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Kicking from the T - difficulty

Big Ewis

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Yeah so I'm wondering just why it's so damn difficult to kick the ball between the posts. As a person who's never tried, with my only awareness of: the ball is oval, some angles are hard to kick...I just can't for the life of me understand why it's just THIS difficult.

The point of this thread is to ask the question: why is it so damn hard ? fkk...
Just watching a game now, Rory Kockott, a notorious perfectionist misses a sitter, barely an angle to the left, about 22m away..

I totally understand it's hard to get those ones with a crazy closed angle from the very far side, but I mean players from all over the world, Top 14, Aviva, Super Rugby, English, Japanese, Maori...etc.. are having the toughest nailing them with true consistency. Those are pros, they're paid to do this. Not to mention just how some kickers make it look IMPOSSIBLE, the guys who don't kick often for club: when you see Doussain kicking sometimes, he makes it look like the laws of gravity have all of a sudden altered, and he struggles, and it's ugly and uggh....

I know it's hard to describe the feeling, but I've never tried: give me insightful details about just why it's so hard, please.
 
having kicked for many years in my early 10 and 15 days, its all about timing, but today the balls are a lot lighter than the old leather ones we used to use, so wind is also a big factor, although i have never used a tee to kick, when i played they were not allowed, but with a tee you can get more height on the ball so more likely to get wind affected (and no B.E. this is nothing to do with the opposition crowd all farting at once) but as i said its all about timing the way to use the bottom half of your body to get the best results. Anyone can kick a rugby ball but very few well, watch Sir Jonnie he was the supreme expert. Strength or power only comes into it when you start from 45/50 yds out then you need both timing and strength or power to get the good results, never easy to combine the two. Preparation is always necessary doing exactly the same every kick stance, 3/4 paces everytime, planting the non kicking leg in exactly the same spot its all an exercise that needs loads of practice. Of course you can add pressure as well especially if the kick is to win the game eg FTD v Clermont from 45mts + out in the last minute of the game, thats pressure but he got the result. One kick one minute to go Victory or Loss, demons in the head, shakes in the hands, and sweaty palms its all or nothing if you succeed you are the hero if not well that's life..
 
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Kicking from the T is hard because it's hard to make contact with the ball without your brew going everywhere, let alone the risks of the cup shattering.

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as gaston says, any number of reasons, and it's like a golf swing if your mechanics are off even slightly....it's very hard to hit the exact same shot twice in a row, foot movement, fatigue, the angle of the ball and all sorts of things come into it

That's why it's been narrowed down to such a refined system so that as much of the mechanics as possible is fine tuned and it can only be outside factors.

As a goal kicker i can tell you i far preferred having a long/wide /impossible shot at goal as the pressure was off, I just did my routine and took the kick, the worst were kicks right infront of the post, missing one of those smack bang in front of the posts is simply awful.
 
Err... buy a ball and try it?

Might give you a better appreciation of how difficult it is to do it consistently.
The margins of error are such that the difference between the ball going exactly where you want it to, and going 10m wide of the posts is very fine.
Add the pressure of a large crowd and the disorientation that comes with it and you can look like a *** quite easily.
 
as gaston says, any number of reasons, and it's like a golf swing if your mechanics are off even slightly....it's very hard to hit the exact same shot twice in a row, foot movement, fatigue, the angle of the ball and all sorts of things come into it

That's why it's been narrowed down to such a refined system so that as much of the mechanics as possible is fine tuned and it can only be outside factors.

As a goal kicker i can tell you i far preferred having a long/wide /impossible shot at goal as the pressure was off, I just did my routine and took the kick, the worst were kicks right infront of the post, missing one of those smack bang in front of the posts is simply awful.

Kicking is easy in comparison to golf i played off 6 and the difference betweeen days is enormous, sometimes you play off scratch and then 12, for me its the hardest game i have ever played that is to play it well, and the weather just anything can happen especially in the UK, unfortunately had to give it up after 2nd major back op in 2005. but a great game nearly as good as rugby but no team atmosphere which makes rugby better.
 
agreed Gaston it's much harder, i just meant in the mechanics of timing and swinging...

I like golf, my brother in law is a phenomenal golfer, he's been giving me lessons but i'm rubbish - fine on the short game but awful off the tea :)
 
agreed Gaston it's much harder, i just meant in the mechanics of timing and swinging...

I like golf, my brother in law is a phenomenal golfer, he's been giving me lessons but i'm rubbish - fine on the short game but awful off the tea :)

Thats the trouble with you Brits you drink too much of it!!!!!!!!!!!
 
agreed Gaston it's much harder, i just meant in the mechanics of timing and swinging...

