On Tuesday and Wednesday Brian Geraghty a kicker at Northwest Missouri University was in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for Kicking Lessons.
Brian's father called me a couple of weeks ago and inquired about kicking lessons. He mentioned that his son (Brian) was a very good soccer player growing up and recently had some problems with his hips. He also mentioned that he himself was a former soccer style kicker and was watching his son kick and felt that he was not kicking the same way or with the same technique as he had before his hip problem and surgery.
He thought there might be a problem but was not sure how to fix it. He sent Brian to Milwaukee for a One on One Lesson and asked me to put another set of eyes on it.
During the first lesson I took the above and below photo's and realized very quickly that Brian was kicking with a crunching technique that was also causing himself to roll severely on his ankle. He had what I call 'Head in the Canyon Crunch'.
He was not kicking up and through the ball. He was kicking almost around the ball and cutting it. He hooked some and pushed others. In my opinion most of his field goals and kickoffs were coming out very low.
After our video review session in the press box I mentioned to Brian what I thought the problem was. He agreed. At that time he mentioned that he felt something had changed after his surgery but once again could not figure out what the problem could be.
After watching the video in slow motion and stop action along with the sequential photos, his problems became crystal clear.
The second day we worked several drills trying to get Brian to stay more upright and kick up and through the ball. Emphasis was on kicking and skipping down field rather than rolling on his angle.
Balls started flying straight down field one after another. Brian is a good athlete and quick study. He made the adjustment that needed to be made. The only problem is his muscle memory.
I told him like I tell everyone. It will take about three weeks of hard work and mirror drills and kicking drills for the new muscle memory to become automatic. And even then the old muscle memory will always want to come back.
At the end of each session we worked on Brian's kickoff technique. I tried to incorporate what he learned during his field goal technique session to his kickoff technique. He made some early progress but needs to still improve. At least he knows what is the proper technique is and just needs to work on it more.
Brian told me he was very happy that he came to Milwaukee for a One on One Kicking Lesson and learned a lot.
It was a pleasure meeting and working with Brian Geraghty and I wish him the best of luck and Northwest Missouri University this upcoming season.
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