Kicking drills and solutions

This drill addresses the most common problem with kicking. Even top AFL players still struggle with this, as they never practiced this at an early age. Over the last 15 years as an AFL coach, Mark Williams has spent countless hours re-wiring players with their hand on the ball action. This specific drill provides a solution for perfecting a player’s grip and ball motion towards the foot. It is ideal for beginners but also appropriate for more advanced players. When doing this drill, make sure the player has the correct sized ball for their hand size/age. Also, ensure a player practices on both sides of their body. It’s important to practice this regularly and is as simple as doing it at home on the couch watching TV. A player should be repeating this drill constantly – thousands of times!

Connecting the foot with the correct spot on the Sherrin (sweet spot) is essential in the process of executing an accurate kick. If a player makes a connection outside of this sweet spot area, the ball will not hit the target. The ball will instead spray off to the right or left. To practice hitting the sweet spot and develop consistency with where the foot connects with the ball, use this “Ball on String” drill. Ensure with this drill that that player’s kick the ball straight and continually connect with the same spot on the laces. Set the plant foot quickly, and adjust the feet as you need to. This activity is very easy to practice at home with a tennis ball on a string. Players may also want to have a kick with bare feet, to feel and see where the ball hits the top of their foot. As a player does it, they need to learn to understand if this is consistent or not. The red mark on the player’s foot should be in a small area. This will provide brilliant feedback on how consistent they are at connecting their foot to the Sherrin.

Another drill for enhancing kicking technique and ensuring a player’s foot connects with the correct area (sweet spot) on the Sherrin is the Self Kick. Do note that this drill also helps with carrying the ball in the channel. A player should practice walking with the ball in the channel and kicking the Sherrin to themselves (ensuring the ball travels above head height). With the Self Kick, the objective is to make the Sherrin spin violently whilst keeping the yellow spin line up straight. The ball should travel straight, not inside or outside. As a player walks they need to try to reduce or prevent the arms from wobbling. The spin line will provide valuable feedback as to the success of the kick each time. The player should try 10 - 20 in a row as they walk and count the successful ones. The more practice, the greater the percentage of successful kicks. Players can then do this at a faster speed. Another basic drill to help keep the ball in channel involves the below: - Walk with a ball ready to kick and practice keeping arms still (creating minimal wobble). - First practice walking, then running with the ball, all whilst trying to keep the ball in the channel. As a player masters this, they need to try lifting the ball up and down as they run, rather than side to side movements with their arms. The less movement with the arms, the more likely success of an accurate kick. Remember, it’s important to understand that every player wobbles the ball. When watching them kick from the front, monitor if they keep the ball in a channel or if they wobble it too much outside the line of their body. This is both when the player is walking and running at speed.

 

Running towards your target and following through straight is vital to kicking accuracy. This drill featured in the video can be easily done in the backyard or at the park. All you need is a surface with a line or access to a garden hose.

To complete this drill:

• Stand either side of a line or hose (with each foot staying on its correct side)
• Make sure a player keeps the ball in the channel and ensure the plant foot points directly at the target
• After the kick, you must check if the player’s feet remain on the side they started (prevent the feet from crossing over at the end of the kick). Ensure that the plant foot is not turned outwards as this will turn a player’s hips and cause the ball to be dropped inside, ultimately making it fly off target in front of the player.

You may also go down to the beach for a kick on the sand. Kick, then check the footprints after the kick. Check if the footsteps continued towards the target. A player should ask themselves questions such as - Did you cross over your feet? Did the plant foot point straight at the target? Note: If you find the player’s feet are crossing over, continue to practice this drill. Practice getting the feet pointing straight and then following through straight after the kick at the target.

 

Elite kickers need to block out all outside influences and always ensure they are successfully executing “The Basics of Kicking.”

Eventually, these basics will become second nature.

To develop this and shift the players' focus away from thinking through the basics of kicking each time, players need to practice various ways to start their kicks.

The drill below is an AFL Kicking drill and will challenge even the best players in the game -THE ELITE- see how you go!

Ensure a player stays calm and doesn’t get too flustered or rushed when participating in this drill.

Begin by having players rapidly dancing their feet on the spot waiting on your instruction - then on the whistle/your call have them react & do the action described below. 

They will gradually get better & better at handling the outside pressure of the various starting situations. Try 3 or 4 of each action, then move to the next.

Begin by trying to kick after: 

1.  A handball is received
2. A mark - or the player throws the ball to themselves then kicks
3. A gather -ball coming towards the player 
4. A gather -ball rolling away 
5. A gather -ball rolling across the player’s path 
6. Facing 180 º away, then turning 
7. Faking a pass at 90 º  then hitting a target the other way
8. A player getting off the ground, and gathering then kicking 
9. Ripping a ball off an opponent 
10. Bouncing the ball 
11. Closing eyes then open to quickly find a teammate 
12. Coming forward, then going back, then forward, then back, then kick
13. Looking left, then right, then left, then kick 
14. Standing and kicking as quick as a player can - on command 
15. Having 5 balls quickly given to a player to hit 5 different targets in a circle, at various angles & distances 

If at any time during this drill a player finds it too difficult, then encourage them to CALM DOWN & GO BACK TO THE BASICS OF KICKING.

This drill also allows players to have fun creating other difficult kicking situations.

As a player develops, keep decreasing the time and space they work with and increase the difficulty of the decision-making scenarios.