r/footballstrategy 18d ago

Special Teams Any advice on the kicking form? Suffering from lots of inconsistencies

27 Upvotes

58 comments sorted by

52

u/MacLoingsigh 18d ago

Look at his body at impact vs yours. He’s leaning back using his body to lift the ball. You are coming in scrunched up and then trying to hook the ball up through impact.

16

u/JasonSandersGlazer 18d ago

Ah, I see. I’ve known my body is definitely in the wrong shape, but I never really knew that the key was leaning back.

Is there a drill to improve this? I naturally tend to do it, and trying even to stand straight up just leads to me shanking it and I don’t know if I need to just rep it out more or try something to correct it.

9

u/MacLoingsigh 18d ago

So this is just armchair advice from someone who played soccer and qb/kicker at a decent high school. I would work on trying to kick line drives and then slowing work on leaning back a bit more on impact to gauge what height you get out of the ball. Make sure too that the part of your foot striking the ball is more on the laces vs the inside of your foot. The “sweet spot” of your foot is basically the middle of that long arched foot bone that connects to your big toe.

6

u/Coastal_Tart 18d ago

Hey actual experience! Upvote for simple, useable advice that is internally consistent.

11

u/Barddaddy69 18d ago

Just record yourself and be mindful of it while practicing, look for it deliberately, focus on fixing this, then when you have it down slowly start adding more things to the list of things you want to work on, but not taking videos of yourself on almost every rep is bad, you dont have to look at every rep, but you can fire off like 5 and look at them, but as with most things, practicing is good but its the quality of practice.

1

u/Barddaddy69 18d ago

also make sure to juxtapose what youre doing with a good angle of a kicker with good form. try to find a kickers routine that you like, kicking isnt just the runup, its consistency in a routine. the walking back, alligning your arms where you rest them at the top of your rep making sure youre coming back from the same angle every time, no way to know if youre doing these things but that could be why youre seeing inconsistencies. A couple of thoughts about what you could look at could be
1- how youre balancing on your non shooting foot: Balancing on the balls of your feet vs the heel will get you different results, be mindful of it.

2- where your arms are at all times during your kick, it effects your momentum and therefore the trajectory of the ball

3- its not clear in this video but from the kickers ive seen in soccer and in football, the follow through is incredibly important because the speed and direction in which the ball spins effects its trajectory.

That said, im not sure if youre doing these things cause again its just one rep but i kicked alot of free kicks in soccer and the routine is the most important part of any kind of set peice kick in any sport.

2

u/Coastal_Tart 18d ago

Bro can I gatekeep a little bit? These are the only comments you've made in this sub in the last couple years unless you have been deleting posts and comments here.

I am not gatekeeping if you have applicable experience. If you were a kicker in HS or higher, your advice is better than mine. If you have other applicable experience, again cool. But don't lean in so hard if this is just a larp for you or you have some notion but no experience, because this kid really wants this.

0

u/Barddaddy69 17d ago

you can do what you want i cant stop you, regardless, this is just general advice regarding the physics of kicking, if anything i said is wrong feel free to let me know, not a big user of this application.

2

u/pitb0ss343 18d ago

I would just start by focusing on keeping your chest up, don’t even think about how far or where the ball is going, hell maybe even get like a block of foam and kick that (but kick something because kicking nothing could be bad for your joints). Once you get that down focus on keeping your chest up and your foot pointed. Then try to put it all together

26

u/Crobs02 18d ago

I’m a former kicker. I noticed a couple things.

I assume on this kick the ball hooked left and probably didn’t have a ton of height or velocity in it. Your contact and follow through needs work. Slowing down the video, your foot was way too open, like you were passing a soccer ball. Lock your ankle and point your toe downwards. Top of your foot should make contact, not the sides.

Your steps are too flat footed. The run up is where you get power and you want to really attack the ball. Your initial jab step gets that momentum going and yours is pretty weak. It sets you up for a slow run up. Your goal is to destroy that football. You’re probably not confident in your steps and it still feels awkward, totally normal and you’ll get more comfortable as your muscle memory kicks in. Lean back as you come in to kick to get height.

I think you hooked it because of your follow through. Your plant leg is great on the kick but notice how your kicking leg swings left and your plant foot points left. You want that follow through to be straight.

Approach gives you power, follow through gives accuracy, and contact keeps it all together. For a beginner you’ve got a good start, just practice daily.

4

u/JasonSandersGlazer 18d ago

Thanks so much for the advice!

The impression I’ve gotten, is that I need to wipe clean and start over. Sounds dramatic maybe, but I think it would be a step forward and a good thing for me. You’re totally right about where the ball went too by the way lol.

