Head a high ball under control to a teammate. Meet it with a relaxed forehead, take the pace off, and direct a soft header down into your partner's feet.
A server lofts a ball to the header, who cushions it softly down into a teammate's feet with a controlled header. Emphasise a relaxed forehead and neck to take the pace off, and directing the ball down and accurately. Rotate the roles and vary the service. Heading loads: no deliberate heading at U11 and under, and at U12-U13 keep it to roughly 15-20 headers in a session and under 30 minutes of heading a week, using a correctly sized and properly inflated ball (US Soccer and FA guidance).
Every other heading drill asks a player to brace the neck and attack the ball. This one asks for the opposite, which is why players who head well aggressively are often poor at it. Taking pace off a dropping ball with the head is a control skill wearing a heading skill's clothes, and it should be coached alongside chest and thigh control rather than alongside clearances.
The mechanic is withdrawal at contact. A firm neck returns the ball's energy and it bounces away; a neck that gives slightly as the ball arrives absorbs that energy and the ball drops. Players describe it as heading softly, which is not quite right, because the head still moves to meet the ball. It moves to meet it and then yields.
Getting underneath the flight is the positional half, and it is where most failures start. A player reaching for a ball at full stretch has no ability to cushion anything, because the neck is already extended. Moving the feet to arrive under the ball, with the head able to travel through a few inches of range, is what makes the softness available.
Direction is down into the receiver's feet, not floated towards him. A cushioned header that hangs gives a defender time to step in front, and the receiver has to control a dropping ball under pressure. Down and into his path means his first touch is forwards.
Useful in three real situations: a goal kick dropping in midfield, a clearance under a press, and a long diagonal into a forward with support close by.
Save it to your private drills, then change the animation, adjust positions, swap equipment, or drop it into a session block. Or start from a blank pitch and build your own.