Soccer Ball Control Drills You Can Do Inside Your Basement or Living Room

If you are looking for a way to get a lot of touches on the ball and improve your ball control when you only have a small space to use, then I have the Soccer Training Solution for you.

I like to call these Soccer Ball Control Exercises in a Box.

The drills are a variety of individual exercises designed to improve all aspects of ball control including your touch, balance, agility, and endurance.

Ultimately, these exercises will help you stay over the soccer ball and keep it within your area of control, between your feet.

Fortunately, the exercises do not require much space, so you can do them either inside or outside.

In fact, they only require a 2 yard by 2 yard area.

If I was going to have my soccer team do these exercises, I would have each player put down four soccer cones to create a box.

However, the cones are not necessary. The box is just a visual to map out your area of control. You can also thrown down shoes or other objects if you are playing in a basement or other indoor area.

You may recall in our previous articles (The Best Soccer Dribbling Drill, How to Get Better at Juggling, and Soccer Moves You Can Practice at Home), we have talked about elite players striving to get 10,000 touches per day.

Our Ball Control Exercises in a Box are another way to accomplish your goal of becoming an elite soccer player, as they will help you add to your number of touches per day. 

Performance Levels:

Ball Control Drills for Beginners:  1,000 – 3,000 touches per day

Proficient/minimum:  5,000 touches per day

Advanced and elite players:  10,000 touches per day 

Without further ado, let’s get to the specific ball control drills.

Ball Control Exercises in a Box

With this series of ball control drills, you will get a total of 1,700 touches.

You will find that many of the drills take you to one side and then back to your original position, so you can easily do them in the 

One last piece of advice: These drills should be performed at game speed to improve your skills.

• Inside Cut, Outside Push (200 Total Touches)

  • Directions: Start on one side of the “box” (or small area). Cut the ball straight across your body to keep the ball underneath you and then push the ball with the outside of your other foot towards the other side of the box. Going side to side is one rep. Perform 5 reps then take a 10 second break. This is one round. Do a total of 10 rounds or a total of 50 reps totaling 200 touches.

• Single Foot Inside Outside (400 Total Touches)

  • Left Foot Small Touches (100 Touches)
    • Directions: For the small touches you will be keeping the ball on just one side of your body, the left side, touching the ball with the inside of your left foot and then the outside of your left foot. This would be one rep. Perform 5 reps then take a 10 second break. This is one round. Do a total of 10 rounds or 50 reps totaling 100 touches
  • Right Foot Small Touches (100 Touches)
    • Directions: Same as above except you use your right foot.
  • Left Foot Big Touches (100 Touches)
    • Directions: For the big touches, start on the left side of the box. Cut the ball across your body with an inside cut and then shuffling your feet to cut the ball with outside of your left foot back to your starting position using the whole “box.” This would be one rep. Perform 5 reps then take a 10 second break. This is one round. Do a total of 10 rounds or 50 reps totaling 100 touches.
  • Right Foot Big Touches (100 Touches)
    • Directions:  Same as above except you start on the right side of the box and use your right foot.

• Single Foot Inside Outside Two Touch each (400 Total Touches)

  • Left Foot Two Touch Each Direction (200 Touches)
    • Directions:  Start on the left side of the box, use the inside of your left foot to take 2 touches to go across the box. Then use the outside of your left foot to cut the ball back towards your starting position. Take a second touch with the outside of your foot to get to your starting position. This would be one rep. Perform 5 reps then take a 10 second break. This is one round. Do a total of 10 rounds or 50 reps totaling 200 touches.
  • Right Foot Two Touches Each Direction (200 Touches)
    • Directions:  Same as above except you start on the right side of the box and use your right foot.

• Outside Push x2, Sole Stop (300 Touches)

  • Directions:  Start on one side of the box, use the outside of your foot to take two touches to go across the box. Then use the same foot to stop the ball with the sole of your foot and step over the ball so the soccer ball is now between your feet. Next, use your other foot to push the ball with the outside of your foot to go back to your starting position. Then use the same foot to stop the ball with the sole of your foot and step over the ball. This is one rep. Perform 5 reps then take a 10 second break. This is one round. Do a total of 10 rounds or 50 reps totaling 300 touches.

• Sole Roll, Outside Push (200 Total Touches)

  • Left Foot (100 Touches)
    • Directions:  Use the sole of your left foot to roll the ball across your body, then use the outside of your left foot to push the ball back to your starting position. This is one rep. Perform 5 reps then take a 10 second break. This is one round. Do a total of 10 rounds or 50 reps totaling 100 touches.
  • Right Foot (100 Touches)
    • Directions: Same as above except you use your right foot.

• Sole Roll, Stop (200 Total Touches)

  • Directions: Use the sole of one foot to roll the ball across your body, then use the inside of your other foot to stop. Next, use the sole of your same foot you just stopped the ball to roll the ball back across your body, then use the inside of your other foot to stop the ball. You are now back to your starting position. This is one rep. Perform 5 reps then take a 10 second break. This is one round. Do a total of 10 rounds or 50 reps totaling 200 touches.

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