Kicker/Punter

Question
QUESTION: Hello!
My name is Elimar and I'm a football coach here in Brazil. First of all, thank you for all your support. Football is analmost unknow sport here and It's very hard to find someone to give us advices on how to help our players getting better. This is very important to me! Thank you!

My question is about my Kicker/Punter. He is a very athletic guy and he is a very good Kicker. He nails FG from 40yds or less 90% of the time. He is also a very good Kick Off guy.
We don't have a designated Punter so he is taking the role as the Punter too, but his punts are really bad. He can't punt more than 40yds and the punt does not have a good hang time. And we're having some problems due to overtraining as his charge of kicking the football is too high and he is complaining about leg soreness.

What's your advice? He definitely has a strong leg but I don't know why his punts are bad. Is the technique too different? Do you think we should wokr on his punting technique or should we just leave him doing what he does best, on FG and KO, and find a new Punter?

Thank you Coach!

ANSWER: Hi Elimar!

I will be glad to help where I can.

First I have a couple of questions.
1- What age group are we talking about here for this punter/kicker? (This will help me to determine whether you might need to work in a new punter-instead of using to continue to work with)

2- How often does he do "training" and what sort of "football" specific kicking and punting training does he do?

3- Do you work with any plyometrics (or bands)?

4-How many days a week does he kick-in practice as well as punt? Do you have him ONLY do kick-offs and FG's one day and then punting another day? Does he have a "kicking plan" of what he is expected to do each day? And how do you "chart" his successes (meaning how do you look at what his successes ar from day to day- week to week etc...)

5- when are your football games played?

6- Do you have the ability there to do what we call here in the US "ice baths"?

Lastly, I do own a company called The Kickers Zone (www.thekickerszone.com) and I train about 150 kids a year- and some of them are "remote". So, if you would like- (and if you have a video camera) send me some raw video on him and I will do some free analysis for you (its called biomechanical software which I have designed to show how to help kickers/punters out- and I even use my voice to provide feedback. This is a one time FREE offer to see how I can assist you.

Once you can answer the questions I ask above, I will be able to help you out more- and thank YOU for helping to coach young men!
Regards,

Marc nolan     

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: 1- What age group are we talking about here for this punter/kicker? (This will help me to determine whether you might need to work in a new punter-instead of using to continue to work with)
A: we are an adult team and the kicker/punter is 23 years old and have been playing football for less than a year now.

2- How often does he do "training" and what sort of "football" specific kicking and punting training does he do?
A: he practices with the team (we are, like every football team here, amateur) 3 times a week: TUE, THU and SUN and he does only kicking drills: kicking FG from the hash to hash from every distance, kick offs and punting with no steps and 3 steps.

3- Do you work with any plyometrics (or bands)?
A: no

4-How many days a week does he kick-in practice as well as punt? Do you have him ONLY do kick-offs and FG's one day and then punting another day? Does he have a "kicking plan" of what he is expected to do each day? And how do you "chart" his successes (meaning how do you look at what his successes ar from day to day- week to week etc...)
A: he kicks 3 times a week and he does all 3 every time (punt, FG and KO). We dont have a plan for the practice days. Ae have an assistant who writes down his marks during the practices (FG distance, Punt and KO distance and hang time).

5- when are your football games played?
A: We play a game every 3 weeks, always on SUN

6- Do you have the ability there to do what we call here in the US "ice baths"?
I don't know exactly how to do this but I think we can make this possible.


Thank you VERY MUCH for this offer Coach, we sure will videotape him next practice and send to you! Thanks again!

Answer
response to #1- At age 23 he should have some of the basics down (what we call proper "molding of the ball" and overall proper leg swing and steps. There is also something called the "drop table" that we tend to focus on with punters and what they are doing. Here is a drill for you... If you have a track- or even just the "sidelines" of the football field- have him walk in step like he was punting (first without the ball-and do this drill up and back the entire length of the field- having him "focus" ONLY on keeping the his kicking and non-kicking leg between the lines- with him pretending that he is "dropping the ball") and then incorportate the ball into the same drill- and finally then ONLY have him do one step punting. Let me know how that works!

Response to #2- Hve him kick ONLY on Tues (or reverse it with Punting) but with Tuesday being a light work-out- and the reverse it the next session- and with each- a bit more longer (for instance if he is doing 20 kick-offs on Tuesday- then focus his next training on Punting (and th drill I mentioend above- and then move from one-step to full steps as he gets better
Response 3- I would encourage the use of plyomtetrics and bands
Response #6 Ice baths- basically having him place BOTH his legs in a bath tub-if you have a training facility that has a large tub even works better. Then you put the young man in the tub and fill it up from waist down for 7 minutes ONLY and then see if this helps out his soreness (but only do this once a week)
Feel free to send me an e-mail with your video clips to [email protected] and I will see what I can do.