Soccer: Be Strong In The Air

I've only really took part in one single sport very intensely and that is soccer, I play other sports with friends just for fun but my main sport is soccer and always will be. The first time I got on a soccer field I totally fell in love with the game and thought that this really showed who I am and it let me just be free and do what I think is right on the field. The part that really pulled me into playing soccer was the competition that fires up, when most games do usually go 0-0 for a while that competition keeps on going up and up and all the players get more feisty and that energy is remarkable on the field that I can never find anywhere else. I love being part of that aggression and fight because that's just the way I am and that's why I found soccer to be such a perfect fit for me to play. Whenever I'm down or sad I go out to a soccer field with friends and just kick the ball around for a while and it clears up my brain and that's why I found it to be one of my biggest passions too, because it helps me with other aspects in life as well, like brings happiness. Soccer is mainly played with your feet and legs and for goalkeepers hands are significant. However, a major part of soccer that people that aren't involved in playing it miss out usually are headers and the ability to use your head whenever it is needed. That is a very overlooked skill in soccer and it is hard to perfect but the one's that do perfect headers and the touch of the ball on their head they go to a different level of ability as a soccer player. So, to learn more about headers and being strong in the air I chose to read a soccer book called "Soccer Strategies: The Top 100 Best Ways To Improve Your Soccer Game," by Ace McCloud for my 2nd quarter IRP project. I've been playing soccer competitively now for a very long time and headers are one of my personal favorite things in soccer. Even though I'm usually smaller than most of the opposing team members in height, I show everybody that I have more heart and desire to make that ball mine and put my head on it first before anyone else does so it ends up in the back of the net. But, that is a lot harder to do then to say in a game situation because everything happens so fast that you have to be naturally ready and anticipate where the ball is going so you can aim your header where the goalkeeper can't reach.

In the book by McCloud he does talk about headers and how to improve your ways to get them in the goal more often. He informs us in the book by talking about the best way to score a header is make a move on your defender, get past him, spike the ball down and with a lot of pace towards the corners so it is the hardest on the goalkeeper to reach, (McCloud 16).

This was the video of my header before I came across the section of the book with the headers and read what McCloud had to say about them. What I'm doing wrong here is that I was muscling up the defender that was guarding me but I let him get a step in front of me which made me had to back off for a second and that let him beat me to the ball and clear it out before I could come close. The better thing for me to have done here was keep muscling the defender up which is allowed in the rules of the game but also accelerate quicker so that my body would be in front of him and he wouldn't have been able to get in front of me to the ball.

This was the header I came out with after I read the book and took in what McCloud had to say about improving them. In this header I did all the right things basically and it was way better than before when I hadn't had read the book. First, I muscled up my defender well and that got me a little step on him. Then, I exploded with speed towards the ball to leave him completely behind me with no challenge in the air. Finally, I turned my body enough to where the ball would come down on to my forehead, which is the best place to head the ball, and then spiked it down into the corner just like McCloud said to do. That was a really good example of how to score a header from a ball delivered into the box.

Here is a different but another good example of how to head the ball properly. This header is different because the approach I had to my jump was different than the previous one. In the last one I was muscling up my opponent and then took a step ahead of him, however in this one I couldn't do that because the ball was put closer to the goal so I had to get there quicker. So what I had to do was take a big stride in front of the defender and having the ball in the corner of my eye and then attacking it with full force so I get as much pace in the ball as I could and the goalkeeper wasn't even able to get his hand down towards it before it already went into the back of the net. Clearly, in game situations you have to adapt to what is being thrown at you so practicing every scenario is very important and when it's game time you are prepared for anything that comes up.


McCloud's book has been huge for my knowledge about the game and he has taught me many different skills and techniques that I wasn't thinking about at all before when they are really helpful. Another thing he said about headers in his book was "Learn how to hit the ball with your head and control the direction it is going in for best results. This will take a lot of practice, but it is an essential skill every soccer player should be good at," (McCloud 16). I also kept those things in mind and it was shown by my last two shots that I had control over where I wanted to place the ball and got a good feel of the ball on my head. Clearly, my improvement has been huge from the first time when I didn't read the book to those last two shots there was big change and it improved my soccer game forever because I will keep all of those techniques in my head next time I go in for a header.


QUESTION: WHEN DO YOU THINK IT IS A GOOD TIME TO BE HEADING THE BALL ON GOAL BESIDES OFF OF CORNER KICKS?

McCloud, Ace. Soccer: Soccer Strategies- The Top 100 Best Ways To Improve Your Soccer Game (Soccer Strategies, Soccer Skills, Soccer Nutrition, Soccer Drills). N.p.: n.p., 2015. Print.