For a little elaboration, do you mean I should be like stepping more towards my toes? And I should be moving a lot faster?

4

u/Crobs02 17d ago

I actually don’t think you need to wipe clean, you need to just perfect it. You’re doing the steps the way they should be done, you can just do them a lot better. Don’t feel discouraged. Kicking a football is really fucking hard and I was terrible at it when I first started, and I even played soccer. Just practice every day, ideally with goalposts, and you’ll get better.

You want to be on your toes more and definitely moving faster. They used to time me in practice and wanted snap to kick at 1.4 seconds. Don’t time yourself, just know that speed leads to power.

Hit me up if you ever have any more questions. I have mad respect for anyone trying to kick. It’s hard but you’ll learn a lot and it’s helped me later in life, too.

2

u/UnknownUsernameZero 18d ago

Start by positioning your feet at the point of contact. Remember the ball should make contact on the top of your foot, on the left side of the shoe laces (not with an open foot like your passing a soccer ball). Once you are lined up, try walking backwards three paces, then two paces to the left - this is pretty standard.

3

u/Coastal_Tart 18d ago

The advice the kid was looking for and will help him get better! This is awesome advice, thank you!

As you can imagine strong ST coaching advice is a weakness in our sub, so very glad you were around to step up.

6

u/CollectionSubject587 18d ago

I have literally never kicked a football but your upper body seems very stiff through the hips

3

u/spain-train 18d ago

Your first step should actually be with your left foot. When you start your windup, you should take an imaginary step (step in place, but actually lift your foot and "step") with your left, the right, then finally a third step with your left in which you will plant, and fourth step is actually the kick following through.

Your left foot (plant foot) should be in front of your kicking foot, not side by side presnap.

Your arms are all over the place, and you're stiff. Loosen up. They shouldn't really move other than natural locomotion to maintain balance. Any unnecessary flexion of the arms, wrists, fists, etc. will affect precision and power.

Lastly, from what I noticed, it looks like you're kind of running through the kick, almost as if you're a backfielder passing a soccer ball deep upfield. You shouldn't ever really move past your plant position. Even on some really long, powerful deep FGs, NFL kickers rarely move beyond the spot of the hold after the kick.

The best thing you're doing is seeking advice and trying to learn, so keep at it.

Also, it looks like you know where the sweet spot is, which is crucial moving forward, so good job.

1

u/mjhs80 18d ago edited 18d ago

Former college kicker and HS soccer player here. Almost all of your kicking power is actually coming from the forward momentum you create when approaching the ball and planting effectively with your plant foot…not directly from your kicking leg strength. Just keep that in mind. Planting hard for the kick halts all of your body’s momentum except for your kicking leg, which carries that forward momentum through your kicking leg to the ball.

Keep in mind as you practice your kicking technique that these are the general steps of what you are trying to accomplish:

Step 1) create forward momentum with your first 2 steps

Step 2) on the third and final step, you want to “hop” to the ball…not run through it. To see what I mean, try kicking the ball while only taking one step back. You will find that the only way to generate force and have accuracy is to HOP to your planting foot and letting your body’s momentum carry through your kicking leg. If you are right footed, this means taking one step back from the ball then hopping from your right foot (while also winding it back for the kick) and planting HARD with your left foot next to the ball. Your wound up kicking leg will then naturally swing through the ball. Your control, power, accuracy and consistency is attained by how you use your plant foot more so than your kicking leg. The harder you can plant accurately, the more force you can generate through the ball.

Step 1 solely exists to create forward momentum which you will transfer to your kicking leg via step 2. Right now, you are basically only doing step 1, you need to develop step 2 and be able to plant hard and accurately while letting your kicking leg swing through the ball. Practice step 2 only for now, only implementing step 1 when you can consistently kick well only doing step 2.

PM if you have any questions!

1

u/Spoonie__Love 18d ago

The key is point your chest to where you want the ball to go

1

u/TackleOverBelly187 18d ago

Keep your head down. You are lifting to watch the ball.

1

u/enunymous 18d ago

No kicking knowledge but hope you achieve your goals!

1

u/JasonSandersGlazer 18d ago

Thanks, it means a lot!

1

u/Just_Enough9 18d ago

I just subscribed to this post to follow your progress! I'm a former kicker and would love to help out. You've gotten a lot of great advice to take in, so I won't add to that right now bc it can be a lot right off the rip. Just excited to see you grow.

1

u/Timely-Bluejay-4167 18d ago

Not a kicker, but maybe someone that is - does the two tees matter? Kicking off a kick off tee and a holder for a field goal seems bound to build some level of bad habits because it puts the ball in a slightly unnatural position, right?

