In freestyle football, sit-downs (also written sitdowns) are tricks done while seated on the ground. They are one of the sport's recognised styles alongside lowers (feet and legs) and uppers (head, chest, shoulders). Freestyle sources mention no trick where you trap the ball and sit on it, so this lesson teaches the seated style. Written coaching for sit-downs is thin. No governing body or coaching manual explains seated technique, so we teach the sourced basics and say plainly where we're adapting standing juggling technique. The camera can't grade this one, so we coach the control it's built on.
Set up
Get your standing juggling solid first. In one freestyle site's learning order, standing lower-body moves come before sit-downs, with these goals: juggle with both feet, one touch per foot in a row, and reach roughly 70–100 juggles on your first attempt.
Sit-downs build on standing juggling. They don't replace it.
Practise in the corner of a room, on a firm, flat floor. The walls stop the ball when you miss, so you don't have to get up and chase it every time. A firm surface also gives a true bounce.
Misses stay within reach.
Warm up and stretch before and after the session. Sit down on the floor before you start the ball. If your hips, knees or back hurt, stop.
Sit
Seated, hold the ball in both hands and drop it. Let it bounce once, tap it back up with one foot, then catch it. This is the standard juggling start (bounce, foot, catch), done from the floor.
One clean tap, then a catch.
Make each touch with your laces, toes pointing up, tapping directly under the ball. That's the standard juggling contact. We found no written guide for the seated version, so treat it as the starting point.
The ball pops straight up, not away from you.
Build the count. Go to 3 bounces and taps before the catch, then 4. Next, tap before the ball bounces and add more taps. Do it with each foot, then alternate feet.
Aim for steady seated juggling with each foot. One freestyle site gives 50–70 juggles on your first attempt as the sit-down goal. Its next sit-down goal is crossovers with both feet.
Be honest when you score yourself. In competition, using your hands to hide or cover a mistake counts as a drop. If you catch a ball that's getting away from you, count it as a drop.
Your count only goes up on clean touches.
Feel it
Sit-downs feel like slow, small juggling. Each tap with your laces sends the ball straight up and back to your feet, so you never reach for it. Freestyle lowers take hours and hours of practice to master. Expect the seated version to need patience too.
Fix-its
- The ball shoots away from you Use your laces with your toes up, and tap directly under the ball.
- You spend the session chasing the ball Move to the corner of a room so the walls stop your misses.
- You can't string seated touches together Go back to the bounce, tap, catch ladder and build one tap at a time. Check that standing juggling with both feet is steady first.
- Only one foot works Repeat every step with your other foot, then alternate feet.
- You save drops with your hands Count each save as a drop. The competition rules do.
Drill
- Standing check: juggle while alternating feet, one touch each. Work toward 70–100 on your first attempt before you lean on sit-downs.
- Seated bounce ladder, in a corner: drop, bounce, tap, catch. Build to 3, then 4 bounces and taps. Each foot.
- Seated taps without the bounce: tap before the ball lands, adding taps one at a time. Each foot, then alternating.
- Seated count test: one attempt per set, catches count as drops. Track your best toward the 50–70 goal.
- Next step: crossovers with both feet, learned standing first (see the Crossover lesson).
Sources
- Urban Pitch, Christine Kwon — Lexicon, Part 1: A Guide to Freestyle Terms (2016)
- Topend Sports — Freestyle Football (n.d.)
- Jan (Honza) Weber — Freestyle football (n.d.)
- Beyond Football — Beginner Tips on How to Start and Learn Freestyle Soccer Tricks (n.d.)
- Soccer Coach Weekly, Dave Clarke — Soccer juggling drills for better ball control (n.d.)
- World Freestyle Football Association — Official Rules of Freestyle Football (2025)
Last checked 2026-10-26.