Funny story about kicking

[pignparadise]

 I am a former kicker. Kicked a couple years in indoor arena football. I firmly believe college teams should have arena goal posts of 9 foot wide installed on their practice fields. When I was kicking, the college goal posts looked extremely wide to me and I felt I couldn't miss. I was the special teams coach on  a youth team. We practiced on a field with no goal posts but there was a telephone pole nearby. I practiced my kicker to try to hit the telephone pole each practice. Late in the year I finally convinced the head coach to let us try a PAT. True to form the kid squarely hit the right upright. LOL

[soccerrunner]

Sounds like he took your coaching quite literally.

When I coached one of my kid's u-6 soccer teams, I told the team that we had a makeup game next week which prompted the question from one of the players....."you mean we have to wear makeup?"

Gotta be careful what you tell them.

[pignparadise]

Sounds like he took your coaching quite literally.

When I coached one of my kid's u-6 soccer teams, I told the team that we had a makeup game next week which prompted the question from one of the players....."you mean we have to wear makeup?"

Gotta be careful what you tell them.

reminds me of another coaching gem. I was coaching first base in 8 yr olds. First inning of the season, Alejandro got on first. Told him to go on to third if the ball was hit on the ground. As soon as the ball was hit Alejandro streaked across the pitchers mound directly to third.

[Hogarusa]

That is funny

[Martygit]

Do you have any eligibility left 

[GolfnHog]

Way back in the early 70's I worked for the Youth Conservation Corps building retaining walls up on Mt. Magazine. One day the a Regional Director for the Forest Service came to see us.

He made the comment about "why don't we just kick this can over the bluff". After hearing this I made a perfect 12 oz coke can kick in the history of the forest service but his look told me I messed up and realized he was asking why we shouldn't.

Lesson learned: listen carefully before acting

[Martygit]

Way back in the early 70's I worked for the Youth Conservation Corps building retaining walls up on Mt. Magazine. One day the a Regional Director for the Forest Service came to see us.

He made the comment about "why don't we just kick this can over the bluff". After hearing this I made a perfect 12 oz coke can kick in the history of the forest service but his look told me I messed up and realized he was asking why we shouldn't.

Lesson learned: listen carefully before acting

Do you have any eligibility left 

[GolfnHog]

Do you have any eligibility left 

No but I have a friend that is a psychologist that works with kids. Will that help us?

[pignparadise]

Do you have any eligibility left 

I wish, but you know it was a relief when I didn't have to deal with 9 foot wide goal posts and coaches who have never kicked. It is one of the most nerve racking positions in sport and virtually no one else on your team really knows what's it like so you are kind of like in a private insane asylum on a desert island.

[Martygit]

No but I have a friend that is a psychologist that works with kids. Will that help us?

As long as he stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night!

[Martygit]

I wish, but you know it was a relief when I didn't have to deal with 9 foot wide goal posts and coaches who have never kicked. It is one of the most nerve racking positions in sport and virtually no one else on your team really knows what's it like so you are kind of like in an insane asylum on a desert island.

Of all of the players on the field, I feel sorry for the place kickers more than any - there's such a spotlight on them and their misses are so visible - don't know why anyone would want to be one

[Rzbakfromwaybak]

Back in the late 70's, friend had a son playing Jr. High football at a small school.  His son played defense, was big but not aggressive. Their team was pretty bad.  They didn't have many fans at the game, & they could get pretty close to the field....there was a fence that many of the parents stood by not far behind the bench.  My friend saw his son let a smaller offensive player push him backwards.  After the whistle blew,  my friend hollered......"Son, don't just stand there & take that, knock that guy down".  The son heard his Dad, charged the player & knocked him down right in front of the ref.  Flag came out since the play had been over for at least 5 seconds.  Coach told my friend to get away from the fence & go sit in the stands.

[redeye]

I've actually wondered if they kick at a smaller target.  Makes perfect sense to me.

Also, I have no idea how much time is spent coaching kickers, but have always suspected many of the problems stem from it not being enough.  It's obviously a nerve-wrecking task, but it just seems like there are too many problems.  And I also kicked some (soccer), so I'm not unfamiliar with the difficulty.

