Coach Zauner's Blog...: Joshua Shene Kicking Lesson

On Friday and Saturday of this week Joshua Shene who was the starting kicker at the University of Mississippi for four years was in Scottsdale, Arizona for a kicking lesson (One on One).

I first met Joshua when he attended my College Senior Specialists Combine which was held here in Phoenix, Arizona February 20-21 2010. After the College Senior Combine Joshua evaluated his performance and decided he needed to get better and attended my PRO Development Camp in Casa Grande, Arizona May 21-23, 2010.

He liked the experience, competition and knowledge received at the PRO Development Camp. Since the camp he has worked hard the last couple of months and knows he has gotten better. He is here to show me his improvement and to also refine anything in his technique that will take him to the next level with a kicking lesson.

Joshua was an excellent college kicker and is now trying to become a professional kicker. As I tell all kicking specialists, the road to the NFL as a kicking specialist or special teams coach is not easy. However, if you get there it is well worth the hard work and bumps and bruises received on the way.

Years ago, if you were a good kicker you stuck out of the competition like a bright shinny star in the sky. In recent years the competition has gotten so much better. Now there are a lot of shinny stars in the sky coming out of college or competing in free agent kicking camps. The biggest question now is; Who is the Brightest Star!

Almost every kicker coming out of college can kick 55 plus yard field goals and kickoff to or into the end zone. The key to any kickers or punters success I believe is TECHNIQUE. Just like the game of golf has gotten over populated with great young golfers so has the kicking world.

Joshua Shene has a passion for kicking and is bound and determined to give it his best shot. He has spent money on flights, hotels, rental cars, kicking camps, kicking combines, and now kicking lessons.

I'll say one thing after working with him as a kicking coach the last two days, the money has been well spent. Joshua has gotten so much better in the last several months. Matter of fact, he has also stated those exact words to me in the recent visit. He feels the balls are traveling further with less effort.

Joshua is kicking and kicking off with much better form and technique. The ball he is kicking has a much better rotation. The kicks are now flying higher, further and straighter.

During the kicking lessons we worked on better foot to ball contact with a couple of drills. In the photos below you will notice the sweet spot of his foot is now making more consistent contact with the sweet spot of the ball.

Joshua is not only making better contact but also staying more upright. He is finding out that kicking with Coach Zauner's Natural Kicking Technique he is kicking up and through the ball and getting much better results.

At the end of both kicking lessons Joshua worked on his kickoff technique. During the first lesson my sequential camera showed that Joshua was leading a little bit too much with his toe and several kickoffs were a little slapping. (See Below Photo) After addressing his foot position issue he started to make much better contact.

The second day on kickoffs we worked to improve Joshua's hurdle technique. Once again Joshua was a quick study and improve rapidly. We also shortened his kickoff approach and tweaked a couple of other things. In all Joshua improved and felt much better about his kickoff technique.

Joshua has now improved but the NFL, CFL and UFL season has started. It might be too late to get a tryout for this season. However, I believe if Joshua keeps working hard on his technique and gets bigger and stronger he will be noticed at my Free Agent Specialists Combine next spring.