When you hear the phrase ‘seal dribble’, you would be forgiven for picturing a leathery animal lying on an iceberg with saliva pouring out of its mouth. That, though, is taking things far too literally and forgetting that we’re looking at football skills here. This is not a skill for the feint-hearted, nor is it one that is easy to pull off, so you should bear that in mind before you look to try to learn how to do it.
There is a world in which it is seen as showboating by your opponents, so don’t be surprised if you end up getting hurt via a foul if you try to pull it off during a competitive game of football.
About the Skill
The exact origins of the seal dribble aren’t known, but it is widely considered that the Brazilian forward player Kerlon popularised it. It was also seen performed by the Portuguese winger Nani, who used to play for Manchester United. The execution of it is far from easy, so it’s not exactly outrageous to suggest that you will need to practice it for hours on end if you ever actually want to perform it. If you want to get a sense of what it is that we’re talking about, imagine what a seal would look like if you gave it a football and instructed it to move from one place to another without dropping it.
A seal would almost certainly get the ball onto its nose/mouth, then keep it there through balance as it waddled along. Whilst footballers executing this skill won’t be being asked to waddle, for obvious reasons, nor will they have to use their nose and mouth to control the ball, they will still look at least partially seal-like when they do it. The first thing that you need to do to pull off this skill is to flip the ball up and get it onto your head. From there, you will need to demonstrate your balancing ability as you try to keep the ball on your head, all whilst running forward into space.
Whether you want to scoop the ball up onto your head or somehow control it to get it up, there is entirety up to you, but once it is in place, you will then need to do whatever you can in order to keep it there legally. One of the key aspects of this skill is knowing about where your teammates and your opponents are, given the fact that you will need to ensure that you don’t bump into any of them with the ball balanced on your head. You will also need to make a decision about when to get the ball off your head in order to have a shot or make a pass, depending on where you are on the pitch.