Free-taking techniques.

[CorkMan]

Does anyone have any ideas how to kick the ball further off the ground? I can score from anywhere inside about 35 metres but I'd like to be able to get it from further out.

[theticklemister]

Does anyone have any ideas how to kick the ball further off the ground? I can score from anywhere inside about 35 metres but I'd like to be able to get it from further out.

show off.

I could never rise the ball at all!

[Itchy]

Kick the ball harder?

[thewobbler]

I've come to the belief that everyone has a natural kicking length that they can't exceed - and some people happen to be naturally longer than others.

I can't really explain it with any substance, but it's based on the fellas who I grew up with (and I'm talking 5-8 years either side of me) who could kick a ball a long way under-12,  also seemed to be the ones who could kick it a long way come senior football. It's not like these fellas spent endless hours on their own kicking balls either; they spent their teenage years playing football every night with others who just couldn't kick it as far! The guys I know (and I include myself in this) who spent hours kicking a ball against a wall didn't gain obvious ength from doing so.

Obviously you can improve your technique to make the most out of what you have in a consistent way.

On this, there doesn't also seem to be some golden rule for an optimal body shape/leg shape for long distance kicking. There's a thousand fellas playing football in Ireland with Bryan Sheehan-esque physique, but they're almost all behind some skinny chap, some tall chap, or a big pudding, when it comes to the free-taking stakes.

[CorkMan]

show off.

I could never rise the ball at all!

Not really showing off. I would, though, if I could kick it a bit further.

Kick the ball harder?

Thanks Itchy, hadn't thought of that. Trying to force it sacrifices accuracy.

I've come to the belief that everyone has a natural kicking length that they can't exceed - and some people happen to be naturally longer than others.

I can't really explain it with any substance, but it's based on the fellas who I grew up with (and I'm talking 5-8 years either side of me) who could kick a ball a long way under-12,  also seemed to be the ones who could kick it a long way come senior football. It's not like these fellas spent endless hours on their own kicking balls either; they spent their teenage years playing football every night with others who just couldn't kick it as far! The guys I know (and I include myself in this) who spent hours kicking a ball against a wall didn't gain obvious ength from doing so.

Obviously you can improve your technique to make the most out of what you have in a consistent way.

On this, there doesn't also seem to be some golden rule for an optimal body shape/leg shape for long distance kicking. There's a thousand fellas playing football in Ireland with Bryan Sheehan-esque physique, but they're almost all behind some skinny chap, some tall chap, or a big pudding, when it comes to the free-taking stakes.

Thanks, but I have increased the distance quite a lot over the last year so I don't agree with the bit about natural kicking length. Seem to be stuck around the 35m mark for ages now, though. Kicking it off a wall definitley doesn't help, you're right there.

[CorkMan]

Couldn't go out much further than the 21.

[Olly]

I saw a boy in Keady running about 20 yards towards the ball. As he runs he buck leaps into the air about 5-6 times, always moving forward. It reminded me of one of those bulls at the start of a bull fight. The boy in the comedy golf film had the same idea - Adam Sandler. Try it this week.

[thewobbler]

Couldn't go out much further than the 21.

You didn't tell me you were still in primary school.

[CorkMan]

Jaysus!

Yep. Practice makes perfect.

Couldn't go out much further than the 21.

You didn't tell me you were still in primary school.

I couldn't get it far enough of the ground to put it over. Off the ground, like.

[screenexile]

It's all about technique.

Steven Cluxton has no long run up or great speed to his kicks but has his head in the right position and kicks straight through the ball with the right part of the foot.

If you try using a kicking tee to get the right technique that should help you.

[Hardy]

Look at how golfers do it. First, you get the basic technique right. Head position, non-kicking foot position, contact point, follow through, etc. all have to be perfected and then worked on and practiced, like a golf swing. It's not for nothing that golfers practice for hours every day.

After that, like a golf shot, distance is primarily about speed through the ball and that is all about technique. Two fellas can swing their legs at roughly the same speed but get very different distances because the speeds at impact are very different. Why? It's a matter of physics and cumulative velocity.

If you swing your golf club keeping your wrists and elbows straight, you won't get much distance because the velocity at impact is limited to what can be generated by the movement of shoulders and waist. But a golfer bends his right elbow and his wrists and unwinds them at precisely the right moment to achieve maximum velocity at the point of impact.

Using shoulders/waist only, the clubhead is travelling at a velocity, say v, relative to the ground. Straightening the right elbow as you come into impact adds the elbow component, e to the velocity and unwinding the wrists at precisely the right moment adds the wrist element, w. So instead of velocity v, you end up with the cumulative velocity v+e+w.

