Why MOST Players Can’t Dribble around Cones

In this video I show you why most amateur players struggle with this one simple cone exercise and how the 2nd cone is often the main culprit for mistakes. I'll break down some simple techniques to help you go from amateur of the cones, to speed demon & mastering them once and for all. I hope you enjoy!

Cones are pretty much a staple for all aspiring footballers, whether it's shooting, passing or dribble drills it's important to get used to navigating them. I'll show you how to simplify the most popular drill to increase your speed & control of the cones, whilst highlighting some of the most common mistakes young players make, so that we can all learn together.

I hope you take some good lessons away from this one.

Cheers Folks,
Tony

Tag me in your videos & I may highlight you in a future breakdown @thefootballfolk

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Chapters:
00:00 Why players Struggle so much
01:12 The Second Cone - Speed
02:21 Step Two: Control
03:07 Step Three: Rhythm
04:39 Step Four: Focus

[ReefzYT]

There’s a drill my old coach taught me, I could do it backwards before the pandemic. It’s made me a respected dribbler among my peers, despite my position in defence, as I could turn so quickly it would throw my opponent way off. I recognised the moves of your feet in the first 15 seconds of the intro.
I’m very grateful to Mr Stu for the time and effort he put into train our school team. I’m not as good as I claim to be but I’ll keep trying to improve, thanks coach!

Edit: to all the people wondering what drill I’m talking about it’s basically this one but without the cones. Outside of the right foot, then the inside, then switch to the left. Outside of left foot, then inside, then switch back to right and repeat. After you master this you can start increasing and decreasing the weight of specific touches, causing you to turn and change direction as you dribble. Then just do it backwards… it takes a while, I have some trouble now after the pandemic because I didn’t have much time to practice during and then I had an ingrown toenail (I know, gross right?!) which bothered my left foot constantly and I needed multiple surgeries to get it fixed (I’m just recovering from the final one). But this drill really helps if you can master it… maybe I should try it with cones now?

[NgryChannel]

Im gonna leave a comment for the algorithm, but also to thank you. I´ve been playing amateur football for 20 years, and I´ve learned a lot form your vids. Things thai I never knew, thing that I thought I knew and I was doing wrong. It almost feels dirty to have a personal coach for free. From Spain, thanks a lot, you help me falling in love with football again. I know your channel is gonna keep getting bigger and bigger. See you in the million, TFF!

[namikaze]

Well, can u make a video on.. How to keep the ball intact while dribbling.. I mean how to control it without losing it..

[rumbling-paths]

The way you edit your videos, and the way you cover the topics of the video is amazing! You're gonna grow insanely fast!

[DenzilPeters]

Another small thing that instantly made my drills more successful was not starting too hard at the cone I am crossing, instead I look almost to the next cone, it helps me anticipate how far I need to place the ball on the current cone to set myself up well for the next. And this leads to a more intentional and well-placed touch which then helps to establish that rhythm you spoke of.

[somethingandahalf]

the most overlooked thing when it comes to change of direction is movement of the shoulders and overall twisting of your upper body while keeping feet squared. the reason it helps is you have the most control of the ball when its inside or outside of your foot but going forwards its in front of you so to keep it in control the ball should be under you.. shoulders initiating change of direction has been a game changer for me parcitularly and it doesnt need to be very pronounced and look like a clown but subtle. when you compare different types of dribblers for example look at ronaldinho and neymar in particular then you can compare with vinicius jr whose dribbling is more linear, or marcus rashford. rashford and vinicius can be great when there is space in a 1 on 1 while neymar and ronaldinho can take on 2 or 3 defenders at once albeit slower but you cant take the ball away from them and theres a subtle movement of the shoulders when they change direction, especially ronaldinho

[mocerlaalacbaino]

You know what i really struggle with? Getting pass an opponent when i have the ball. Something I've noticed was that i seem to just stop in front of them when i get too close to them. For example: i got a pass, then i run towards the defender and then stop them look at the ball and then whatever i do they just poke it and it's all gone.
I've never got past anyone even once. 12 years of football and never got past anybody. Even kids!! I've always passed it to someone else when i get the ball but i want to get pass players on my own.

I really like your channel because instead of channels like all attack. You seem to really understand what we struggle with. Those channels are probably made for those who are already good and want to get better. But your channel just seems to be for people like me who are stuck at level 1.

[hoomanpowered]

My coach has always been puzzled by my skills. I play as a winger and can zigzag against multiple defenders but still struggle with cones during training. Will try your tips.

[thefootballfolk]

*the warm-up video will be going live this Wednesday 😁
In other news, what are some of weaknesses you’d like to work on over the coming year?

[enumaelish]

1. Speed - practice the change of direction and the pace you are dribbling find whats best for you.
2. Contol - practice ball mastery and the touches you have with the ball.
3. Rythm - practice the repetition and sense of rhythm.
4. Focus - mental clarity will help in your drills.

[NotinInMyBrain]

ty very much, u taught me evrything i need to know. every single match i played, i always use ur techniques. this helped my dribbling by alot. keep up!

[priyanshubisht]

I just want to thank you, for the videos you make, it helps us a lot, specifically for a non academic player, who wants to play good football.
Once again thank you - from INDIA🇮🇳

[MUFCXI]

What a great vid. I’m looking to get some drills prepared for U9 boys and I’m gonna create separate courses with the boys paired up to dribble between two cones until they’ve mastered their touch, focus and speed for a few weeks. Once I’ve seen the improvement I will move them with 4 cones and the final 6 cones so they improve close ball control. I already have the session visualized in my head thanks to you!

[dagregsta]

Just discovered this channel and now I'm watching all of his vids. There really great videos and I love the clean guitar in the background of all of these vids.

[JohnDoe-vyqv]

With younger players, I have found a great way to help the rhythm issue is by doing ladder drills. Many say you shouldn't bother doing those with younger kids but i think that's silly. They teach the kids a lot of the basic footwork you'll need for things like this.

Specifically, the icky shuffle. Great for getting them used to cutting and moving side to side. And definitely great for helping them develop that rhythm. It also improves awareness of their body. My kid struggled with a lot of these drills. Started doing ladder drills twice a week and there was significant improvement in how well he did these type of drills after just 3 weeks. Plus, I've never really played soccer so I know it works. I'm able to do a lot of drills myself bc I still have the basic footwork down from years of playing football

[kickartt]

For one year, I was in England - compared to my country the skill gap of football is SO large. The 8-10 year old kids are better than my country's 12-15 year olds. I had a good trainer which told me some tips to go around the cones and i dont even know how, but somehow I did it! Despite my utter inability to coordinate my body right

[NervousPresenter]

You are a fantastic Coach. Keep up the great work 👍

[matthewwilliams]

you just earned a new subscriber, excellent videos, keep it up mate!

[townescaines]

dude… i just found your content and i absolutely love it. I just got done watching all your videos. I am a new sub. Is there anyway you could send me a template of what your dribbling sessions look like and the drills that you do??

[Master_Lee]

One of the best football tutorial on YouTube 👍👍