On Monday and Tuesday my two new friends and former English Rugby players, Huw Collins (Left) and Tom Collins (Right) where back in Scottsdale, Arizona for some more One on One Kicking Lessons.
Here they are seen in the above photo with Shane Phillips who is my assistant and Australian Punter. The three have become good mates!
They all talk funny and sometimes I can't understand a word their saying however, there great guys.
However, on the other side of the coin they probably can't understand a word I or us Americans are saying at times either.
Tom and Huw Collins are former professional rugby players that are trying to make it in the NFL as kickers. They came to Scottsdale a couple of weeks ago for some One on One Kicking Lessons.
We worked for a couple of days on fundamentals and technique. I also introduced the two to some drills. I told Tom and Huw to go practice and work on the things we had addressed.
The two brothers went to California to work their drills and train and are now back in Scottsdale to work more on their field goal technique and kickoffs.
In the photo below you see Huw trying to kick the ball and stay more upright during his One Step Drill.
During the lesson we experimented with Huw's approach to the ball. We lengthened his approach and worked on kicking up through the ball.
Huw liked the adjustment. He felt he hit a couple of kicks better than he has ever kicked a ball with excellent elevation, distance and accuracy.
By the end of the second One on One Kicking Lesson Huw was kicking the ball really good. He liked the slight changes we had made with his approach and he felt it was an easy adjustment to make.
Huw now knows exactly what he needs to work on to take his game to the next level. In the photo below you see Huw finishing his kicks down field and under control.
Next man up is Tom Collins, Huw's older brother.
Tom Collins made some dramatic improvement in his kicking technique and consistency from his first this session kicking three weeks ago.
Tom started out kicking really well. He was not crunching down on the ball as much as he did the first time we kicked. However, as time went by his crunching down technique started to reappear in his technique.
Bad muscle memory doesn't just go away you have to keep working for weeks to get rid of it just like old habits.
During our video sessions Tom could see that he had improved, but still had some work to do to eliminate those bad tendencies.
By the end of the second day Tom was kicking the ball with good distance and accuracy and transferring his weight.
Tom was not only kicking good but was kicking and ending up on balance and under control.
At the end of each session we worked on kickoffs. Huw was further ahead with his technique then Tom only because Huw has had more previous instruction from other kicking coaches.
By the end of the second session both kickers had a two, four, and six step kickoff approach with consistent steps. Their kickoffs were landing inside the five yard line with good hang times, 3.8 to 4.2 hang times.
During this two day session we tried to have the boys kick more situation field goals with a simulated snap, hold, rush and kick.
In rugby the kicker gets to use a tee and has one minute to kick the try with basically no rush.
Kicking consistently and accurately with a snap, hold, rush and the proper timing will be Tom and Huws biggest transition.
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