Same thing with a kick. Your leg is not a rigid straight thing, like a golf club. It's articulated at three points, hip, knee and ankle, as the combination of arms and golf club is articulated at shoulder, elbow and wrist. So practice the address to the ball to bring the lower leg, below the knee, through late and the foot through at the moment of impact.

Then practice it for hours. Every day.

[blanketattack]

I've come to the belief that everyone has a natural kicking length that they can't exceed - and some people happen to be naturally longer than others.

That's baloney. That's like saying everyone has a natural speed or strength that they'll never exceed.

Playing every night with your friends might do little to increase your kicking power but an intensive workout programme aimed at increasing your flexibility, particularly of your hip along with targetted weights workouts will increase your kickout length.
Our goalie increased his kickout length by 20 yards after an 18 month programme where he was doing workouts up to 3 nights a week along with lots of work on his technique.

[thewobbler]

I've come to the belief that everyone has a natural kicking length that they can't exceed - and some people happen to be naturally longer than others.

That's baloney. That's like saying everyone has a natural speed or strength that they'll never exceed.

Playing every night with your friends might do little to increase your kicking power but an intensive workout programme aimed at increasing your flexibility, particularly of your hip along with targetted weights workouts will increase your kickout length.
Our goalie increased his kickout length by 20 yards after an 18 month programme where he was doing workouts up to 3 nights a week along with lots of work on his technique.

I've seen many things in football over the years, but I've never seen an adult player get noticeably quicker at sprinting, only slower. You can practice sprinting all you like, perfect your technique all you like, but it's nearly all down to some natural equation between your calf muscles and hamstring muscles that actually decides your speed. If it was anything else, professional rugby and all its science would be churning out sub-10 seconders in every pro team.

[catchandkick]

Does anyone have any ideas how to kick the ball further off the ground? I can score from anywhere inside about 35 metres but I'd like to be able to get it from further out.

I would always have thought that Maurice Fitzgerald and Bryan Sheehan's techniques ( Sheehan based his on Maurice Fitz, they are from the same club) were as close to perfection as you could get.

But Cluxton kicks the ball in a very different style and has a very very good record. He cuts across the ball where Sheehan and Fitzgerald would kick the ball at a point just below the big toe. His go straight at the goal in a direct line over the balckspot where Fitz/Sheehan curl in from a point outside the black spot of the crossbar. Cluxton aims at the blackspot where Fitz/Sheehan do not.

For the Sheehan/Fitzgerald style

Head down all through (until well after you've kicked the ball. When you lift the head, as in golf, the whole kick/swing plane changes)
Kick the ball with a point on the foot just below the big toe (this will come with practice though)
Keep the same number of steps in the run up ( five is enough I think, no need for Charlie Redmond/Anthony Tohill Riverdance type run ups)
Approach the ball at about a 45 degree angle

That's a lot to be remembering!

Just keep kicking and the natural kick will find itself. It's like when you're practicing kicking off the hands after not kicking for a while.

The first few shots might be poor, then you'll kick one over. You'll try and replicate this good one and again and again. Muscle memory will then kick in and say 'here is the correct body position and foot point for kicking the ball'

I think the same principle is true of all sports. The likes of Dave Alred (an England rugby kicking coach and one of life's chancers in my view) giving advice to the likes of Kildare players like Johnny Doyle (I think this happened) is complete madness I feel.

I could give you all the techniques you like, but your body will automatically do the right techniques if you practice enough!

My fee is $100 a word!

[neilthemac]

I've come to the belief that everyone has a natural kicking length that they can't exceed - and some people happen to be naturally longer than others.

That's baloney. That's like saying everyone has a natural speed or strength that they'll never exceed.

Playing every night with your friends might do little to increase your kicking power but an intensive workout programme aimed at increasing your flexibility, particularly of your hip along with targetted weights workouts will increase your kickout length.
Our goalie increased his kickout length by 20 yards after an 18 month programme where he was doing workouts up to 3 nights a week along with lots of work on his technique.

I've seen many things in football over the years, but I've never seen an adult player get noticeably quicker at sprinting, only slower. You can practice sprinting all you like, perfect your technique all you like, but it's nearly all down to some natural equation between your calf muscles and hamstring muscles that actually decides your speed. If it was anything else, professional rugby and all its science would be churning out sub-10 seconders in every pro team.

then you've never been coached properly. Or you were but you didn't do what the coach wanted.
speed is a skill
it is coach-able
when can it be coached? all the time.
When do humans take most benefit from it - at 7-8 years of age for speed of foot movement (amount of steps in a set distance) and 13-15 for stride length
However even adults can improve their speed. it is all down to proper training and technique (which are both coach-able)

so on that, yes free taking is coach-able
as is golf. why then would anyone take it up in later years?