Heading Drill: Throw, Head, Catch

By David Clarke

When you’ve been coaching headers with Tony Carr’s session you need to put it into a game situation. Here’s one that gives your players more opportunity to attack with their headers but at the same time keeps the session simple so they concentrate on their position and technique.

Remember that heading a thrown ball is easier than heading a kicked one, but it is harder to get power behind a thrown ball, so they will have to use good technique to make it work for them.

Set up a 30 yard x 20 yard pitch with two goals. This is ideal for two teams of four.

Both teams put a player in goal when defending but have all players out on the pitch when attacking.

Both teams attempt to score using attacking headers but can only move the ball by using the following sequence:

• The first player throws the ball to a second teammate who heads it to a third teammate who catches the ball.

• Once thrown the other team can win the ball back by ‘out-heading’ their opponents, or intercepting the ball with their hands in the ‘catching’ phase.