[MissippHog]

I coach a Pee Wee team, have done so for the past 3 years.  We have "B" team games on Tuesday night so that Monday evening before our first game we told the kids that they need to be there by 6 o'clock for their 7 o'clock game.  And for each of the past three years we've had one of the kids speak up and say "Coach I won't be there because I have to get ready for school at 7 o'clock."   

[ballz2thewall]

jim kelly had a few things to say about field goal kickers.

it is truly the most screwed and screwed up position on the field, all things considered.

other than maybe consulting a shrink, are kickers actually coached at the d1 level?

[TOM "tbw1"]

jim kelly had a few things to say about field goal kickers.

it is truly the most screwed and screwed up position on the field, all things considered.

other than maybe consulting a shrink, are kickers actually coached at the d1 level?

So much of kicking is feet position as in golf.  The main reason for success is the innate ability to shut out anything but putting the ball through the uprights.  Not sure how you coach that.

[pignparadise]

So much of kicking is feet position as in golf.  The main reason for success is the innate ability to shut out anything but putting the ball through the uprights.  Not sure how you coach that.

Actually the plant position is the key. When Henson approached the ball, I thought to myself his plant seemed too close to the ball and I expected a miss. The holder can mess you up too by not putting the ball down exactly where you expect it. That is the biggest advantage of kicking off of a tee. The holder and the kicker know exactly where the ball is being  placed. As for mental gymnastics, my good friend Steve Cox said you have to root against the offense on third down so you can show the world how damn good you are. You must be a showman. Not sure how many kickers truly relish being the potential hero. Maybe the good ones....

[HogFansReunited]

Back in the late 70's, friend had a son playing Jr. High football at a small school.  His son played defense, was big but not aggressive. Their team was pretty bad.  They didn't have many fans at the game, & they could get pretty close to the field....there was a fence that many of the parents stood by not far behind the bench.  My friend saw his son let a smaller offensive player push him backwards.  After the whistle blew,  my friend hollered......"Son, don't just stand there & take that, knock that guy down".  The son heard his Dad, charged the player & knocked him down right in front of the ref.  Flag came out since the play had been over for at least 5 seconds.  Coach told my friend to get away from the fence & go sit in the stands.

My little brother played JV basketball on a small team.  They were playing one of the better teams in their division and this team had one big guy that was really good.  The coach told my brother no matter what, don't let him get the ball past half court.  Next possession they passed the ball to the big guy and my brother runs full speed down court and spears the guy.

[hawgon]

I remember in a JV basketball game when I was in about the 9th grade we were down pretty big in the closing minutes.  We started fouling and it worked better than I have ever seen it work on any level.  They started missing free throws and we started scoring.  We came back from about fifteen down with three minutes or so to actually being up by one with about ten seconds.

Except that a bunch of us had fouled out and the last guy on the bench didn't get the memo that we didn't need to foul anymore now that we had the lead.  So, with us up by one with a few seconds left, he tackled their point guard as he tried to bring the ball down the court for a desperation shot.  We lost by one after he sank both free throws.lol

[thirrdegreetusker]

The holder can mess you up too by not putting the ball down exactly where you expect it. That is the biggest advantage of kicking off of a tee. The holder and the kicker know exactly where the ball is being  placed.

And the snap/hold can throw the kicker off. Even if the kicker is staring intently at the spot/tee, he can see an off-target snap, or a bobble of the hold. Since the kicker generally starts forward with the snap, it is easy to get distracted by anything unexpected in the meantime.

As for last Saturday, it looked like he lined up wrong, from the start. Soccer-style kickers approach the ball at an angle but, the way he was lined up, he looked like a straight-on kicker, ala Steve Cox. Sure enough, he boomed it straight down the hash mark.

[Oklahawg]

And the snap/hold can throw the kicker off. Even if the kicker is staring intently at the spot/tee, he can see an off-target snap, or a bobble of the hold. Since the kicker generally starts forward with the snap, it is easy to get distracted by anything unexpected in the meantime.

As for last Saturday, it looked like he lined up wrong, from the start. Soccer-style kickers approach the ball at an angle but, the way he was lined up, he looked like a straight-on kicker, ala Steve Cox. Sure enough, he boomed it straight down the hash mark.

I am not a kicker but the plant-foot placement seemed odd, like he opened up early rotating the hips open as well.

[ricepig]

I am not a kicker but the plant-foot placement seemed odd, like he opened up early rotating the hips open as well.

Same as my pulled hooks, either OB, or next fairway over.