Football/Soccer Session (Academy Sessions): U12 Technical Session: Heading (1) - Drills & SSG

Reseller-Club: Premier Users' Club

Paul Inns

Profile Summary

Name:	Paul Inns
City:	Newtown
Country:	United Kingdom
Membership:	Adult Member
Sport:	Football/Soccer

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Football/Soccer Session Plan Drill (Colour): Heading in Threes

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Heading in Threes (10 mins)

Organisation

Split players into groups of three's, in a triangle, about 4 yards apart.

Aim

To develop heading technique and accuracy.

Instructions

Player A throws to Player B, who heads to Player C. Player C throws to Player A who heads to Player B. The sequence continues with each player heading in turn.

Coaching Points:

Server should serve the ball in front of the header, who heads down.

Player heading the ball should strike the ball rather than letting it hit them.

Move feet to position themselves to head the ball;

Feet apart to form a good base;

Eye on the ball;

Neck and body muscles firm;

use arms to increase power.

Progressions:

1. Players move about the area, slowly at first, continuing the sequence of throw-head-catch.

2. Gradually increase the distance between the players until the servers are 6 to 8 yards apart;

3. Introduce a defender - three attackers continue theow, head, catch as they move it among themselves. They can throw the ball to any attacking player. Defender has to intercept three times, and then replaces one of the attackers. S

Move feet to position themselves to

Football/Soccer Session Plan Drill (Colour): Defensive Heading in Threes

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Defensive Heading in Threes (10 mins)

Organisation

Place players in groups of three, standing in a line with 5 yards between them.

Aim

To develop defensive heading technique.

Instructions

Player A throws to Player B, who heads the ball over Player A to Player C. Player C controls the ball and returns it to Player A. It then becomes Player C's turn to head the ball. Players rotate every 2 mins.

Coaching Points

Player heading the ball:

stands with feet apart and uses the ground for leverage.

attempts to strike the bottom half of the ball to gain height

uses his arms to pull the chest forward to add power to the contact

keeps teh neck and body muscles firm and is aggressive

have feet apart

be ready to adjust his feet according to the flight of the service in order to shift his body

Coaching Progressions

1. Increase distance between the players

2. look to increase the height of the clearance

3. introduce run, jump and head with players to head the ball standing a further 5 yards back from the server to begin (use yellow cones as the starting position)

4. the next receiver (in the above example Player C) must move to one of the two cones, at the point Player A serves the ball to Player B, so as to make a target for Plaer B to head the ball to.

5. the server, having served, becomes an opponent, and tries to intercept the ball, to include with his hands. If successful or, if the player heading the ball fails to head the ball beyond the receing players two red cones, the server swaps places with the player heading the ball (in effect, piggy-in-the-middle).

Football/Soccer Session Plan Drill (Colour): Header Volleyball

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Header Volleyball (5 mins)

Header Volleyball

Organisation

Create two areas - red and blue - with an overlapping shaded area.

Split players into teams of 4 - 2 blue players and 2 white players - and place into red/blue areas as above..

Instructions

Player A throws the ball up for B to head over the shaded area to C, who catches and throws the ball to D.

Player D then tees up C to head back over back to B.

Progression

1. Can C head the ball back over (without catching).

2. Header Volleyball - Progress to Header volleyball - ball cannot bounce in the shaded area, but players can head the ball back from anywhere within their blue or red area. Play starts by one team lobbing the ball over the shaded area to the other team. Players can either tee their teammate up, or head the ball straight back. Points are scored by:

the ball bouces within the shaded area;

the ball landing outside the area.

First team up to 7 points wins.

Coaching Points

Eyes on the ball, attacking the ball (using the forehead) to try and gain power and height.

Use arms, neck muscles and good upper-body shape to assist. Arms for balance and to create power.

Keep mouth shut to avoid biting tongue.

Football/Soccer Session Plan Drill (Colour): SSG: Throw, Head, Catch

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SSG: Throw, Head, Catch (10 mins)

Organisation

Split players into two even teams with GK's. Create area width of penalty area x length of half a pitch.

Instructions

Players progress by throwing to a teammate who must head to another teammate, who then catches the ball and throws.

Opponents can gain possession only by using the same sequence (eg. by heading a pass that has been thrown by the opponents, or catching a ball that has been headed.

If the ball falls to the ground, first player from either side secures possession and game restarts.

Player in possession is not allowed to take more than three steps while holding the ball.

All goals must be scoered from a headed attempt at goal.

If the ball leaves the field of play, play recommences with a throw in, a throw corner or a throw from the GK.

Coaching Points

Players must create space to receive a throw.

Players receiving a throw must be aware of the positions of teammates before the ball arrives - constant checking of shoulder and surveying the pitch.

Defenders - may need to clear the ball - or, if they have time, direct an intercepted header to a teammate.

Progressions

1. Goals can only be scored by a player with both feet off the ground (eg. diving header or attacking the ball at its highest point).