Header

This article looks at the header in sports . For the knowledge magazine of the same name on television see header (show)

Simply decapitating the ball (left). The targeted use takes place with the forehead (right).

In ball sports, header is a technique of playing the ball with your head.

Soccer

While field players intentionally touching the ball with hand or arm ( hand game ) is punishable as illegal in soccer games, playing the ball with the head is permitted. A header, more correctly also called a head butt , is used in particular to convey a ball that is flying halfway up or high towards the goal, to pass it on to a teammate or to fend off an opposing attack (for example after a flank or corner ).

Preparation of a header goal ( Leo Maric versus Sven Tramm , 1998)

Head butts can be performed while standing, but often also while running or jumping (from one or both legs) and often take place in a duel with an opposing player. Important prerequisites for a successful header game are, in addition to body size, a high bounce as well as the ability to calculate the trajectory of the ball, to choose the correct time and height of the jump and to perform the head butt in a controlled manner (direction and impact strength). In addition to shot or thrown balls, this technique can also be practiced with a pendulum headed ball .

Some strikers are or were known and feared as head ball specialists, mostly players of particular height or jumping ability. In particular, "Goldkopf" Sándor Kocsis was able to develop the reputation of the world's best header player in his career, but Horst Hrubesch was also known in Germany as a particularly good header player.

At the 2012 European Championship, the trend in terms of the importance of the header game became clear: 22 out of 76 goals were scored with the head.

Other sports

In the big ball sports like u. a. Basketball , handball and volleyball , it is also compliant to play the ball with your head. However, this is very rare, as the headball game is far less precise than playing with the hand .

Health risks

According to the latest research, headballs can lead to traumatic brain injuries. Especially when football was still made of leather and became very heavy when wet, long-term consequences could occur with footballers, such as Jeff Astle . The private Albert Einstein College in New York has found that about 2000 headers per year can have negative health effects. However, according to the University of Regensburg, a short header training has no effects and is therefore not relevant to health. In recent years, various studies have been published that indicate a connection between intense headball play, brain changes and cognitive deficits: For example, scientists at New York's Yeshiva University used diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging to analyze abnormal white areas in the brain of footballers, which according to their own information, each have more than 885 balls behead in the year. These players did worse on cognitive tests than players who beheaded less often. A team of researchers from the USA and Germany had also discovered larger-scale changes in the white matter in the brains of professional footballers compared to competitive swimmers, which is important for nerve communication. The authors do not rule out a connection to the header game. However, they themselves admit the methodological limits of their studies - only a few dozen subjects, no long-term focus. The American Football Association has banned headers for children under the age of 11.

Web links

Commons : Headers in football  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Wiktionary: Header  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Gerhard Bauer Fußball perfect , BLV Verlagsgesellschaft München 1978
2. ↑ See Timo Jankowski: Match plan football. With the right tactics to success. Meyer & Meyer Verlag, Aachen 2015. 3rd ext. Ed. P. 30.
3. ↑ David Binnig: Fatal acceleration. In: Zeit Online. Zeit Online GmbH, June 1, 2013, accessed on June 1, 2013 . 
4. ↑ Michael L. Lipton, MD, PhD et al., Soccer Heading Is Associated with White Matter Microstructural and Cognitive Abnormalities: Archived Copy ( Memento of the original from March 25, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , RSNA , accessed December 19, 2014 
5. ↑ Inga K. Koerte et al. White Matter Integrity in the Brains of Professional Soccer Players Without a Symptomatic Concussion JAMA , accessed December 19, 2014
6. ↑ Do headballs damage the brain in the long term? . In: test.de from December 19, 2014, accessed on January 20, 2015
7. ↑ Der Spiegel 4/2017, p. 112, Veronika Hackenbroch: Power failure in the head