Tips Under the Ball.

[Come on England]

High Ball Tips

I have recently made the switch from Fly Half to Full Back, and have been playing pretty well, but I had a bit of a nightmare at the weekend, and was wondering if anyone could help me.

We were up against a big physical team, and their 10 practically kicked us to death, and unfortunately I made a few errors under the high ball. As I said, I have been playing pretty well, making breaks and scoring a few tries ( 4 a few weeks back), but defensively I have a lot to learn, especially under the high ball.

If anyone could give me a step by step guide, or just some tips and advice, I would really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Saintjay]

Practice throwing a ball high in the air and catch it, on the run, jumping standing still etc. Keep your elbows in and close to the body to prevent the ball going straight through. In theory trapping the ball between your upper and lower arm. Your hands then prevent the ball bouncing back out. Most of all keep your eye on the ball and concentrate.

Later you can work out your body position and stance so even if you do drop it from standing it should go backwards. Watch all the six nations full backs. Kearney for Ireland is great under the high ball.

 

[SelimNiai]

Don't think about their chasers or what you want to do after the catch, just keep your eyes on that ball until it's secure then take it from there

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

I used to really struggle with this and it was a supporter who told me how to fix it....i thought i was keeping my eyes on the ball when it was in the air but what i was actually doing was looking at the ball then glancing around so i didn't keep my eys fixed on the ball and kept dropping them from kick offs.

After really concentrating (and i have to actually concentrate to do it) i keep my eyes and focus all on the ball and then do i little jump last minute to catch it. I think confidence has a lot to do with it but if you keep your focus on the balls and don't take your eyes off it you should snap it up.

Hope that helps.

 

[Zed]

The biggest tip as Living sac said is keeping your eyes on the ball. Sounds obvious, but what a lot of people do is look at the ball as it's kicked, follow it as it goes up and as it comes down they momentarily take their eyes off it. You actually have to make a concerted effort to watch it the whole time. A team mate advised me to look at the 'gilbert' on the ball and watch it the whole time. I was surprised as I thought I always watched the ball, it wasn't until I followed his tip that I realized, I wasn't looking at it the whole time. Try moving your head in an exaggerated way at first as you follow the ball, following it's trajectory. This is a fairly basic skill that a lot of players don't master, because they are never taught to properly catch a high ball. Also with catching passes, especially long fast ones, if you find you drop the occasional one, similar tip - look at the ball. I literally stare at it. Other tips:

1)elbows in
2)point arms in air, high, bringing them down with the ball. You sort of form a cradle
3)turn slightly sideways so you don't knock it on
4)I laugh or smile - helps me relax - or think of something irrelevant otherwise you'll think "I better not drop it"