The inside cut is a basic way to turn with the ball: you plant one foot beside the ball, pivot on it, and cut the ball back across your body with the inside of the other foot. It lets you escape a defender or change the angle of your run in one touch. We read the body movement of the cut, not the ball.
Set up
Dribble with the ball close. Near a defender, take smaller touches so the ball is always in reach.
Small touches, ball under control.
Start slowing down a step or two before the cut. Brake over the last couple of steps, not all on the final plant.
Slow down early, not all at once.
Bend your knees and lower your body as you arrive at the ball. This gives you a base to push off from.
Low and ready to spring.
Cut
Step to the side of the ball with your non-kicking foot. Keep that knee bent and pointing the same way as your toes, not caving inward.
Plant beside the ball, knee over toes.
Pivot on the planted foot and turn your hips toward the new direction.
Cut the ball back across your body with the inside of the other foot. Keep the touch short so it stays close.
Hook it, don't kick it.
Keep your trunk upright or leaning into the new direction, not falling sideways away from it, lift your head, and accelerate away. If there is space, push the next touch further and drive into it.
Head up, then go.
Feel it
A good inside cut feels like braking into a low, balanced plant, turning on that foot, and leaving with the ball still at your feet. If you have to reach for the ball after the cut, the touch was too big.
Fix-its
- You arrive tall and drift through the turn Slow down over the last two steps and bend your knees before you plant. A low body gives you a platform to turn and accelerate.
- Your plant knee caves inward Keep the knee pointing over your toes on the plant. Slow the move down until you can hold that alignment, then build speed.
- The ball runs away from you after the cut Use a shorter cut with the inside of the foot and plant right beside the ball, not behind it.
- You turn but don't get away Lift your head after the turn and accelerate straight away. The change of speed is what creates the space.
Drill
- Walk-through: with the ball still, step beside it, pivot, and cut it back with the inside of the other foot. Do both feet until the plant feels stable.
- Cone lines: in a 20 x 20 yard area, dribble to a cone, inside-cut back, and dribble away. Alternate feet; keep the plant knee over your toes.
- Gate turns: dribble to a gate, cut, and accelerate through a different gate. Take small touches near the cone, bigger ones in open space.
- Add a passive defender: dribble at them, cut before they reach the ball, and accelerate away. Make them active once the move is clean.
Sources
- England Football Learning — Moving with the ball and turning: turning to play forward (2025)
- Levittown SC Clinics — Turning: Inside Cut (Coaches' Voice Session Planner)
- FAW Coach Ed — Turns: Inside Cut (Coaches' Voice Session Planner)
- Dos'Santos, Thomas, Comfort & Jones — Training interventions on change of direction biomechanics and ACL loading: a scoping review, Sports Medicine (2019)
- Donelon, Dos'Santos, Pitchers, Brown & Jones — Biomechanical determinants of knee joint loads during cutting: systematic review and technical framework, Sports Medicine - Open (2020)
Last checked 2026-10-26.