In between my time in the Navy and my service in the Army I was a kicker in college.
Because of several years of learning how to place-kick and punt I learned a thing or two about kicking footballs.
I think the video of Carli Lloyd kicking a football 55 yds is pretty nice, but I know it means nothing in a game.
Now watch the video and I'll tell you why she would probably never make it in the NFL.
Number one.....even in college, there is a heavy rush coming when you kick field-goals, so you have to get the ball off in 2 seconds or less after the snap. This means you can't take a run at the ball. It takes time to take several steps. What Lloyd did was essentially a kickoff, and most kickers can kick the ball 70 yds or more on a kickoff to get it in the endzone and a touch-back. When place-kicking you cannot take more than 3 steps. I usually took 2 1/2. My first step was a half-step and the last step was my plant foot.
Now she did kick the ball off the ground instead of off a kicking-tee. Kicking off of the ground can take anywhere from 5 - 10 yds off of your kick. If she had kicked off of a 1 inch tee she probably would have gotten another 5 yds. Kicking off of a hold tends to cut down on the distance greatly.
Another thing that you have to take into account is the ball. In college you can get an extra 10 yds over the NFL ball because it's a bit shorter and fatter. When I was in college you didn't have to inflate the ball to a set poundage, but in the NFL it has to be no less than a rock-hard 12.5 - 13.5 lbs. A former teammate in college used his own well-worn balls to kick which added several yds to his kicks. I would often put his fuzzy balls over the goalposts from the 40 yd line on the opposite side of the field off of a tee, which was at least 70 -75 yds. You could tell the difference just listening to the sound. An NFL ball sounds sharp and like a cannon when kicked really hard.....a soft ball sounds soft when kicked hard. I knew I had really gotten into it when I heard that familiar sound. I always practiced during the off-season with official NFL balls inflated to 13 lbs. That way if I got a try-out I might have a chance.
That's another thing........In the NFL you have this ball that's made to throw farther and faster but it's not made to kick farther. An NFL kicking ball is usually marked with a K and only used once. This is why you see a kicker squishing the ball on the tee before they kick to soften it up a bit. A slightly softer ball will go farther than a new ball. Practice balls are softer than game balls. That's what Carli was kicking.
Then there's the height of the rushing players that need to be considered. This means that you can't kick a long line-drive...you have to get the ball up in the air inside of 7 yds, and get the ball up over 10 feet in that distance. To drive the ball far at that height takes alot of power.
Taking less than 3 steps and kicking the ball over 50 yds is difficult. I usually considered anything inside 40 yds to be automatic. Any farther and it was kind of iffy and wind direction would play a big part in the kick. I made 46 yd kicks in games and 60 yds in practice. Usually you don't try 50 yd kicks unless you had no other choice. It's nice to have someone that can consistently make em from over 50 yds....but I wasn't able to.....which is why I went back into the military.
I was a straight kicker back then, so I had a flat boot that I kicked with the point of my toe instead of the side of the foot, which made me more accurate but the motion was less powerful than a soccer style kick. I could kick it farther soccer style but my accuracy wasn't that good. I would have improved my accuracy with practice...but I didn't try to change. However, because of rule changes it's tough being a straight-kicker in the NFL....so there aren't any left.
Then there's the fact that if you aren't playing during the game, you're sitting around on the sideline. You have to keep warm during the game, that means having a kicking net on the sideline or a bicycle to keep blood flowing thru your muscles. Playing keeps your legs warmed up. Kickers usually can't play during the game in the NFL for obvious reasons so they have to stay on the sidelines and keep warmed up in other ways.
So taking into considering all of the above factors....I figure Carli Lloyd would be in for a huge dose of reality if she ever tried out for a college team....much less an NFL team. She's got a good leg....but there's more that goes into than just kicking the ball with no rush the way she did. It was a nice story...but it wasn't based in reality. I think the novelty of it was she was a woman, but she's a world-class soccer player....so she should have a good leg. Most kickers played soccer at one time or another. It gives you strength, endurance, and the proper technique to kick a ball.
Now I see videos of a woman throwing a pass on Twitter that looks like it's far, but it's probably only 40 yds....and isn't very far compared to players in college and the NFL where some of them can throw 70 - 80 yds accurately.
Let's put it this way.....girls......put some pads on and try-out.
See what it's like for us guys and see if it's something you want to do.
