Over many years, soccer fields have been graced with fantastic footballers. Players with individual techniques and skills that unlocked defences, left you silent with flashes of brilliance, and made you ask �how did they learn that?�

More often than not these greats always had a ball at their feet. They played on open land, in back alleys or beaches; wherever there was some space and opponents to beat they were there.

Today, there aren�t enough players who practice outside of the coach led training sessions.

These players are missing out on the very fundamental soccer education that the greats built their soccer prowess on. The greats mastered ball skills on their own; they developed their creativity playing 1v1 and then developed their team understanding through structured training sessions.

When you send your players away from training, reinforce that they should practice their ball mastery skills, find a wall to kick a ball against, practice turns & feints, play 1v1�s, set a target level of �keepy-uppies� they should be able to do by the next practice game.

All of these techniques will help them be the best players they can be.