Flick Up: Soccer technique, drills and fixes

The flick up gets a still ball off the ground and into the air with your foot, so you can start juggling or a trick without picking the ball up in your hands. The standard method is the sole pick-up: pull the ball back with your sole so your toes slide under it, let it roll onto your laces, then pop it up. It's a pure touch skill, so we coach it step by step instead of grading it.

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 leg first; add the other leg once it works.

Tall, ball in reach.

Rest the sole of your stronger foot lightly on top of the ball, with your weight on your standing leg.

Sole on top, light.

Flick up

In one smooth motion, pull the ball back toward you with your sole so your toes slide under it. Don't stop the pull and then try to lift; it is one movement.

Pull and toes under, together.

Let the ball roll up onto your instep (your laces) and wait until it sits in the middle of the foot.

Ball centred on the laces.

Pop it up with a small lift: a flick of the ankle, or a bend at the knee and hip. Send it only high enough for your first instep or thigh touch.

Small pop, straight up.

Meet the ball as it drops with your laces, toes pointing up, tapping directly under it, and keep juggling.

Under the ball, not behind it.

Other pick-ups

Kangaroo hop (easier for younger players): hold the ball between the insides of both feet, bend your knees and hop. Release the ball from your feet as high as you can, then touch it with your instep to start juggling.

Hop, release, touch.

Cross-foot pick-up: use the sole of one foot to roll the ball onto the instep of your other foot, then pop it up from there.

One foot rolls, the other lifts.

Feel it

The pull back and the roll onto your laces feel like one movement, not two. The ball settles on the middle of your foot for a moment, then a small lift sends it straight up, not away from you. This is the start of a juggle, not a trick on its own: the touch after it matters as much as the lift. It isn't the Okocha Flick (a heel flick over your head on the run) or the Thigh Flick (controlling a dropping ball on your thigh).

Fix-its

The ball rolls under your foot and stays on the ground You pulled, stopped, then tried to lift. Make the pull back one smooth motion so your toes slide under the ball as it comes toward you.
The ball squirts sideways off your foot You popped it 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 sole pick-up at all yet Start with the kangaroo hop (step 7), then come back to the sole pick-up.

Drill

Roll-back to hold: pull the ball back, let it roll onto your instep and hold it there for a moment before you pop it. Repeat until the roll-up is reliable.
Pick-up and juggle: flick up, then try to strike the ball a second, third and fourth time on the same foot before it touches the ground.
Other foot: repeat both drills with your weaker foot.
Cross-foot pick-up: roll with the sole of one foot onto the instep of the other, pop it up and juggle.
Bounce pick-up (hard surface only): a light sole touch lifts the ball a few inches, then strike it firmly down from above with your sole so it bounces about two to three feet high, and start juggling.

Sources

Last checked 2026-10-30.