On Friday and Saturday Ben Davis a young man from North Carolina was in Scottsdale, Arizona for individual kicking lessons. Ben who attended the same high school with current Ole' Miss kicker Bryson Rose was in town to work on and improve his kicking skills.Ben has a real passion for kicking. He decided not to immediately attend college because he really didn't know what he wanted to do. But he does want to eventually kick some place. So, the first thing we addressed was to make him a better kicker. If your a good kicker it can open many other doors and opportunities.
Ben started his kicking lesson like most kickers, just trying to kick hard. I could immediately see that the crunching action was not allowing him to kick freely up and through the ball. Also, the flight of the ball had a lot of spin which meant he was not making solid foot to ball contact.
I tested Ben's flexibility and I could see he had that quality. I just needed to teach Ben to stop crunching and kick more relaxed.
After the first day of lessons and video review I gave Ben several drills to do back at his hotel that evening. Ben was a quick study because day two he came out kicking more relaxed. He was not crunching as much and was hitting the ball further and straighter with less effort. We also addressed with a couple drills his foot to ball contact. The combination of improvements put a smile on Ben's face. However, as I tell all my students, it will take time (two to three weeks) for the new muscle memory to take over and make his new swing more natural.
It was a real pleasure meeting and working with Ben Davis and I wish him the best of luck in the future with his kicking passion. I just wish and hope that Ben understands that if he puts a lot of time into kicking or anything in life he will be successful... and that includes college.
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