How To Do Football Keepy-Ups

How To Do Football Keepy-Ups

Football keeps-ups are a great way to improve your close control whilst you practice on your own. They force you to concentrate, helping you focus on the ball and your technique. They can also come in handy when you want to impress your teammates or friends. 


Once you master your keepy-ups you can then have more fun with them and start adding skills and tricks. However, it is important to get the basic level of control down before you move on to skills and tricks. Never expect to make progress with your control straight away. Over time you will improve and make fewer mistakes.

John Farnworth is the undeniable keepy-up king. John has completed plenty of freestyle challenges and world records including the London Marathon done entirely whilst doing keepy ups! Here are his three tips to get started and start improving your personal best. 

How to do Keepy-Ups as a beginner? 

  1. ALWAYS PRACTICE ON BOTH FEET. If you’re just getting started it is good to practice first with your stronger foot. As soon as you are able though make sure to start using both feet to build your technique on your weaker foot too. 
  1. USE A BOUNCE TO HELP YOU. In between each keepy up let the ball bounce to give the time to correct your footing and prepare for the next kick. 
  1. USE YOUR LACES AND KEEP THE BALL LOW. If you’re just getting started it is good to practice first with your stronger foot. As soon as you are able though make sure to start using both feet to build your technique on your weaker foot too. 

Here’s the full tutorial so you can practice and improve your skills

@footballflick

How many kick ups can you do?

♬ 2019

How many keepy-ups should I be able to do? 

John may be capable of doing tens of thousands of keepy-ups but for now, that’s not the challenge. When you are first starting it is important to go for quality over quantity. As a beginner, you should aim for 25, and then 50, and so on. 

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Want to use the same ball as John Farnworth uses in his tutorials? Shop here