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FineSoccer Kids 65 Welcome to the FineSoccer Kids Newsletter. Today’s subject deals with offensive and defensive headers. When people talk about when and how to head the ball, they frequently talk as if all headers were the same. Since defensive headers and attacking headers are quite different, this is something that ends up confusing players a bit. When a ball is served in the air into the box that you are defending, it’s important that you not only win the ball (assuming the keeper doesn’t call for it) but also that you get the ball out of danger. In most cases, this will mean heading the ball up and away in order to get it over the heads of oncoming attackers. Since most of the time, when talking about headers, coaches want the players to practice getting over the ball and heading the ball down, this can cause some confusion since heading a ball down in your defensive box can result in a great scoring opportunity for the opponent. When a ball is served into the box that you are attacking, you will frequently want to head the ball down in order to get the ball to a teammates feet in order to increase the probability of scoring or you might want to head the ball down and towards the goal (since the hardest shots for a keeper to save are low ones). In the middle of the field, you might be using a defensive header to get the ball over the opponents or you might use an attacking header to maintain possession. The key to successful headers (whether attacking or defending) is to first know which you want to do, then having practiced the technique repeatedly, execute it properly. If you elect to do a defensive header, that means making contact with the bottom half of the ball (in order to get some elevation) or if you elect to do an attacking header that means making contact with the top half of the ball to get the ball to go down. Either way, if you haven’t practiced it, you wont be successful at executing this activity. Any questions, comments or suggestions should be sent to Lawrence@finesoccer.com or they can be posted on the FineSoccer Forum at http://finesoccer.net To subscribe to any of the FineSoccer Newsletters please go to http://finesoccer.com/subscrib.htm Have a great day!
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