The ball roll scoop gets a still ball off the ground with one foot: roll it back toward you with your sole, let your toes slide under it, then scoop it up off your laces to start a juggle or set up a trick. It is the same sole pick-up taught in the Flick Up lesson. Most of it is touch, so the camera checks your balance on the standing leg and the motion of your foot, not the ball itself.
Set up
Start with the ball still on the ground just in front of you, close enough to reach the top of it without leaning. Use your stronger foot first; add the other foot once it works.
Tall, ball in reach.
Rest the sole of your scooping foot lightly on top of the ball, with your weight on your standing leg.
Sole on top, light.
Roll and scoop
In one smooth motion, roll the ball back toward you with your sole so your toes slide under it. The roll and the scoop are one movement; don't stop the roll and then try to lift.
Roll and toes under, together.
Let the ball run up onto your instep (your laces) and wait until it sits in the middle of the foot.
Ball centred on the laces.
Scoop it up with a small lift: a flick of the ankle, or a bend at the knee and hip of the scooping leg, or a small bend of the standing leg. Send it only high enough for your first instep or thigh touch.
Small scoop, straight up.
Meet the ball as it drops with your laces, toes pointing up, tapping directly under it, and carry on into your juggle or trick.
Under the ball, not behind it.
Variation, the scoop and hold: instead of lifting, flex your foot toward your shin as the ball comes up so it is trapped between your toes and shin, and hold it there.
Toes up, ball held.
Feel it
The roll back and the ride up onto your laces feel like one movement, not two. You cradle the ball up rather than kick it: it settles on the middle of your foot for a moment, then a small lift sends it straight up, not away from you. Your standing leg stays steady the whole time. The scoop is a set-up, so the touch after it matters as much as the lift.
Fix-its
- The ball rolls under your foot and stays on the ground You rolled, stopped, then tried to scoop. Make the roll back one smooth motion so your toes slide under the ball as it comes toward you.
- The ball squirts sideways off your foot You scooped before it settled. Wait until it sits in the middle of your laces, then lift.
- The ball shoots forward away from you Your touch is hitting the back of the ball. Get the laces directly under it with your toes pointing up, so the force goes up.
- It goes too high to control Use a smaller lift. You only need enough height for your first instep or thigh touch.
- You can't get the scoop at all yet Start with the kangaroo hop from the Flick Up lesson (ball between the insides of both feet, hop and release it), then come back to the roll scoop.
Drill
- Roll back to hold: roll the ball back, let it run onto your instep and hold it there for a moment before you scoop it. Repeat until the roll-up is reliable.
- Scoop and hold: roll back, then trap the ball between your toes and shin by flexing your foot. Next, lift your heel and balance the ball on your flexed foot in the air.
- Scoop and juggle: scoop it up, then try to strike the ball a second, third and fourth time before it touches the ground.
- Other foot: repeat the drills with your weaker foot.
- Cross-foot scoop: use the sole of one foot to place the ball on the instep of the other, scoop it up and juggle.
Sources
- John C. Harves, CoachingAmericanSoccer.com — Instructional Juggling (youth coaching manual)
- John C. Harves, CoachingAmericanSoccer.com — Intermediate Soccer Juggling (pick-ups)
- Twinkl — Move at Home: Football Workout 2 (PDF hosted by Corsham Regis Primary Academy, 2021)
- Bryan Coe, The Soccer Handbook — How to Juggle a Soccer Ball
- Soccer Coach Weekly (Dave Clarke) — Soccer juggling drills for better ball control
Last checked 2026-10-31.