Holding the Ball for Punting and Drop-kicking

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 158, 6 July 1935, Page 7 (Supplement)

Holding the Ball for Punting and Drop-kicking

By F. W. LUCAS, ex-All Black.

Note the position of the hands in illustration No. 1. This, to my mind, is the most natural and asy way to hold the ball. You will find that 90 per cent of players hold the ball this way instinctively. Of course this is being held for a right-foot kick. If you should be kicking left foot, the hands would naturally be reversed. The body is never square with the direction of the intended flight of the ball, but kept at an angle. There is not necessarily any specified angle that the body should be kept to; it may vary according to the style which becomes comfortable, or I should say natural, to each individual. By holding the ball the way I suggest, with body at angle, it is poised in the hands directly above the kicking foot. Actually in punting the ball is dropped on to the instep, and at the moment when the greatest power is put into the kick. For punting, the ball is dropped on to the foot very nearly flat, as against a drop-kick, when it is dropped as in photograph No. 2. The essential point in punting and drop-kicking is, as 1 have stressed in previous articles, to keep your eye on the ball. Of course a certain amount of punting is done instinctively without even. having time to think of looking at the ball. But no matter how much you are bustled, your eye must play a big part in getting your kick away successfully nltKminrh vnn mfiv.not'rfifllisft it.

| One of the most important points in both punting and drop-kicking is to hold ! ! the ball correctly, enabling you to drop it into correct position for the kick. i For both punting and drop-kicking the manner of holding the ball is identical. ! !; Balance is again the main principle of good kicking[< but if you are not holding j ! the ball correctly you are going to find it very difficult to get ]ust that light • !; balance at the right moment. !

In drop-kicking, of course, you must simply glue your eye to the ball. Get the direction firmly impressed on your mind, then drop the ball in position as in photograph No. 1 f and kick without taking a second glance at the goal.

And don't forget to follow through with the foot and leg. The ball is kicked in a manner similar to a punt, that is, not with the toe as in a place-kick, but more with the instep and just a fraction of a second after it touches the ground.

Quite a number of players when drop-kicking use the stab kick; that is they do not follow the kick through. This may be all right for short kicks, and, say, kick-offs, but actually when kicking a ball, either punting or drop-kicking, the foot and the ball are locked together as the foot sinks into the ball. Following through in the direction you are aiming to kick the ball ensures that the direction will be true;*it also gives the kick added power. As f have already mentioned in "Place Kicking and Handling," the ball should be blown up with just that little bit of give, so as to enable the foot to bite into the ball, thus giving more spring to the kick. If it were possible to take a photograph of the ball just at the moment of impact,-you would find that it is an entirely different shape to what it appears normally.

TAKING A HIGH BALL ON JHE RUN.

Note how the hands are spread ready to : receive the ball, and also, how the eyes are glued to the ba'll, also the balance of the body on the feet. Another instance of keeping your eyes on the ball.