If you’ve ever wondered:
“How to get a ball on the back of my head?”…
…you’ll know that doing a neck stall is as HARD as it gets!
Now… is it really?
Well, balancing a soccer ball on your neck can become way much easier…
…but only if you take the time to learn a few basic steps and practice as much as you need until you can master this cool soccer trick.
And in this post, I’ll be teaching you how to balance a soccer ball on your neck by sharing exactly what those steps are.
Soccer Trick: How to Balance a Soccer Ball on Your Neck
The “balancing a soccer ball on the neck” soccer trick — also known as “the neck stall” — requires a level of skill that takes patience, effort and a lot of practice to acquire.
If you still need to learn and master dribbling or juggling a soccer ball, it might be easier for you to start by training those soccer skills first.
No doubt that it is much easier to use your hands and place a ball on the back of your neck, but that obviously isn’t the complete trick!
While using your hands will help to get a feel of the ball on your neck, that’s only the first step of the whole thing.
This soccer trick requires you to successfully flick up a ball from the ground to land and stall on your neck, which takes a few steps.
And that’s precisely what we are going to be teaching you in this article!
Getting Into the Right Position: Set Up the Ball’s Cradle
Before trying the trick of kicking and catching a ball on the back of your head, you’ll need to get accustomed to the football being on your neck.
To start, move the upper half of your body to an almost 90-degree angle.
That means keeping your feet at shoulder-width apart and knees slightly bent before bending from the waist down while keeping your back even with your neck.
It’s also important to have your arms out and to keep your elbows straight and tucked in to help make your neck a good cradle for the ball.
Otherwise, it’s much harder to keep a straight neck and back if your arms are dangling to the ground.
This can be done without the ball.
As you find out with the ball, it helps to practice doing this motion beforehand in order to familiarize your body with what to do when the ball is in the air.
Continue reading:
In the next section, you’ll learn how to balance a soccer ball on the back of your neck.
Using Your Hands: Balance the Soccer Ball
Before trying this trick in one motion off the bat, get into position and place the ball on the back of your neck with your hands. This will help give you an idea of what the ball feels like on your neck.
Once you have a good feel for that, toss the ball slightly above your head (roughly 2 feet / around 60 cm) and try catching it on the back of your neck.
To land the ball safely on your neck, you’ll need to time the ball’s descent with your body as you drop into a 90-degree angle. Doing so will allow the ball to land on your neck instead of simply bouncing off, much like the ground.
This is the hardest part to balancing the ball on your neck and should be practiced before using your feet.
Trying to do this straight from the ground would require you to perfectly flick the ball up from the ground and land on the back of your neck.
It’s easier to take things step-by-step.
Video: How to Catch a Football on Your Neck
If images are better than words, moving images naturally are even better.
To understand how everything that has just been described is put into action, be sure to watch this short video on how to catch a ball on the back your neck:
Practice this step as much as it is required until you get a good hang of it before proceeding to the next section.
Getting the Ball Off the Ground: Kick It Above Your Head
The ability to juggle a soccer ball before trying a neck stall is another key part to learning this trick completely.
The biggest thing is that you have to get the ball off the ground with your feet and onto your neck.
Before trying to get the ball on your neck, it may be easier to get the ball off the ground and juggle it on your feet, to get comfortable dealing with the ball in the air.
From there, you have to kick the ball high enough (roughly two feet / around 60 cm) and in the general direction above your head.
As long as you get the ball over your head in a decent location, you can then try placing the ball on the back of your neck, which you should have already practiced with your hands.
Keeping the Ball In Place: Avoid Sudden Movements
Once you can land the ball on your neck, the biggest thing is that you need to stay calm and patient.
The only way a ball will fall from your neck is if you loosen your arms from the side or raise your back from a firm angle.
As long as you don’t make any sudden movements, the ball should stay in place before dropping it back to the ground or your feet.
Conclusion: How to do a Neck Stall
Balancing a soccer ball on your neck or doing a neck stall — however you prefer to call it — can be a hard trick, but only if you start practicing it before you know how to juggle.
Once you’ve mastered juggling (or can do the basics) that’s when you’ll feel more equipped and suited to learn how to balance a soccer ball on your neck.
Like most soccer tricks, this isn’t something that takes only a few minutes to learn; getting down the height when flicking the ball in the air and creating a soft spot on your neck will take time to figure out how to do it just right.
But with some practice, doing a neck stall can become easy and second nature to you.
I really hope you’ve enjoyed reading through my article on how to do a neck stall and feel motivated to grab your soccer ball, get down to the training ground and start training!
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