Is Juggling Beneficial?

Juggling IS beneficial for young players, there’s no question about that.

Is it as beneficial as the footwork exercises in the main part of this ‘early engagement’ section? No.

Learning to manipulate and control the ball with both feet is THE most crucial and fundamental skill for young players to learn but juggling will definitely help to improve any child’s touch and feel for the ball.

Again, doing it barefoot is the most beneficial way to learn but it can also be done wearing shoes.

The ball in this video is a size 5 (for older children and adults) and so a younger child would be better off with a size 2 or size 4 but there is some benefit to using this size 5 as it presents an additional challenge for such a small child in comparison to the size of the ball.

Ultimately, the answer is YES, juggling will help your son or daughter. They should do it in addition to, not instead of, the early engagement footwork exercises.