Advice on conversion/penalties?

[Zed]

Hey guys, as ***le says I need some tips on taking conversions and penalties. I don't seem to have a problem with accuracy, but I really struggle with distance. I can't kick goals much further than 30m. So any tips for increasing the distance of my kicks would be appreciated!

 

[Steve-o]

Do you go to gym or workout? If you don't, start. If you do, focus on legs more to increase leg strength, especially your thighs.
That seems to be the route of your problem.

 

[Hall]

Don't ask me, I can barely get place kicks off the ground.

Which is odd, considering my kicking from hand is good...

 

[man007]

Put some more technique : When you kick ,move the leg as far back as possible and put the foot the hardest you can, then when you hit the ball move your upper body forward, all with a harmonic movement of arms.

 

[burnsy2009]

The furthest I've got a kick over was around 45M but it only just got over. I find that really snapping your leg through can help to get more distance. Also the run up can have a big difference so try maybe altering the length/speed of your run up. I have a medium length run up that I do quite quickly. Also good strength in the quads and hamstring is also handy. It's a trial and error thing really just try things out and hopefully you'll get more distance.

 

[cyRil]

You've really got to get your method and mentality right. I'm so erratic it's embarrassing. One kick I can bang from over the half way, the next I shank about 5 metres to the right from about 30m out.
But for distance, just listen to what Steve has said

 

[Tomsey]

getting good contact with the ball is also very inportant. otherwise all the work you put into improving leg strength will be wasted. getting good contact depends alot on your kicking style and on the type of tee you use. so perhaps try varying those aspects...

 

[Steve-o]

Some good advice coming in here.
One part of kicking that I missed out which other members posted is technique. It's really vital, I can't believe I looked over a basic like that.

I personally increased my place kicking distance by +- 10 meter after using some kicking techniques I learnt from playing soccer in varsity. The one rule of thumb for kicking that made the biggest difference was step over the ball when kicking. Ideally you want your ankle to be in-line with the ball when contact is made. It feels weird in the beginning, your chest will be over the ball and your head should be completed down, looking at the ball. Picking up your head before kicking or on contact tends to make you lean back a bit or skew your kick off to the left. Keep your eyes on the ball!

 

[burnsy2009]

Technique is very improtant I have to say. My technique is very un-orthadox as I connect with the ball in a different way to most kickers. It means my accuracy is good but I can't get as much distance as I could. My 45ish M kick was with this technique where as I've kicked the ball with a more usual technique and missed to the right from 52M out(we marked it) but it went the distance.

For my technique spend a majority of the time looking at the goal posts and getting your aim and angles etc. right first. Then once you start your run up keep your eyes on the ball and when you step into it place your none kicking foot next to the ball or slightly infront of it. Then you(or I as it may not be the norm) look up just before your foot connects getting your eye on the target so you know where your kicking abit more than kicking slightly blind. Connection is key your back lift should be as much as possible and then bring your leg down fast and hard to generate power. Then for you(normalish technique) need to get a clean contact on the front of the foot above the toes and follow through as far as you can. jumping(kinda like some freekick takers in football) can help to get more momentum through the ball. The more momentum generally the more distance so doing as much as you can to generate velocity. once you've got it down and are happy with the techinque try some kicking drills from different areas of the pitch to practice and perfect the technique. When finnished stand back and watch the ball in Awe as it sails through the up rights from 65M out

hope this helps along with what everyone else has said.

 

[burnsy2009]

edit:sorry double posted :huh:

 

[Zed]

Cool thanks for the advice guys. I'm pretty sure it's a technique problem as when i drop kick the ball I can easily match the distance I get with my place kicks and with no run up with the drop. It feels like I hit the sweet spot with the drop kick but don't with the place k. I Guess there's lots of things to try so I'll pesevere!

 

[Mr. Laxative]

I can't claim to be the most awesome kicker in the world and to be honest I haven't kicked for my team for a while and have as a result lost some distance. One of the big things is understanding the intricacies. Rugby, is generally quite a "wide stance" game. However, kicking off a tee is a little different. As you have to get you placing foot (i.e the foot you're no kicking with) as close to the tee as possible and in the direction you are kicking, the stance is certainly narrower. You get your power by transferring the weight you are taking on your placing foot to the kicking foot. This is acheived by a reasonable take back and high follow through. If you have the placing foot in the right spot and you have your head over the ball you shouldn't need to try and kick really HARD. It will be a natural progression, because you're connection will be good.

As a side note, if you have you placing foot directed to where you're kicking, no matter you kicking style you should be accurate. This is basically due to you being square to your kicking direction and as such giving you balance, even with a narrow stance.