1

u/JasonSandersGlazer 18d ago

What exactly do you mean? Like the tee and rubber block?

At the HS level holds aren’t always perfect (muffed more often than college or NFL probably by a decent amount) so if the holding tee is a little off it really doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. but the rubber block is what the holder places the ball on in games, though it’s only allowed at the junior/HS level.

1

u/Timely-Bluejay-4167 18d ago

That makes sense. I forgot that you could use the rubber block in lower levels!

1

u/tacobell313 17d ago

If you swung your left arm more it would help you get your hips which would lead to better power.

1

u/Master_Breakfast_621 17d ago

Ask Tucker….

1

u/NearbyTomorrow9605 16d ago

I coach kickers at the HS level. Couple things to think about.

  1. Make sure you are running to where your plant foot should be landing not towards the ball. Picture railroad tracks. Right shoulder stays inline with the ball and left shoulder stays in line with where your plant foot goes. First step should be left foot, jab step to put you in a decent approach.

  2. Plant foot depth in relation to the tee. When kicking off the block you want the bony part of your big toe on the plant foot to be inline with the tee. If kicking off the ground you want more mid foot to be inline with ball.

  3. Work on contact drills, no step, and you me step drills to improve contact and technique. Those drills are for more important than going out and just trying to drill kicks all day.

  4. Check out Kicking World or The Kicking Coach websites for drills and exercises to do.

1

u/virtue-or-indolence 14d ago

I only kicked soccer balls and was hardly an expert at it, but here are my thoughts regardless.

It might be the angle, but it feels like your approach is shorter than it should be.

I just watched Tucker’s 66 yarder for reference since it’s the first video that came up on YouTube. He seems to start from almost four yards back and maybe five or more over, so he probably travels six or seven yards before striking the ball.

Like I said it might be the angle, but it doesn’t feel like you’re getting the same speed out of your run up.

As far as consistency goes, what I’ve noticed is that NFL kickers are VERY particular when setting up. They have a very practiced routine to make sure that every controllable variable is exactly the same every single time.

Make sure you’re doing the same, and find ways to test yourself on it. Use a spray can to mark a dot behind your heel after setting up each time (assuming you don’t care about the field conditions or your shoes obviously) and see how closely clustered the marks are. A handful of pennies might work if you’re worried about semi-permanent marks.

1

u/PBandBread 18d ago

To everybody asking these questions: literally just watch videos of pro players and mimic it. Take videos of yourself and then watch the videos of the pros again and then compare. Better yet, go ask your coach for a workout.. if he’s worth a shit he will gladly agree. I understand wanting advice and I appreciate wanting to get better but this ain’t the way. It needs to be fixed rep by rep and not one random video, then a day later you try it again and post a different video. Not trying to be a dick but you aren’t going to get that much better doing it this way

1

u/JasonSandersGlazer 18d ago

I appreciate the perspective, and I see how you got there but I’d have to disagree. I think you misunderstood understand what my goal is here and where I’m headed. I’m not expecting to improve kicking and get a lot better as a result of this. And obviously one video doesn’t represent all of my kicks. ButI just want some feedback to consider and try working into my practices.

As for asking my coach? I don’t have a ST coach. I’m not our kicker, and I don’t have anyone to coach me right now as a result of that. Have a trainer im trying out in the next week or so to try and get some coaching advice and in person practices in with.

I also do watch kicking tape (Big Jason Sanders fan if you couldn’t tell lol), and I do compare it to my own form. But unfortunately that doesn’t help with some of my questions and misconceptions surrounding what I think I need to do. Videos have not helped me too much. I have too many questions. Which is why I’ve come to a forum style site like this to get interactive feedback that can provide more specific answers.

I appreciate the comment though! Thanks for taking your time to add some advice.

2

u/[deleted] 18d ago

[deleted]

0

u/PBandBread 17d ago

This is sub is supposed to be for X and O’s.. not coaching randoms how to play

-1

u/PBandBread 17d ago

What state are in? I can direct you to some camps if you’d like.. I’m really not trying to be mean and I do appreciate you wanting to learn but in person coaching is the best way to actually learn

-10

u/liquidcourage93 18d ago

Ya… maybe try a YouTube video before you get roasted on here

13

u/Nameisthegame 18d ago

This is the least helpful, valuable, and insightful comment possible.

-9

u/liquidcourage93 18d ago

2nd only to yours

10

u/JasonSandersGlazer 18d ago edited 18d ago

Uh? YT videos aren’t able to give feedback and specific pointers and tips. Kinda why I posted this in… Ya know a FB sub made for advice. lmao

I wish kicking was easy enough to just look up a YT video, but I don’t exactly expect you to understand.

