Bad Kicking Day?

We are effectively in the middle of the 2015 football season. This means that many kickers from grade school to the NFL will be attempting, making and uh….missing field goals as well.

How we as kickers, parents and coaches handle these situations will more than likely determine the success of the next attempted field goal.

Kick long enough, and you will have kicks that don’t fly as charted in your mind.  Even the top college and NFL kickers today (and I mean the very top) will pull or push the occasional field goal attempt.  It happens, get used to it and get over it if you want to be a kicker over the coming years.

I can tell you that as a kicker, it’s a terrible feeling walking off the field after a misfire.  You KNOW that you could make the stupid kick if they could just give you one more quick shot at it…call a penalty…or something!

However, you are going to have to make the walk of shame back to the sideline at least a few times if you stick around.  You are going to have to hear about that kick from the coach, from teammates, then more than likely from a parent or two after the game.

Working through the aftershock of a bad kick is one of the hardest things to stomach for any kicker.  I wish I could say it gets easier, but for those of you (like I) who tend to internalize and replay that bad kick over and over in your head, it’s just going to be something you have to fight through.  You may not feel like thinking it or saying it, but you HAVE to shrug it off and project to yourself and everyone around you….”I’ve got the next one.”

The quicker you learn to focus on your next opportunity, the better position you’ll be in to let go of whatever just happened.  This doesn’t apply only to bad kicks.  Let go of the good ones too!

Fact is, you are only as good as your NEXT kick, so whatever just happened out there is water under the bridge.  There are things you can’t control when you are kicking….poor snaps, poor holds, poor footing, poor weather, the list goes on.  You can’t control so many of these things, but there is one thing you CAN control while kicking. You can control your ATTITUDE.

Your attitude, believe it or not, will keep you sane if you keep it positive.  Don’t dwell on the bad kick you just missed, don’t dwell on the game winner you just nailed.  It’s just as easy to miss the next one either way if you are busy thinking about the last one.  Always be thinking about your next kick.

Parents, I have a teenage son who plays tennis, a daughter  who is a gymnast.  I know how easy it is to get sucked into the vortex of pity when things don’t go well.  Be supportive, focus on the next opportunity….do NOT replay the kick or the game as tempting as it may be.  I’ve been there, so I know the urge….”well if you’d just done this” or “why’d you do that?” or “I’m just not sure what you were thinking” and so on and so forth.  Don’t fall for it….be supportive, be strong and put the focus on the next opportunity as hard as it may be.

Coaches, that goes the same for you.  I understand you may be frustrated, you may want to yell and scream after a big kick is missed.  But the kicking position is different, it just is.  Kickers get the reputation for being “head cases” because we are the only ones who may have hours, days or weeks to ‘think’ about what just went wrong.

I played other sports, I know the difference.  I never had to think myself into a deep dark place after I missed a shot in soccer for instance…I was back at it instantly, no time to think!  Usually, I made a great pass, tackle, or even a goal within minutes of a misfire on goal…not the same in the kicking world.

If you want to get your kicker on a quick rebound after a bad kick, move on quickly, be positive and get your kicker out of his own head or you may contribute to poor performance in the next game(s) which will help no one.