On Monday and Tuesday Alex Carlton the kicker at the United States Military Academy or Army was in Scottsdale, Arizona for some One on One Kicking Lessons.Alexander has two years remaining to kick at Army and came to Arizona to refine his kicking technique. I believe he said he was 18 of 24 last season and knows he could of been better.
As I watched and evaluated him during his first 10 kicks I noticed a couple of minor flaws. My sequential camera gave me some excellent photo series to pick up those flaws.
In the above photo you can see how Alex started kicking the first day. He was a little bit of a puncher. After the first session we went back to my office and had an excellent video review session.
The flaws I pointed out on the field became crystal clear during the slow motion and stop action video replays of himself.
During our meeting I showed Alex video of several NFL kickers and other college kickers that had some of the same kicking flaws that he had. The key was how to fix them.
I showed Alex the correct form and told him to go back to the hotel that night and work the mirror drills.
During the second session we worked a progression of kicking drills and made a couple of minor adjustment. Alex was now kicking up and through the ball much better rather than punching at it.
During my end zone line drill Alex was kicking the ball with better elevation, accuracy and distance.
I believe the couple of adjustments we made and the drills and information he has learned will help Alex improve on his 2009 season of 18 of 24. A key factor in Alex's improvement was his foot to ball contact position. When he struck the sweet spot of his foot to the sweet spot of the ball all facets of his kicking game improved.
It was a real pleasure meeting and working with Alex and I wish him the best of luck this upcoming season. Go Army - Beat Navy and Air Force!
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