It took me about 15 hours of deliberate practice, spread across two months and ten sessions, to go from essentially being unable to juggle to 101 consecutive juggles.

I tracked nearly every session along the way, and I've kept tracking my juggling for the past two years.

The Data

Over a session, I track a block of ten consecutive attempts as well as my record.

From 11 Juggles to 101: My First 10 Sessions

The blue line represents the median over a block.

The red line represents my best attempt for the juggle session. It doesn’t necessarily represent my best attempt during the ten-attempt block. I only recorded blocks to benchmark my progress. After recording the block, I spent maybe an hour to an hour and a half continuing to juggle and recorded session-record-breaking attempts.

Light lines show the trend.

Juggling progress over two years

Even though I already exceeded my goal of 100 juggles, I still track my progress.

Data limitations on block medians

Ego-driven data collection practices overstate how well I progressed.

Early on, I recorded all attempts over a block. An attempt of 3 was valid, and I added it to my spreadsheet.

As I improved, I became increasingly selective about what counted. Many times, I actually didn’t record an attempt because I never really got it going past five. Slowly, I became attached to ensuring the data reflects progress rather than the truth.

Finally, I set a soft rule that any attempts fewer than ten don’t get recorded in the block. 

So the blue line shouldn't be interpreted as a clean measure of my actual juggling ability. It reflects both my improvement and increasingly selective data collection.

I still got to 100+ juggles, but most of my attempts around that time hovered between 10 and 20. 

How I trained juggling

Before beginning this journey, I watched plenty of juggling how-to YouTube videos.

I started with the following progression:

1. Drop the ball onto one foot, kick it back up, and catch it.
2. Repeat with the other foot.
3. Eventually alternate feet before catching.

I did this a bunch during my first sessions. 100 reps with each foot before actually attempting to juggle.

After I got the hang of juggling over a few sessions, I’d only do this progression as a warm-up. 10-20 reps each foot.

Then, I’d do my 10-attempt block. I didn’t set a fixed rest time between attempts – it was pretty casual. I prioritized quality over volume.

After recording the block, I continued practicing for one to one and a half hours. Practice frequency ranged between one and three sessions per week.

Did it actually help my soccer?

Yes.

I now have substantially better control when receiving or directing balls in the air. I'm much more comfortable manipulating a ball that's coming at me awkwardly or bouncing into the air.

More importantly, I think it expanded the range of things I'm comfortable attempting. I'm a defender by trade, where I could get away with relatively limited technical ability. After spending this much time deliberately working on ball control, I can now play center midfield competently, if not strongly.

I wouldn't claim that juggling alone transformed my football ability. But it gave me a much better relationship with the ball, particularly when it's off the ground.

Reflections

At first, I felt self-conscious going to the park as an adult looking like an oaf. But I stuck with it, noticed the progress, and it addicted me. 

Patience was key. In my first two sessions, I maybe got ten-plus juggles only a handful out of hundreds of attempts.

Something clicked in the third session, and I shattered my record with 54 juggles.

Finally, in my tenth session, I got 101 juggles.

The attempt I exceeded 100 completely surprised me – my personal record up to that point was only 74. It happened very early on in my session: the second attempt in the block. 

In many sessions, I fell into the trap of trying to force it, which made things worse. I’d be juggling for over an hour, frustrated that I was stalling or even regressing, which was likely due to exhaustion. The trick is to move on to something else or simply go home and approach it again the next time with a fresh body and mind.

What I took away from practicing juggling

The biggest lesson wasn't really about juggling. It was that deliberate solo practice works.

This was the first time I deliberately isolated a skill, practiced it repeatedly, tracked my progress, and gave myself enough time for the improvement to happen.

Now, I'm trying to apply the same approach to other parts of my game, namely ball mastery, dribbling, and receiving. 

Got married two months ago. Before then my now wife and I didn't live together. I play 2-4 times a week (depends on season) and before the marriage it was rare I had to miss games.

Right around the time I got married I got a house too. Since then I've had to miss games more often just due to house maintenance or responsibilities with my wife.

My wife doesn't mind me playing, she actually enjoys going to see me play, but no doubt the added responsibility has already taken away from my playing time. I can't even imagine in the future when we have kids.

How have you guys managed to play past these things? Did you have to cut back?

I have recently purchased Mizuno Morelia Neo 4 Beta but they have been extremely tight on my midfoot even though i have a bit of a narrow feet. My Right foot it 27.8 cm and my left is 27.5cm, I have the Neo 4 Betas in jpn size 27.5cm and have 0.5cm of extrea toe space, and was wondering if i should get 27.5 on the 28cm for the non beta neo 4. I want a extra 0.5cm of toe space for the shoe, and I have also heard that the betas are a bit longer compared to the non betas. So I was wondering which should I should go for with the Neo 4 Non Betas 27.5cm or 28cm?

