What Is The 1000 Soccer Touches
What is the 1000 soccer touches, sometimes called soccer touches? You may have heard it repeatedly mentioned by the coaches or on YouTube but nobody seems to explain the concept to you.
If you’re one of the parents facing this question then you have come to the right place. In a nutshell, it is a soccer training strategy that emphasizes more contact with the soccer ball to improve soccer skills.
Join me as I dive into this topic.
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Lack Of First Touch Skills
To better understand the concept of 1000 soccer touches, let us start with a common problem with a player’s skills. A lot of soccer players, especially beginners, lack the skills of controlling the ball on their first touches.
The first touch can be best described as the player’s first contact with the ball during a scrimmage or an actual match. When the ball is passed from teammates, or from the opponent by mistake, the player must use any part of the body to receive and control it instantly.
It could be the player’s upper body, legs, or feet – as long as it is not the hands. In soccer, the first touch is executed in seconds.
If the player has a good first touch skill, he or she receives the pass, controls it, then passes the ball to another teammate or strikes the ball to score a goal.
A player with a poor first touch will always lose the ball to the opponent because he or she could not receive it properly and bring it under control.
In most cases, this type of player is a liability in the team that nobody wants to play with because they can demotivate teammates, concede goals, or miss a goal-scoring opportunity
The First Impression Matters
There is a saying that goes like this, “First impression matters”. In soccer, coaches and scouts always look for a player with good first touch skills because it is an indicator that the player can contribute positively to the team.
They are favored by the coach and easily become regular starters in all the matches they play. A soccer scout is someone who goes out to other schools or goes to tournaments looking to recruit new talents for their clubs.
The quicker a player develops his or her first touch skills the better are their chances of earning a place on the team and the prospects of being recruited look promising.
The Soccer 1000 Touches Concept
If a player wants to develop their first touch skills then they need to do training that involves more contact with the ball. This is where the concept of 1000 soccer touches comes in.
And no, this does not mean sitting on the couch holding the ball while watching soccer on TV.
This concept believes that a player can develop a better first touch if he or she employs a training strategy that has more contact with the ball as much as possible, and in little time.
This training involves performing a number of drills to reach a target number of touches. The target itself is not restricted to 1000 touches, but it can be 500 a day or 2000 a week, and so forth.
An example would be kicking the ball against a wall 20 times in 10 minutes then doing a cone weaving drill with 30 touches in 15 minutes, etc.
Each training session must reach the targeted number of touches.
This makes the player more comfortable, develops skills faster, and builds confidence when handling the ball on any part of the body, except for using hands.
All Kids Are Different
A lot of children are not familiar with soccer until when they go to school. Even then, the only time they kick the ball is during PE once or twice a week.
They will develop some soccer skills but at a very slow pace because they don’t train too often.
On the other hand, some kids were introduced to soccer at a young age and they play almost every day with other kids. Soccer is a part of their culture or the favorite sport in the family, town, school, or country they live in.
The level of first touch skills between these 2 groups of kids will be very different. The kid who plays every day will be more skillful than the kid that plays once a week.
Makes sense right?
If your kid does not play soccer much, do not be worried, the 1000 soccer touch concept can help your kid to develop his or her soccer skills.
Even the kids who are familiar with soccer will still need this training to further build upon their existing skills.
Here are some statistics from Renegade Soccer Training:
- The Dutch (the Netherlands) averaged 10,000 touches a day on the ball, 6 days a week
- Spain is known for its Tiki-Taka style of play which relies heavily on touch and control of the ball
- Brazillian players averaged 8,800 hours of playing soccer by the time they turn 18. Brazil also won 5 out of 15 World Cups
- US soccer players averaged between 250 – 400 touches per practice session
Now you can see a correlation that the number of touches on the ball can have an impact on a team’s success.
How Does 1000 Soccer Touches Work
You need to come up with a target and a plan on how best to achieve it in a short time.
You can set a target of 1000 touches per week or 5000 touches per month then lay out the drills you need to do in order to achieve it.
Depending on the current skill level of your kid you might start with 200 touches per day without setting a time limit.
Here is what your kid’s soccer target and drills might look like:
- Daily target: 200 touches
- Drill 1 – 50 touches
- Drill 2 – 50 touches
- Drill 3 – 25 touches
- Drill 4 – 25 touches
- Drill 5 – 50 touches
- TOTAL: 200 touches
- Weekly target: 600 touches (training 3 days per week)
- Monthly target: 2400 touches
Over time you can increase the target and add a time limit so that the drills can be quick.
Progression encourages signs of improvement in skills.
Quality of the training, and techniques, is important so there is no need to cut corners or shortcuts because only your kid’s skills will suffer.
You can also invest in a soccer rebounder to assist your kid’s passing and kicking training.
List Of Best Soccer Touch Drills
The following posts include drills that develop soccer first touch. They are suitable for toddlers way up to grown-up kids:
- Wall Passing Drills
- 4 Exciting Soccer Drills For U10 Kids
- 12 Simple Soccer Drills For 4, 5, 6, & 7-Year-Olds + Coaching Tips
- 10 Incredibly Simple Soccer Drills For Toddlers
- 5 Basic Kids Soccer Drills – Excel In Ball Control
Benefits Of Structured Training
If you don’t have the time to work on your kid’s 1000 soccer touch target then you might want to invest in an online soccer training course.
The benefits of such online training are that it is already laid out for your kid to follow with the guidance of a professional coach and trainer.
The soccer training program I recommended is only $10 for a month with a lot of lessons and drills to do.
Check my recommended soccer online training program: Renegade Soccer Training Review – Play With Confidence
Conclusion
The 1000 soccer touches concept does not only improve your first touch skills but also dribbling, passing, kicking skills, stamina, and fitness.
It is a critical component of your kid’s soccer skills development so you should be taking it seriously.
Included in the list above you will find exciting first-touch drills that your kid will definitely enjoy.
Be safe.
Related: 10 Best Soccer Rebounders For Kids 2020
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