Football isn't for everyone. Even kicking.
Because of several years of learning how to place-kick and punt I learned a thing or two about kicking footballs.
I think the video of Carli Lloyd kicking a football 55 yds is pretty nice, but I know it means nothing in a game.
Now watch the video and I'll tell you why she would probably never make it in the NFL.
Number one.....even in college, there is a heavy rush coming when you kick field-goals, so you have to get the ball off in 2 seconds or less after the snap. This means you can't take a run at the ball. It takes time to take several steps. What Lloyd did was essentially a kickoff, and most kickers can kick the ball 70 yds or more on a kickoff to get it in the endzone and a touch-back. When place-kicking you cannot take more than 3 steps. I usually took 2 1/2. My first step was a half-step and the last step was my plant foot.
Now she did kick the ball off the ground instead of off a kicking-tee. Kicking off of the ground can take anywhere from 5 - 10 yds off of your kick. If she had kicked off of a 1 inch tee she probably would have gotten another 5 yds. Kicking off of a hold tends to cut down on the distance greatly.
Another thing that you have to take into account is the ball. In college you can get an extra 10 yds over the NFL ball because it's a bit shorter and fatter. When I was in college you didn't have to inflate the ball to a set poundage, but in the NFL it has to be no less than a rock-hard 12.5 - 13.5 lbs. A former teammate in college used his own well-worn balls to kick which added several yds to his kicks. I would often put his fuzzy balls over the goalposts from the 40 yd line on the opposite side of the field off of a tee, which was at least 70 -75 yds. You could tell the difference just listening to the sound. An NFL ball sounds sharp and like a cannon when kicked really hard.....a soft ball sounds soft when kicked hard. I knew I had really gotten into it when I heard that familiar sound. I always practiced during the off-season with official NFL balls inflated to 13 lbs. That way if I got a try-out I might have a chance.
That's another thing........In the NFL you have this ball that's made to throw farther and faster but it's not made to kick farther. An NFL kicking ball is usually marked with a K and only used once. This is why you see a kicker squishing the ball on the tee before they kick to soften it up a bit. A slightly softer ball will go farther than a new ball. Practice balls are softer than game balls. That's what Carli was kicking.
Then there's the height of the rushing players that need to be considered. This means that you can't kick a long line-drive...you have to get the ball up in the air inside of 7 yds, and get the ball up over 10 feet in that distance. To drive the ball far at that height takes alot of power.
Taking less than 3 steps and kicking the ball over 50 yds is difficult. I usually considered anything inside 40 yds to be automatic. Any farther and it was kind of iffy and wind direction would play a big part in the kick. I made 46 yd kicks in games and 60 yds in practice. Usually you don't try 50 yd kicks unless you had no other choice. It's nice to have someone that can consistently make em from over 50 yds....but I wasn't able to.....which is why I went back into the military.
I was a straight kicker back then, so I had a flat boot that I kicked with the point of my toe instead of the side of the foot, which made me more accurate but the motion was less powerful than a soccer style kick. I could kick it farther soccer style but my accuracy wasn't that good. I would have improved my accuracy with practice...but I didn't try to change. However, because of rule changes it's tough being a straight-kicker in the NFL....so there aren't any left.
Then there's the fact that if you aren't playing during the game, you're sitting around on the sideline. You have to keep warm during the game, that means having a kicking net on the sideline or a bicycle to keep blood flowing thru your muscles. Playing keeps your legs warmed up. Kickers usually can't play during the game in the NFL for obvious reasons so they have to stay on the sidelines and keep warmed up in other ways.
So taking into considering all of the above factors....I figure Carli Lloyd would be in for a huge dose of reality if she ever tried out for a college team....much less an NFL team. She's got a good leg....but there's more that goes into than just kicking the ball with no rush the way she did. It was a nice story...but it wasn't based in reality. I think the novelty of it was she was a woman, but she's a world-class soccer player....so she should have a good leg. Most kickers played soccer at one time or another. It gives you strength, endurance, and the proper technique to kick a ball.
Now I see videos of a woman throwing a pass on Twitter that looks like it's far, but it's probably only 40 yds....and isn't very far compared to players in college and the NFL where some of them can throw 70 - 80 yds accurately.
Let's put it this way.....girls......put some pads on and try-out.
See what it's like for us guys and see if it's something you want to do.
Football isn't for everyone. Even kicking.