I like golf, my brother in law is a phenomenal golfer, he's been giving me lessons but i'm rubbish - fine on the short game but awful off the tea :)

See if anyone can give you some (PG) Tips over some Thai Foo'
 
k thx gaston, GN10. I do understand the context of people everywhere watching is a very troubling one. I hate it when I focus on something and everybody's starting, it's a mix of sheer annoyance and not being able to function properly. I even hate it when I'm talking to someone and I feel somebody else staring at me. Like, I'm talkin to this guy, not you, fk off !!!!! It must've been very difficult for a guy like Jonny Wilko who also prefers discretion and not alerting the whole village, so to speak.

It's just there is most certainly a gap between the reality of kicking a Rugby ball and the mere act of watching someone kicking it. Usually, things 'look' as difficult/easy as they actually 'are' to do. In Rugby, one (who's never been on a pitch) could understand it's hard to grab a high ball as it can bounce awkwardly off your chest and what not, easily, but kicking from the tee does really look easier than it obviously seems to be.
 
Have you genuinely never kicked a rugby ball, Ewis?

It doesn't work all that well, really. It limits the damage but eventually it's not a problem-solver. I think I'll have to resort to clinical-grade sleeping pills a few times weekly in stead. It's really strong stuff, and most doctors are against it, interestingly the classic ones as much as the more modern ones. Aristotle used to say "the least we depend on things, the closer we are to perfection", but it's just really hard at this point, the human being is weak, limited, and sometimes needs artificial help. We are, in that way, different from other animals who haven't stepped away from what they are, and therefor, do not become things they aren't.
 
k thx gaston, GN10. I do understand the context of people everywhere watching is a very troubling one. I hate it when I focus on something and everybody's starting, it's a mix of sheer annoyance and not being able to function properly. I even hate it when I'm talking to someone and I feel somebody else staring at me. Like, I'm talkin to this guy, not you, fk off !!!!! It must've been very difficult for a guy like Jonny Wilko who also prefers discretion and not alerting the whole village, so to speak.

It's just there is most certainly a gap between the reality of kicking a Rugby ball and the mere act of watching someone kicking it. Usually, things 'look' as difficult/easy as they actually 'are' to do. In Rugby, one (who's never been on a pitch) could understand it's hard to grab a high ball as it can bounce awkwardly off your chest and what not, easily, but kicking from the tee does really look easier than it obviously seems to be.

Well it is easy.

But doing it well consistently at a high level and under pressure......
 
Well it is easy.

But doing it well consistently at a high level and under pressure......

well of course it is for a good number 10 (*wink*) but so you're saying in the end it comes down to poise and mental control and things of that nature, psychological qualities rather than "athletic accuracy".
How huge is the psychological dimension in sports, eh ?..
 
massive.

It comes down to refining your bio-mechanics and then having the mental capacity to maintain that every single time.

Seeing as you are an arteeest, think of it like this, try drawing a circle freehand. pretty simple isn't it? now draw it exactly the same 10 times in a row.

See if anyone can give you some (PG) Tips over some Thai Foo'

i'm a yorkshire tea drinker...
 
From Yorkshire must be a good man, showing your young age Bio-mechanics!!!!!! nobody ever mentioned that when i was learning to kick mind you it's about the same time as they were building the ark, i was born in Halifax (some one has to be) and went to Crossley and Porters now Crossley Heath i believe.
 
From Yorkshire must be a good man, showing your young age Bio-mechanics!!!!!! nobody ever mentioned that when i was learning to kick mind you it's about the same time as they were building the ark, i was born in Halifax (some one has to be) and went to Crossley and Porters now Crossley Heath i believe.

sorry to disappoint Gaston, i'm from London, i just prefer Yorkshire tea.

If it's any consolation my brother lives in between Leeds and York though, lovely part of the country so i'm there quite often.
 
just watched an interesting segment showing Trinh-Duc's training sessions. He chose a guy who's a golf specialist to coach him with his kicks (not just from the T, drops, in-game kicking...). Proving it's more about the mere mechanics than anything else, I mean a "Golf specialist". He's never been better from the foot.
 
very difficult to train someone for the mental and pure pression side of having to take the winning kick from 40 yards out as he did with Clermont, but kicking and the golf swing have an awful lot in common. This is not the first time that golf specialists have been invovled, this is the finesse side of rugby that many do not know of it's existance in the sport.
 
true, as ALWAYS the psychological dimension is overlooked. There are shrinks who are specialized to treat athletes now, did you know ? Some decades ago, that'd be seen as a poossy thing for an athlete. Lebron James for e.g., the best basketball player in the world for the past few years, saw someone and the results have shown. There are breathing exercises, things to picture in your mind, 'mantra' or phrases to repeat psychically...
Sports really do call on almost every possible aspect of human aptitudes, and are more than an "athletic" practice..
 

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