Copyright Michael Curtis 2005
This is aimed at people without physical injuries or back problems, etc.
Keepie Uppie is about keeping the ball bouncing off your body, not touching the ground, but you do not use your arms. Eg. feet, head, chest, shoulders are OK.
Well, I did not know that its name was 'Keepie Uppie'. I just wanted to see how long I could keep the ball in the air for.
And the answer was 'not long'. And the whole task seemed impossible and something that only a football genius could do.
I am naturally left-footed but my right foot always sent the ball out of range.
So, I needed to practise using my weaker foot.
And I can't tell you how long I did this without success.
Then I found that, if I used my left foot once, then my right foot once, and then my left, and so on, that this was better.
I found that the off-course spin and direction of one foot's kick is corrected somewhat by the effect of the opposite foot.
In this way, keepie-uppie became more fun to do because the ball would stay in the air for more than 10 kicks.
From then on, it was a case of practice, practice, practice and setting higher and higher targets until
it was possible to keep going for minutes at a time (if I used my thigh as well).
You can concentrate on all-round ability. You can practise using the thigh to control the ball. This especially helps when the ball is coming down from a great height: it cushions the fall and the ball is then easy to control with the feet.
You can practise doing headers in a row but it can make you dizzy so that you drop the ball soon afterwards - even after doing the headers. I tend to do 10 at most because I worry that I might be killing brain cells or concussing myself.
It is not impossible to use the shoulder.
And a great 'get out of trouble' move is to kick-up on the left or right of your body when the ball is not landing in front of you. So the outside of your foot is used to club the ball up again.
Rest the ball on your foot; flick the ball up but make your foot circle around the ball to kick it from underneath after it arrives back in starting position.
Make the ball go from shoulder to head to other shoulder to head, and so on.
When the ball is at head height, bend over so that it lands on the base of your neck and stays there. Very hard to do.
See the lesson at the site of Abbas Farid
Technically, this might disqualify you if you are meant to be bouncing the ball; however, gentle headers lead to the ball stopping on the top of your nose/forehead for at least one second. It's not hard to do but seems hard to do.
Please mail me examples of other moves. Mick_curtis@yahoo.co.uk
Practising in a park can be full of distractions. And it may worry you that you are not very good and yet people can see you failing.
However, in my experience, even when I am doing well, nobody is really watching. It is rare for anybody to stand around long enough to see that the ball has been kept in the air for a long time.
Most people really are not interested in what you are doing.
And it is fine to drop the ball. What I think is important is to analyse the particular weakness in your skill which led to the ball dropping; then you can focus on that skill for a few minutes so that you improve.
You can improve your odds though by practising out of the sun on a hot summer's day so that you are not blinded; and generally choosing a level patch of ground.
It is OK to fail if it is part of the path to improvement. Hence the Taoist saying: "It is better to be a fool for a moment than a fool all of your life."
Note: In real terms, there is no world record for keepy uppy. Why? Because there would need to be a number of checks in order to keep record attempts comparable. Consider:
1. how a person who does 24 hours of keepy uppy non-stop would go to the toilet during that time - and if he/she does not go to the toilet then isn't that a health risk which would make keepy uppy record attempts an illegal sport?
2. Drugs testing. Just like any respectable sport, drugs testing should precede the activity.
3. Shoe choice. Within 10 hours of keepy uppy non-stop, typically a shoe lace would become undone. The choice of shoe and type of lace [or velcro design] should be listed in the regulations. Also, a 'futesol' trainer is a very different shoe to a soccer trainer [less of a slope at the 'lace area' of the shoe]. Records should mention the choice of footwear.
4. What is the sports person drinking during their marathon keepy uppy attempt? Plain water? A sugary drink? And by what method is the person accessing the drink while keeping the ball in the air?
5. Sweat or perspiration. How is the person dealing with sweat which is running down their forehead and affecting their vision? Should the competitior carry some kind of towel and a sweat band on the forehead?
6. What is the terrain of the record attempt? A smooth indoor surface or a smooth outdoor surface subject to rain and bright blinding sunshine? Can the surface be rough like a field?
7. Can an assistant pass a drink or a towel to the competitior so as to minimise the chance of the competitor dropping the ball?
8. Accidentally, a ball may come to rest on the competitor while he does gentle headers or gentle thigh keepy ups or gentle shoulder keepy ups. That is inevitable but there needs to be a referee to disqualify long term pausing of the ball on such areas as the top of the foot or behind the neck.
Since there is no public listing of answers to these questions, it is not possible to state that there is a respectable method for measuring world record attempts.
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