Wall Training :)

The importance of Wall Training
A wall is to a developing soccer player what a pencil is to paper. They go together. Wall training could be the single best training tool available. Why?

The Wall Never Lies

The wall never lies and it provides immediate feed back. When you hit a nice driven ball into the wall, the ball comes right back to you. When you miss-kick it, the ball does not come right back to you. How many balls came right back to you out of 10, out of 100 out of 1000? The more you knock the ball into the wall, the higher your success rate will be.

Loyal and Consistent Training Partner

The wall is always ready to play. Rain, snow or sunshine, the wall is willing to knock the ball around. You do not need to call in advance, schedule a time to train, it is always ready. Not only is it ready, it gives 100% effort at all times. There are no good days or poor days for the wall, it is perfectly consistent.

Endless Games

With a bit of imagination, the wall provides an endless selection of games. For example, the Two Touch Game. From either 2 yards, 5 yards of 10 yards, you have two touches to control the ball and volley it back into the wall. Every time you control and volley the ball you get a point. If you use more than two touches or the ball does not come back to you from your volley, you start over at zero. How many points can you score? Can you beat your previous score?

Quotes from Claudio Renya’s book, “More than Goals”

“I’d also hit the ball against the side of the house…. Hitting the ball with both feet, seeing how long I could return the wall’s passes without losing control. I found out later that so many pros spend lots of their childhood doing that.”

“Dennis Bergkamp, the great Dutch striker who scored and set up hundreds of goals for Ajax Amsterdam, Arsenal and the Dutch National Team, said that when he was a young player at Ajax, they had little three foot high walls. He would knock the ball against it for hours. Every time he hit the ball, he’d know whether it was a good touch or a bad touch. He’d do it over and over, trying to establish a rhythm.”

“Knocking the ball a wall from close distance takes timing and coordination. Hit the ball faster, and you’ve got to react faster and get a rhythm going. Its almost feels like you are dancing.”

Conclusion: 
The more you train with the wall, the better you will become.