Solid “heading” skills in soccer are crucial for both defensive and offensive game strategies. Players that possess good positioning and timing skills combined with an effective heading technique are invaluable to soccer coaches. The importance of heading skills to the game of soccer is a universally agreed upon fact. Heading is good for the game. Does “good for the game,” however, also automatically translate to “good for game participants?” The answer to this question is not as clear. Here are some facts:
Based on available research on long- term effects of repetitive cumulative head injuries, Pediatrician Bernard Griesemer, M.D. (member of The American Academy of Pediatrics Sports Medicine Committee), stated that “Less is better…” when addressing the practice of heading skills in youth soccer leagues. It is important to note that Pediatricians caution that heading drills, that create numerous opportunities for head/ball contact, might be more conducive to a child’s head injury than occasional contacts during a soccer game.
Research probing progressive neurological impairment in adult as well as teenage boxers prompted the American medical Association to call for the elimination of both professional and amateur boxing. Despite the obvious differences between the frequency of head trauma in all forms of boxing as compared to soccer, trauma resulting from heading in soccer may turn to become a major health issue. The reason for that may lie in the shear numbers. Every youngster that boxes in the United States has roughly 265 counterparts that play soccer.
The renewed and growing concern among Pediatricians and Physical Educators stems from the findings of two separate yet related research projects conducted in Norway and the United States. Both studies focus on head injuries in soccer players that started playing and practicing heading as young children. The results of these studies indicate that the severity of attentional, concentrational, judgmental and memory based deficits is positively related to reported amounts of heading during practice and games. More information regarding head injury in soccer is available on the “Physician Chat” Web Site.
