Headers are conundrum, but let’s be measured

In his weekly prep column, Chris Lillstrung discusses the concerns over headers in soccer and what can be done at the high school level to help the problem — albeit not alleviate it entirely.

Head trauma isn’t just a major talking point in football. It also applies to the other futbol as well.

Any time headers are contested at the high school level in soccer, admittedly I cringe. In the era of CTE debate and impact on the brain in sports with head contact, you can’t help but think about it more than we used to.

On Aug. 10, my colleague Fuad Shalhout from The Morning Journal wrote a thoughtful opinion piece on the danger of headers in soccer.

And I’m certainly not going to be repetitive or offer a counterpoint to the arguments made there, because there is reason to be concerned. Anyone who believes head trauma in sports isn’t an issue in 2018 doesn’t know what they’re talking about.

My goal here is simply to take a little bit different look at the situation.

Headers are an integral part of soccer and have been since its inception.

And it should go without saying, but yes, it did take far too long for authority figures in the game at all levels to realize what that action — a repeated blunt trauma — does to a human being.

There are times covering high school soccer for almost 20 years now that are especially troublesome. Heads colliding on a 50-50 ball. An attacking player gaining advantage in the air on a goal kick coming down, then being undercut by the defensive player looking to regain position.

Defenders rising up to block a shot aimed for the corners or just under the crossbar, and the ball makes a swift connection with the top of the head or face and draws an audible groan from the crowd.

U.S. Soccer should be applauded for recommending to eliminate headers for the youngest players and introducing it at a slower rate.

The federation recommends players at 11-andunder and below do not head the ball at all. Then at 12- and 13-and-under, limited use of it is allowed. According to U.S. Club Soccer, which required all the recommended changes in 2016, the maximum for these age groups are 30 minutes of training and 15 to 20 headers per player per week.

I know an area coach who, in addition to these mandates, also introduces headers to their club players with a softer ball. That is astute.

But it’s also important, with all of this noted, what would help — not eliminate the danger completely, but help — would be improved management of these situations.

Specifically, this means how players are coached to apply skill in real time.

Case in point: If you have a goalkeeper who can deliver a goal kick to midfield or beyond, with high power and trajectory, how much of a competitive advantage does it yield to vie for a header there?

Really, those goal kicks should be contested on the bounce or trapped. Especially in high school these days, with so many sides playing on turf, there are strikers who use the bounce on long goal kicks or free kicks as possible leverage against their defender or marker. Play the bounce, try to take an ambitious first touch toward the box and create space.

Most headers in those sequences aren’t properly directed anyway. They either go straight back in the air or are misdirected where it doesn’t help your side. So what’s the point?

Taking headers out of the game through better application of it in those cases, where you don’t need it, would help.

Again, it won’t totally eliminate the issue. But it would help. It would help, as well, if players have a better understanding of how to contest a header on a set piece — a corner kick, free kick or throw-in. There is service on which headers shouldn’t be attempted. If it’s out of your reach to get a worthwhile touch, then why go for it at all? There is an art to corner kicks and free kicks — directing it in with flatter service and making the right runs to free someone up.

There really wouldn’t be a need to eliminate headers outside of the box, as some pundits have suggested, provided players had an improved awareness of situational soccer.

Self-policing would help. Granted — again for emphasis — it doesn’t entirely eliminate the problem. But it would help.

Concussion rates. Head trauma. It should shock and frustrate us all in soccer — and make us think, “What can we do better?”

It is vital to note, though: We can help protect the brain in part by adding knowledge and better application techniques to it.

It may be talked about more prevalently in football. But it should be as much of a talking point in futbol.

Instead of rhetoric that leads us nowhere, perhaps being smarter would be one way of reaching the destination we all desire.

Lillstrung can be reached at CLillstrung@NewsHerald.com; @CLillstrungNH on Twitter.