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How to Play Soccer

Want to learn how to play soccer as quickly as possible?

If so you’ve found the right article. Follow these 8 steps to learn how to play the beautiful game:

8 Steps To Learn How To Play Soccer

1. Study the basics

Learn soccer’s basic rules and understand each position.

The basics aren’t fun but they’re important. You can start playing once you understand them.

2. Start practicing

We recommend practicing before jumping into a game or tryout. You need to become familiar with the basic skills in order to enjoy playing.

Start with these four skills:

  1. Ball control
  2. Dribbling
  3. Passing
  4. Shooting

Look at our guides on each skill then start practicing proper technique. Use the information on this website and you will improve faster than other players.

Focus on ball control. It’s not as fun as learning soccer moves or blasting a ball into the net, but it’s a vital skill. Most beginners have trouble controlling the ball, making them completely ineffective on the pitch.

3. Focus on one skill at a time

Has this ever happened to you?

You intend to complete a task such as a homework assignment. It should take you about an hour.

You switch between the assignment and other activities such as social media. It takes you three hours to do the assignment because you multitasked.

The same principal applies when learning how to play soccer.

Focus on one skill at a time and you will improve more in one hour than another player who multitasks for three hours.

Set a time limit. Focus on one skill for at least 30 minutes before moving onto the next.

4. Play pickup games

Pickup games are unorganized games of soccer. They’re often played on smaller fields with less than 11 players on each side.

Use pickup games to practice skills in game-like situations.

Seek out as many pickup games as you can. They are essential to your development as a player.

5. Improve your fitness

You won’t be effective on the pitch if you’re not physically fit.

Training your fitness is hard work but it will greatly improve your ability as a player.

Start jogging and doing sprints 3-4 days a week.

6. Join a team

Joining a team will help you hone your ability as a player. You will play games against competitive teams and improve during practices.

There are three types of teams – recreational, select, and school teams. Recreational teams will accept anyone, but you must tryout for select and school teams.

Choosing the right team is important. Check out our choosing a soccer club guide to learn more.

If you want to increase your chances of making a team, check out our soccer tryout guide

7. Find a training partner

A training partner will help you learn how to play soccer fast.

Practice passing and play one vs one to develop your dribbling and defensive abilities. A good training partner will motivate you to train harder and make practicing more fun.

Choose a training partner that is near your skill level or better than you. He or she should be serious about learning how to play soccer.

8. Practice consistently

Don’t worry about training for long periods of time. Many players burn themselves out by practicing too much. It’s better to limit your training sessions so you are eager to practice the next day.

It’s better to train for 30 minutes a day for 4-5 days than 2 hours once a week.

Consistent practice is the best way to learn how to play soccer.

3 Key Rules for Playing Soccer

The video covers some common mistakes made by beginners and how to correct them:

How Good You Become is Up to You

How good you become and how fast you learn how to play soccer is up to you. If you read this website and practice hard you will become a good player in no time.

I highly recommend signing up for our newsletter. You will receive our 7 step how to become a great soccer player series.

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