Heading
Continuous Defensive Heading Clear
Clear the ball with height, distance and width
Heading
Defending
Set Pieces
Premium
Continuous Defensive Heading Clear is a 12-minute heading drill for 3-14 players, suitable for Under 12 to Adults at beginner, intermediate, advanced level. You need balls, cones. Below you will find the objective, the set-up, how to run it, coaching points, common mistakes, progressions, regressions and variations.
Back to drill libraryHeading
Defending
Set Pieces
Technical Practice
Beginner
Intermediate
Advanced
Full Squad
Minimal Equipment
Youth Friendly
Adult Suitable
Heading Guidance
Repetition
Duration
12 min
Players
3-14
Pitch size
28 x 22 yards
Ability levels
Beginner / Intermediate / Advanced
Pitch diagram
Continuous Defensive Heading Clear — Marked area · 28 x 22 yards
Step 1 of 5Server throws the ball into the zone for the defender to clear.
- 1. Server throws the ball into the zone for the defender to clear.
- 2. The defender heads for height and distance towards a wide target cone.
- 3. Limit each player to a small number of headers per session.
- 4. As soon as one sequence ends, the next server plays in without waiting.
- 5. Run 4-minute blocks and count total completed sequences as a squad score.
- Cones mark the area
- Dashed lines = zones / thirds
- Ball
- C = coach / server
- Solid arrow = pass, thick = shot, dashed = run / dribble
Objectives
- -Clear the ball with height, distance and width
- -Attack the ball rather than waiting for it
- -Follow age-appropriate heading guidance on volume
Setup
- 1A defensive zone in front of goal with a serving cone 12 yards away in a 28 x 22 yards area.
- 2Load a ball at each starting station so the next rep can begin immediately.
- 3Soft, correctly inflated balls only — keep total headers low.
Coaching instructions
- 1Server throws the ball into the zone for the defender to clear.
- 2The defender heads for height and distance towards a wide target cone.
- 3Limit each player to a small number of headers per session.
- 4As soon as one sequence ends, the next server plays in without waiting.
- 5Run 4-minute blocks and count total completed sequences as a squad score.
Coaching points
- -Attack the ball with the forehead
- -Head through the bottom half for height
- -Eyes open on contact
- -Reset fast — the value is in the volume of good reps
Common mistakes
- -Backing away from the ball
- -Too many repetitions in one session
- -Long queues while balls are collected
Where this drill fits
- More football heading drills
- More football defending drills
- More football set pieces drills
- football drills for U12s
- football drills for U14s
- football drills for U16s
- Football session plans built around this theme