On Saturday, Sunday and Monday Charles Conigliaro and his father Doug Conigliaro were in Scottsdale, Arizona for some One on One Kicking and Punting Lesson.The Conigliaro's came all the way from the cold and frigid weather of Massachussetts to the beautiful warm and sunshine weather of Arizona. The weather for the last three weeks has been from 65 to 75 degrees everyday.
Charles is a high school sophomore and would like to be the kicker and punter at his school. So, Doug brought his son out to me and said he wanted Charles to receive some very fundamental instruction. A matter of fact in the first lesson Charles was trying to soccer style place kick using his toe like a straight-on kicker.
When I saw Charles using this unusual technique I quickly realized we needed to start with the very basic fundamentals and build up from ground zero. For three days we split the lessons into half of the time working kicking and punting fundamentals.
When Charles first start kicking field goals he hit some balls end over end however, on many he wrapped his foot around the ball and hook and spirals many off to the left.
I showed Charles many photos and videos of the proper foot position and proper soccer style kicking technique. We worked foot position drills hard to break Charles habit of wrapping his foot around the ball and kicking weird flying balls.
On the last day Charles was starting to have success. In the photo below you see Charles starting to get his foot in a little better position on the football. On about 3o kicks he hit 27 of them end over end and through the goal post .
Charles also ended the three day session by kicking and skipping through the ball rather then kicking and falling off to the side or backwards. He was know looking more like a soccer style kicker.
Our One on One Punting Lessons again started with basic fundamentals. Grip, Drop, Drop Progression, and Punting Fundamentals. In the photo below you see Charles working drills to get the ball dropped directly in front of his punting leg.
In Charles first lesson he tried to punt the ball by placing and dropping the ball outside his leg and trying to wipe a spiral. In the photo below we worked a no step drill trying to get Charles to drop the ball on top on his foot.
In the photo below you see Charles working a drop drill trying to drop the ball directly out in front of his punting leg and on top of his punting foot. Notice the difference where the ball is hitting on my foot in the photo above and where the ball is hitting on Charles foot.
Both balls ended up as spirals. However, punting up and through a ball that hits on top of your foot will go a lot further then wiping a spiral.
Again the last day was a success for Charles punting the ball. At one time he hit 6 spiral punts in a row and turned over 3 of them.
As you see in the photo below I was continually making sure Charles was placing the ball directly over his punting leg and trying to punt straight up and through the ball.
After three days of kicking and punting Charles had finally received success and was a happy camper. He knows the basic fundamentals and knows what he needs to work on. He has a DVD of all my teaching points and said he will work hard to get better.
I must say my lesson with Charles made me use all my resources as a coach and teacher. After working with all the talented kickers and punters around the country I was back working with a beginner.
Charles has passion for kicking and punting. Working with Charles was a pleasure and a very gratifying experience for me as a coach and teacher. My student learned and got better each day and that's all a teacher wants. Seeing improvement and success.
It was a little frustrating at times for both Charles and myself but in the end we both had success and are very happy.
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