly) down, and the grass is starting to remind us what the color green looks like. Yes, spring has sprung, and with it, Mother Nature has blown the whistle to kick off yet another youth soccer season. I’m still coaching the same U12 girls team I started with nearly three years ago, and boy, have they gotten better. Just this Saturday, we had probably the best practice session we’ve ever had. A mixture of passing patterns and 1v1 drills put a wide range of skills on display, and though they peppered me with questions and more than one good roast during our water breaks (they don’t approve of my haircut, evidently), they were locked in on the field.

At the start of our best practice ever, I had the girls warm up with some dribbling relay races, and I was startled to see just how far they’ve come. I’ve had to move the cones closer and closer together to keep challenging them, and that got me thinking: Maybe it’s time to move past the basics and dive into the art.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to Soccer School. Get ready for your next lesson: The Art of Dribbling.

Building on the Basics

Are you feeling as nostalgic as I am thinking about the first soccer lesson we ever shared together? We were so young back then! Let’s move on before I start pinching your cheeks and babbling about how big you’ve gotten: I’m not an old man just yet, and we’ve got soccer to talk.

Last time we talked about dribbling, we covered surfaces of the foot and frequency of touches. To recap: use the inside and outside of both feet with small, fast touches. Keep the ball close to your feet, and you’ll be better able to manipulate it. Once you have those basics mastered and you’re comfortable with the ball at your feet, you can start taking your skills to the next level.

Moving with the ball is the bare minimum when it comes to dribbling. The real challenge comes when you’re trying to wriggle your way out of a tight spot or beat a defender to create space for your next move. Moving in a straight line as fast as you can only works when you’ve got acres of space and bags of pace — rhyme very much intended. The best dribblers in the world have an acute understanding of how every one of their touches will move the ball through space, avoiding defenders and driving toward an opening.

Practicing with a teammate or two is the best way to sharpen this skill set, but if no one is around to practice with, there are plenty of basic drills to improve spatial awareness and that change of speed. The classic line of cones is a great warmup, using first your right, then left, and finally both feet to weave in and out as fast as you can. Place the cones progressively closer together as your handle on the ball gets tighter. From there, I recommend setting a cone about 20 yards back from the start of your cone line and dribbling as fast as you possibly can to the first cone, where you’ll need to transition from speed to technique in close quarters. This mirrors taking space in a game before being met by a defender.

With the pace part covered, let’s move on to spatial awareness. The best way to train your awareness on your own is to take a bunch of cones, rocks, or whatever you have available and create a random array of obstacles. Dribble with speed toward the mess, and then weave your way through the minefield without touching a cone. This drill forces you to improvise quickly, and it never looks quite the same. If you start finding a clear route through, rearrange the cones and start again. Endless possibilities await!

Flicks and Tricks

In my eyes, a deep understanding of your own speed and the ability to be decisive under pressure are the only must-haves for any player to become a talented, effective dribbler. But that wouldn’t make for the best article or lesson, and having grown up witnessing the peak of Cristiano Ronaldo’s career, I figured I could close out by introducing you to a skill move or two. While the video above doesn’t break things down for you, I reckon you’ll be able to spot what I’m getting at nonetheless.

Creating space on the dribble is all about fooling your opponent. Whether you’re driving the ball forward in midfield, looking for a shot on goal, or trying to free up a passing lane, every game presents a moment or two in which dribbling becomes a necessity. You want defenders to think you’re going anywhere other than where you actually end up going, and there are several ways to do that.

Let’s start with body feints, the foundation of nearly every other effective skill move. To effectively misdirect a defender with a feint, plant your foot on the opposite side of the ball, drop your shoulder to give the illusion of movement, and explode off your planted foot in the other direction. If done properly, this will put your defender on their heels, freezing them momentarily as they try to adjust to your true course. This can be easily practiced with a cone as a makeshift defender before moving to an actual player.

With body feints mastered, you can start throwing in the fancy stuff. Bring your foot around the ball before you plant for a classic stepover, plant and wind up for a fake shot before touching the ball to the side of the desperate defender, or drag the ball behind your planted foot to further mask your change in direction. Get creative with it! As you dribble at players or cones over and over, you’ll get more comfortable trying new things out, and you might even discover that you’re capable of moves you never thought possible.

There’s plenty to think about beyond these first two dribbling lessons, but further instruction should be taken with a grain of salt. My favorite part of dribbling is the fact that no two players do it quite the same. It’s one of the game’s most awe-inspiring methods of self-expression, enchanting audiences and inspiring us to put our cleats on and play. I’m a huge proponent of any game plan built on passing and movement, but no matter how your team is trying to play, dribbling is an unavoidable cherry on top in every match.

For more ideas on how to dribble like a pro, I recommend watching highlights. I remember watching the unique styles of Lionel Messi, Ronaldo, and Eden Hazard, but for a more modern lesson, I’ve recently been intrigued by the likes of our very own Joseph Rosales, Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers, and the underrated technique of Man City’s Mateo Kovačić.

My list goes on and on, but I’ll spare you the gushing. The girls and I have our first tournament of the year this weekend, and after watching them develop their footwork over the long winter, I’m beyond excited for their spring debut. Watch out, Twin Cities soccer; we’re rested and ready to lift a trophy — and we’re going to have fun doing it.