Develop muscle memory through drill work on and off the field
Dry Kicks
This is a great warm-up drill that will help us loosen up our kick-off muscles as well as working on our technique, all without the use of a football. Keep in mind that kick-offs (KO’s) are quite taxing on the quads, glutes, hips, and back so be sure to stretch adequately before going 100% into this phase of kicking.
This drill basically consists of going through your KO motion without a football or tee. You can do 1 dry kick, or 100 (though not recommended). It is up to you when you feel in alignment and properly warmed up.
What we want to focus on with our dry KO’s is our “hurdle” follow-through. It should go without saying that all of the other kicking basics apply here as well. The hurdle follow-through takes our kicking leg up and over an imaginary hurdle that is right in front of our ball. As stated in the technique section, the main difference between field goals and KO’s is that we land on our kicking foot with KO’s.
3-Step Kickoff
This drill takes our warm-up one step further. I personally do not attempt full-step KO’s until I have done a few 3-step KO’s. This drill is simply a normal KO, but we use our field goal steps (3 back, 2 over). This allows us to hone in on our technique such as ball contact, body position, eyes, and follow-through. I often hit my 3-step KO’s more solid than my full-step KO’s because there is not as much room for error in the approach. However, you cannot build up as much momentum into your kick.