Picked up for fall league in NYC, haven’t used them yet but when I tried them on they felt incredibly comfortable.

My feet are 25cm but I wear 24cm in Copa Mundial. Should I stick with 24cm for the Icon 2 or go half size down like some people suggest? I’ll appreciate any help

I recently moved to a new city to study and I joined a local lower division team again after being away from football for nearly 8 years.

I am currently just training with the team, but I’ve developed a decent amount in just a few weeks and the coach has agreed to let me join the practices until he feels I’m ready to play.

However, I recently learned that I got some credits transferred from a previous study I did so now I have a 6 week break in the semester and I got an offer from an old boss to go home and work full time for the period which I think I will do.

I am afraid I might lose out on some of the progress I made. I also think being absent from the team for such a long time after just joining might be a bad look and that I won’t be allowed to come back again.

I’m wondering if any of you have been in a situation like this and have any tips? Is it realistic to reach out to a team in my hometown and ask if I can practice with them for the 6 weeks? I feel like just practicing by myself won’t be that effective, since most of my weaknesses are in scrimmages during practice and I feel like in-game experience will help me the most.

The guys on the team are all very nice so I would hate to lose my current spot, but staying in the new city just to practice twice a week instead of working full time at home doesn’t seem like a smart decision.

Running and sprinting workout have been putting too much pressure on my joints/ligaments/tendons. What are some low impact workouts that are challenging to improve stamina for days I don’t have practice but won’t leave my joints and tendons hurting?

Can I get some opinions on my next pair of boots? Which would you choose and why? All should fit my feet well. I do play on 4G AG a lot so all of these stud patterns should be fine. I have a connection with an insurance liquidator who sells damaged box shoes or tried on shoes (returns) at a discount.

Morelia Neo IV Japan for $180
Morelia 2 Japan for $180
Superfly 10 (last gen) AG for $150
Mizuno Alpha II elite for $110
Copa Icon 2 for $110
Furon v8 for $100

Some great deals available and can’t decide. If you have to give me a top 3 instead of 1 that’s fine too 😂

Disclaimer: I’m not going to hold anyone’s recommendation against them. Here for friendly feedback and ideas. Obviously my decision is my is my own and all these boots meet my personal standards.

I never owned a Mizuno, but I'm considering it. I'm thinking the Morelia or the Monarcida. I've heard the Monarcida runs wide. Looking at my foot do I need to consider wider cleats?

Hi there, 32M here, I have played football since I’m conscious, and I have felt these past 2 years that my physical condition is not enough anymore for a the level I’m playing at.

I don’t play at a particularly high level, but still a Sunday league 11 a side with multiple players in my team having had careers in french lower divisions and coming from L1 training centers, and same for a lot of the other teams, a lot of ex pro players etc.

I’m not the oldest at all, but I feel that my body has reached a point where even if I work my ass off training, running etc, I still feel a scarily fast decline.

How can I try to inverse this, and also, how do you cope knowing that your best days are behind you?

Thanks for reading and sorry for the broken english, not my first language.

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I have flat feet, and I recently noticed since my right foot is my dominant foot, over the years my right big toe has kinda started to twist inward, almost kinda pre-bunion. I went to a podiatrist and they said to just use a toe spacer and tape my foot, because otherwise my toes will blister from like crossing over and getting too tight vertically.

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In the pics, I measured my thumb from my longest toe.

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New to the game. Grew up playing hockey and American football. In hockey I was in net so I decided I’d start in net for my first season and see how it goes. Am I doing it wrong? I had a ton of goal kicks tonight. I’m not good at it at all and it usually goes straight to an opposing player. But, I’m hitting it as hard as I can. Like so much that my right quad is now elevated and on ice and I am thanking the universe am we don’t have another match for two weeks.

Anyone know if these Mizunos are legit?

this is my first pair of Mizunos I’ve ever owned and I got them off eBay. Just wanted to make sure they’re real

Salut à tous ! Je me tourne vers vous, connaisseur de chaussures de foot oour savoir ce que vaut une paire de Mizuno morelia 2 Elite en terme de durabilité ? Je sais que la version Made In Japan est reconnue pour sa qualité de fabrication et de ses matériaux mais qu'en est-il de la version elite, apprament très proche de la version haute gamme et nettement moins chère ?

does anyone know any niche ways i could potentially find a uk size 13 in the phantom 6 elites, ag as well please?

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