P4: Moving the Ball : footwork patterns

Moving forward we are going to put pressure problems to one side,  and instead only focus on what a player needs to do with a ball and how this might be be done.

There are the  assumptions;

• The ball is always on the players right foot. [The left foot would work in the opposite way]
• The black arrows in the illustrations show the direction the attacker is facing
  
• The Nutmeg is ignored as an option
• There is no deception, nor improvisation. There is no manipulation of the moment.

We are not looking at pressure problems specifically now.

We are just looking at the directions and ways the ball can be moved from position A to position B.

The pressure problems gave us the directions, we now have work out the how.

On the previous page, we were able to boil down the directional ways the ball can be moved to the following:

We wont show this list again as it is not necessary to read this list, just be aware that all out pressure problems depictions generated about 20 different directions the ball needs to be moved by the player at the heart of all our pressure problem depictions.

Instead we will start to make the process of developing an efficient and effective game functional  footwork system a little more interactive, and try to get you to come up with best ways to move the ball around the body and out to space.

When all pressure problems are looked at together, super imposed on top of one another and then pressure is removed, then a player needs to be able to move to every position in a circle (relative to the way they are facing - which is always to #0 in our scenarios).

So when ignoring any changes of direction, this looks like this :

To make the whole process a little bit more interactive, rather than  just being given the answers YOU are going to identify all the footwork combinations that are required to move a ball from A to B.

In this process you will get familiar with the different ways the foot can interact with the ball, and the significance of the steps in between touches.

You may think it is all obvious, and if you do great - that means you understand it. But remember the execution of footwork patterns is not actually the hard bit for player (although does take some time getting). Knowing what they are and being able to do them is only a small step on the development pathway. The footwork combinations dont change regardless of age. A good 6 year old will use the same footwork patterns than the best pro's in the world.

The only difference is :

• Touch
• Improvisation around the fundamentals
• Moment manipulation
• The ability to all this with too much conscious thought

Once the fundamentals have been learnt it is not about learning more, it is about developing the precision, dexterity, weight of touch that only a huge amount of practice over a long period of time can give you. This is what makes a player go from a good player to a great player. TOUCH.

Interactive challenge

When (and if ) you do the interactive quiz :

A few rules need to be followed:

• The first touch is always with the right foot
• A step with the left foot is allowed just before the first touch to set up a better first touch.
• The touch has to be with the feet, and be game functional (that is it is regular used by good players)

If you don't want to do the challenge but just want to skip to the ball mastery exercises that go with the challenge then go to the bootom of the page and click on the AFFP Ball mastery links.

• Q1; How many ways can the player get the ball from the center to position 0 (keep in mind the assumptions)
• Q2; How many ways can the player get the ball from the center to position 1-5?
• Q3; How many ways can the player get the ball from the center to position 6?
• Q4; How many ways can the player get the ball from the center to position 7-8?
• Q5; How many ways can the player get the ball from the center to position 9-11?