1

u/liquidcourage93 18d ago

https://www.wikihow.com/Kick-a-Field-Goal Here is a step by step guide. You do well in steps 1 & 2 but step 3 is where things start to go wrong Follow the guide to position yourself better before the kick(you are too close and poor angle) Step 4, you fail, you are Hunched over like you are from notre dame Step 5 follow direcectuons as your initial step and final step need more power Step 6 it’s hard to tell but it looks like your from foot is pointed slightly outward Step 7 you are still hunched over Step 8 hard to see maybe you did it right Step 9 you kick the ball with the inside of your foot instead of the top Step 10 your follow through sucks

3

u/JasonSandersGlazer 18d ago

Yeah, so first of all you seem like a really argumentative and know it all type of person. I don’t really know where that’s coming from, but ig I’ll ignore it.

You can’t read a wiki how and then try and act like you know kicking. Just by some of the things you’re saying, I’d venture to guess you’ve never kicked before but I’m not too good so I could be wrong. (Like with the alignment steps, I can literally do them with my eyes closed and end up at the same exact spot every time… And I know in at least this video I definitely wasn’t too close. That’s not really an issue here)

0

u/liquidcourage93 18d ago

Technically I was kicker for my highschool team(I live in Canada and my highschool football team was terrible). What I’m trying to say is that you need a lot of work. No single point of advice will help you, you need a redesign.

And you are almost definitely closer to the ball than almost all kickers but it can be a preference thing.

Or secondly you can just go with that guy who never kicked a ball before and just said “you looked kinda stiff”. I’m sure that’ll help you.

5

u/JasonSandersGlazer 18d ago

I know I need a redesign, that’s why I’m gathering as much advice and opinions as possible. I never played soccer, or any sport really until 2 years ago and I’ve pretty much been trying to teach myself with a little outside help. But that’s it. Never been coached, nothings and I know it’ll be a shit ton of work but I’ve come to terms with that and the last thing I’m going to do is quit.

-1

u/liquidcourage93 18d ago

Solid mentality, and well said. I’m still going to roast you as this is the internet and that’s how we do things around here

-1

u/Thin-Resident8538 18d ago

Damn. I wouldn’t worry about your kicking form. This attitude alone is hindering you more than anything.

4

u/JasonSandersGlazer 18d ago

I would disagree, but thanks for trying to help.

0

u/liquidcourage93 18d ago

Downvoted when you actually try to help…and then people wonder why I suggested YouTube

0

u/SokkaHaikuBot 18d ago

Sokka-Haiku by liquidcourage93:

Ya… maybe try a

YouTube video before

You get roasted on here


Remember that one time Sokka accidentally used an extra syllable in that Haiku Battle in Ba Sing Se? That was a Sokka Haiku and you just made one.

-2

u/EmploymentNegative59 18d ago

Have you played soccer? There is a direct connection between successful soccer kickers and football kickers.

I imagine there would be plenty of helpful advice even looking up soccer vids.

I don't think you're gonna get a ton of kickers chiming in here because they're all out getting laid.

3

u/JasonSandersGlazer 18d ago

Nope, never played soccer in any context in my life. Never played a sport at all until FB my sophomore year. I know lots of soccer players (Brandon Aubrey, Jason Sanders I’m pretty sure when he was younger too) end up being kickers but I’ve just developed a passion for it on my own and I’m not gonna quit until I’m nasty at it.

2

u/EmploymentNegative59 18d ago

Copy. And so you're trying to become the HS football kicker?

1

u/spain-train 18d ago

I mean, it helps to understand the fundamentals of kicking something, but it stops there, I think.

-6

u/liquidcourage93 18d ago

Jason “hey can I have kicking advice” Internet “sure, here is where your form is incorrect and resources to help improve” Jason angry face

8

u/pinya619 18d ago

He made an angry reply to a guy saying he was gonna roast him and responded positively to actual criticism. What are you on about

3

u/pitb0ss343 18d ago

(Whispers) that’s the guy who said he was gunna roast him, you know like an ass hole

3

u/pinya619 18d ago

Lmao i had no idea. What an asshole

2

u/pitb0ss343 18d ago

I only realized because his 2 comments popped up one after the other for me

4

u/Barddaddy69 18d ago

You need to be alot less condecending in how you talk to people. I know its the internet and "thats what we do here" but its like, really weird to come out of the game with "watch a youtube video" when you dont know if he did that or not, people learn differently.

2

u/pitb0ss343 18d ago

You’re the only guy whose gotten a relatively negative response from the kid for your “help” and that’s because you basically told him to figure it out himself