How to master amazing freestyle soccer tricks.
Freestyle soccer is the art of juggling a soccer ball by using feet, knees, chest, shoulders and head while simultaneously performing creatively skillful moves to keep the ball airborne. Young soccer players everywhere copy the freestyle skills of heroes like Ronaldo and Beckham.
Freestyle hit big after Nike's Joga Bonito ("play beautiful") ad campaign, which featured soccer icons executing amazing freestyle tricks. In rapid succession YouTube uploaded videos of youth doing tricks, and XBox and Playstation 2® released freestyle soccer games. Now the sport is recognized with a governing body, there are freestyle shoes, and organized competitions take place worldwide.
In Freestyle Soccer Tricks, world-renowned soccer juggler Sean D'Arcy starts with the basics and moves on to impressive kicks, flick-ups, rolls and catches. Fortunately for the inexperienced, many of these tricks can be done without knowing how to juggle the ball. Hundreds of color photos show how each trick is done, with "Common Problem" and "Tip" sidebars providing further instructions.
Colorful, portable and designed for its youth market, Freestyle Soccer Tricks meets the increasing demand by participants of this rapidly growing sport.
Bio: | Sean D'Arcy has been hooked on freestyle since he first saw Argentinean school kids doing tricks at the 1978 World Cup. At the Sydney Olympics in 2000, he performed freestyle tricks. Soon afterward, he produced his Tricks of the Trade DVD. He now runs the www.footballtricks.com website. |
Preface: | Introduction Hello, my name is Sean D'Arcy and I'm a professional football freestyler. I travel all over the world doing demonstrations and teaching players how to do tricks. I'm going to show you how to do the amazing juggling tricks you see the world's best footballers doing. Learning the tricks will improve your coordination, balance and ball control, and make you more confident using your weaker foot when you play football. I've always loved freestyle and when I had to give up playing football because of illness I became a freestyler because I couldn't imagine my life without kicking a football in some way. I practised and practised and worked really hard, and so now, although I'm not a professional footballer, I feel I'm almost living my dream because football is still such a big part of my life. First, there is a chapter 1 with exercises and then chapter 2 with juggling drills to get you started. I've divided the tricks themselves into three different chapters. Chapter 3 shows you flick-ups. This is when the ball is on the ground and you use your feet to get it up into the air. You can do all of the flick-up tricks before you learn to juggle a ball. Chapter 4 is catches and I'll show you a way to practice the catch from your hands so again you can do all these tricks before you learn to juggle. Chapter 5 is all about juggling tricks and you'll need to be able to juggle a ball to do these amazing tricks. I've had a fantastic time writing this book and I know you'll enjoy learning all the tricks. If you need any more tips or advice, check out my website at www.footballtricks.com. |
TOC: | Table of Contents Introduction |