Section 5: Basic Skills - Heading and Tackling

This series, Coaching Fundamentals, is designed to introduce volunteer and youth coaches to the basics of coaching soccer. 

Introduction

Coaches must exercise caution in practicing these skills. Faulty techniques taught at a young age can lead to bad habits and perhaps even injury. It is recommended that the coach has significant knowledge of the techniques and how to practice them before undertaking teaching them to young players.

Heading

The skill of heading the ball is possibly the most difficult skill to practice for at least three reasons:

• Practicing the skill of heading requires accurate lofted passes in the air, another difficult skill that is not easy to master. While lofting the ball by hand can be done, it does not provide a realistic practice like the lofted pass.
• There is a limit to the number of repetitions that can be asked of a player, especially at an age before the mastery of the technique is not complete.
• Clashing of heads among players sometimes occurs when practicing the skill.

Coaches are wise to be aware of overexposing their players to potential injury. When practicing heading with young players, the following precautions should be used:

• Use a slightly deflated or rubber ball. 
• Begin by having the player toss it to themselves by hand. 
• Be sure that early heading practice does not involve challenging an opponent for the ball.

The key elements of heading include:

• Judging the line and flight of the ball.
• Getting in the line of the flight.
• Arching the back and tucking the chin prior to contact, with elbows out to the side.
• “Snap” of the back and chin forward and “snapping” the elbows back to contact the ball.
• Make contact with the ball with area between the eyebrows and hairline with mouth closed, eyes open and chin up.

Heading is a skill to be introduced slowly and is almost never practiced by players under the age of nine.

Tackling

The “block” tackle involves tackling with the back foot and normally occurs in a 50-50 situation, when neither player has the ball. Key factors include:

• Steady head
• Eyes on the ball
• Low center of gravity
• Plant support foot alongside the ball
• Contact the ball with the inside of the foot, below the ball’s equator
• Follow through is low

Conclusion

This is the final look at technical training in this series. It should be emphasized that training in the skills of soccer is a lifelong process and players must continue to practice the skills of the game. We must always bear in mind that even the simplest tactical concept will fail if the players do not have a basic mastery of the skills of the game. As we say in coaching, “There are no tactics without technique."