Juke or Dodge a Defender in Football (Soccer)

Avoiding or "juking" a defender effectively is what allows a rusher to attain more yardage than if they were to try to run "through" the defense every time. It works best in the open field. As soon as the defender puts his foot down and goes for a tackle make a little sidestep.

Steps

  1. Get the ball. Spot the defender who's about to tackle you.
  2. Keep your head up so you can see the field - you need to know where you want to move before you go. The center of the field is usually the best side to run to as it gives you more space to run free. The sideline is the defense's 12th man. Because of this, it may be useful to juke towards the sideline, then quickly dart in the other direction.
  3. Run directly at the defender before you make your move, do not run to the left or right of the defender if at all possible as you will have to cover more distance if you intend to cut back to the opposite side. Running directly at the defender will make your move less predictable too.
  4. In general you will not have enough time to make more than one move as the defense will be coming at you from behind.
  5. Experienced defenders are taught to watch your hips, not your head or torso. An inexperienced defender (or in the case of a simple pick up game) will watch shoulders; use this to your advantage. Juke with your shoulders rotating in the opposite direction of where you intend to cut back.
  6. As get to within {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} of the defender, lead him to pursue you in the direction opposite that which you intend to go. Do this by twitching your hips or wiggling your shoulders in that direction.
  7. If it appears that the defender is committed to pursuing you in that direction, great! You're one step closer to leaving him in the dust, quickly plant the foot opposite the direction you want to go, shift your weight, rotate your hips, push off with both feet and explode in the new direction (you may need to make this first move completely lateral depending on how good your initial move was).
  8. Use the arm closest to the defender to bat away his hands or even lay a nice stiff arm. If the defender is really close, you can also lower your shoulder and give the guy a really hard hit under the chin or in the chest. 75% of the time, the guy will let go. If done correctly, this can cause plenty of damage.
  9. Pull your feet forward and high; the last thing you want is to be "shoestring" tackled after dusting a defender

Tips

  • Never stop moving your feet - this will help you to make quicker moves
  • A good tip if your running on the sidelines, keep the football in the arm nearest to the sidelines. So in case a defender manages to strip the ball it will fall harmlessly out of bounds and more importantly in your teams possession.
  • Use mental imagery to see yourself moving quickly and effectively avoiding defenders - this is how professional athletes mentally train. You need to see it working in your head to make it work in reality.
  • Speed and quickness are not the same thing - you need to practice quickness for juking and speed for open field running.
  • To get the quickness necessary for jukes, do ladder drills.
  • Don't forget to protect the ball
  • Never hint where you are going. Defenders will either follow your eyes or hips. Don't look in the direction that you are going
  • Always get low. This will help your center of gravity

Warnings

  • Keep the ball close to your body, don't be caught with your arm fully extended when a defender comes and swats it from behind
  • Don't overuse this technique - you may find yourself in the backfield scrambling around people while not making forward progress. Sometimes it's best to put your shoulder down and head upfield. You need yardage!
  • Be careful of the "spin move" - although effective, you could end up getting hit in the back or injure an ankle.

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