Heading in Football is the Most Important Skill You Must Follow
Heading is one of the key skills required in football. No matter if it is from goalkeeper, centre back, or striker – they all require the ability to head a ball accurately and powerfully for optimal play. Heading is one of the game’s key abilities that requires both physical ability and mental focus to master.
Though the risks of heading have been much-discussed in recent months, research into it remains limited and often contradictory, leading to confusion over how best to protect young players from injury. Some Football Associations have even implemented guidelines limiting the number of headers per session in training; however, their effectiveness remains questionable due to using age-based sample populations with no regard for training intensity or frequency or any generalizable results; plus an absence of evidence that protective strategies will work.
Science Advances recently reported on an experiment which demonstrated how even brief sessions of heading can significantly change how the brain interacts with muscles. 19 amateur footballers underwent memory tests and measurements of brain-muscle pathways before performing 20 headers at 39kph, replicated headers often used during practice drills and corner kicks and repeated this 20 times for 10 minutes to simulate headers used by practice teams during drills or corner kicks. On cognitive tasks they could not improve due to an increase in time it took their brains to send messages which affected their accuracy significantly
Researchers also observed that rotational headers (where the direction of the ball changes, like when shooting towards goal or taking corner kicks) produced greater force on the head than linear ones, suggesting more care needs to be taken when planning training sessions so players don’t exceed safe limits for heading, especially young developing players.
Passing accuracy is another essential aspect of the game that shouldn’t be undervalued. This involves sending the ball directly to a teammate’s feet, crossing into the box with accuracy or power and shooting it accurately into the net – all tasks which require both spatial awareness and the ability to read a game effectively in order to be accomplished successfully.
Blocking is an integral defensive skill that allows players to fend off pass rushers from reaching the quarterback. This involves driving shoulders into opponents’ chests and pushing them away from ball carriers so they cannot reach it. Effective blockers keep the game moving forward while giving their teammates opportunities for score, so all players should practice blocking on a regular basis.