Most high school coaches inherit a kicker instead of develop one. A kid shows up with a decent leg from playing soccer, you hand him the job, and you cross your fingers on fourth and short in October.
If you actually want to know how to teach field goal kicking the right way, you need more than “kick it straight.” You need a repeatable technique your specialist can trust when the game is on the line.
How Do You Teach A Field Goal Kicker Proper Technique?
You teach field goal kicking by building a consistent pre-kick routine (steps back and over), a repeatable plant foot spot, a locked-out contact position that uses the quad instead of the groin, and a full leg swing that finishes through the ball. Every miss usually traces back to a breakdown in one of those four pieces.
In this article, we will break down the mechanics, the drills, and the mental approach that go into how to teach field goal kicking, using the same technique framework Sam Lenton of Lenton Punting and Kicking uses with Division 1, 2, and 3 specialists in the Northeast.
Alignment Steps
A kicker’s approach starts with three steps straight back and two steps to the side, taken with consistent, comfortable footwork every single time. This is the foundation of the whole kick, so we teach it before we ever talk about swing mechanics.
The steps back are not a place to look for extra power. Bigger steps do not equal a bigger leg. What matters is that the steps are the same length, at the same angle, on every single rep, so the kicker’s starting point never changes.
When you’re figuring out how to teach field goal kicking to a young specialist, drill the steps in isolation before you ever put a ball down. Have the kicker walk through three steps back and two steps over, freeze, and check his own alignment. Repetition without a ball builds the habit without the pressure of a result.
One coaching point that gets missed on angled kicks (a left or right hash field goal) is that the two steps to the side are not a straight line, they’re a 90-degree turn. If a kicker steps over on the same angle as his steps back, he’ll end up aimed outside the upright before he ever takes his first jab step. We teach our specialists to pop the outside thumb out on that second step as a visual checkpoint that they’ve squared up correctly. Understanding how a hash mark actually splits the field matters here too, because a kicker lined up on the left hash is aiming at a target that sits at an angle, not straight ahead.
Plant Foot Position
The plant foot should land about one foot length away from the ball, with the heel roughly even with the ball on a standard approach. This single spot determines almost everything about where the kick goes, and it’s the detail most youth coaches never actually measure.
Block height changes this measurement slightly. If your holder is working off a 1-inch block, bump the plant foot back so the middle of the foot lines up with the ball. Off a 2-inch block, the toe should be the reference point instead. These are small adjustments, but they matter, because the whole point of the block is to get the kicker’s foot underneath the ball for lift, and a plant spot that doesn’t account for block height will flatten the trajectory or cause the kicker to lean back to compensate.
For a young specialist still learning to find this spot on his own, we use an L drill: set the right foot down, mark the plant with the opposite foot, and repeat it until the body remembers the distance without needing a coach to measure it every time. On grass or dirt, scuff the plant spot so the kicker has a visual landmark. College specialists don’t need this step anymore, but every young kicker should build the habit.
Think of the plant foot the way a basketball shooter thinks about a tucked elbow. Too tight, and the kicker hits the outside panel of the ball with poor contact. Too far out, and he gets “toey,” striking the ball off-center with a fast spin and no real carry. One foot length away, consistently, gives the kicker room to swing through the ball cleanly.
What Muscles Should A Kicker Use To Kick?
A field goal kicker should drive contact with the quadriceps, not the groin. The quad is a fast-twitch muscle built for the quick, explosive motion a kick requires, while the groin is a slow-twitch muscle that produces a slower, weaker strike.
This is one of the biggest technical corrections we make with new kickers, most of whom learned to strike a ball playing soccer. Soccer players are taught to open the hip and drive through with the inside of the foot, which uses the groin.
Field goal kicking asks for the opposite: a closed, locked-out ankle that contacts the ball on the navicular bone (the bony ridge on top of the foot), powered by the quad snapping the lower leg through. If your kicker’s foot is open at contact, he is using the wrong muscle group, and you will see it show up as a weak, inconsistent ball flight no matter how hard he swings his leg.
What Drills Improve Field Goal Kicking Accuracy?
The single best drill for isolating contact point is one most youth programs never run: the no-step contact drill. Set the kicker in his locked-out position with no approach, no momentum, and no steps. Bring the ball up to the toe (instead of the heel, since there’s no forward momentum to account for) and have him swing through with just the lower leg, focusing entirely on foot-to-ball contact and lockout position.
This drill strips away everything except the one skill most misses actually come down to: does the foot strike the ball correctly. When I install this with my kickers, I run it for five minutes before every single practice, because it’s low-impact enough to do daily and it isolates the exact flaw (an open foot, a groin-driven strike, a bad contact point) that shows up as a shank once the full approach gets added back in.
Beyond the no-step drill, build your practice around:
- Steps-only walkthroughs – no ball, just footwork, to groove the approach.
- L drill for plant – repetition finding the plant spot from a standstill.
- Full approach with a target – have your kicker pick a spot beyond the uprights in the distance rather than aiming at the goalpost itself. Aiming at a fixed point in the background keeps the head and shoulders square through contact.
- Angled hash reps – rep both hashes every practice, not just the middle of the field, since real field goal attempts rarely come from the center.
Contact Point On The Ball
Most contact point problems come from one of two places: an open foot at impact, or an approach that drifts off a straight line to the plant spot. We teach kickers to draw an imaginary line from the left toe straight to the plant spot, with the belly button splitting the distance between plant and ball, and the right shoulder pointed at the ball. If any of those checkpoints break down, the hips have to rotate to compensate, and that’s when a kicker starts spraying kicks left off the right panel of the ball.
The mistake I see youth coaches make constantly is telling a kicker to “attack the ball” when the real coaching cue should be “attack the plant.” A kicker who attacks the ball closes his hips too fast and catches it off-center. A kicker who attacks the plant, then lets the second step carry him naturally into the ball, stays square through contact every time.
Common Mistakes
- Kicking with the groin instead of the quad. Fix: drill the locked-out, closed-foot position daily with the no-step contact drill before adding an approach.
- Euro-stepping to the ball. Some kickers jab to plant, then arc their second step outward before coming back in, like a basketball euro step. This throws off the hip and chest line. Fix: keep the second step on a straight line, right foot to ball.
- Ignoring block height. A plant spot that doesn’t account for a 1-inch versus 2-inch block will change trajectory. Fix: measure the actual block your holder uses and adjust the plant reference point.
- Stopping the leg at contact. A kick that dies on impact instead of finishing through loses distance and often sails low. Fix: coach the same follow-through cue you’d use for a basketball shot or a baseball swing, finish high, don’t stop the leg at the ball.
- Not resetting mentally after a miss. A kicker who sulks after a first-quarter miss is not ready for the fourth-quarter kick that actually decides the game. Fix: build a short-memory routine (we call it “cycling the snap”) that the kicker rehearses in practice, not just talks about.
How Do You Coach A Kicker’s Mental Approach And Routine?
A kicker’s routine should start the moment your offense crosses midfield, not when he’s actually called onto the field. We build it in stages: stretching and staying loose on first down, a dry-run visualization rep on second down, and full attention once it looks like a real chance is coming on third or fourth down. That routine matters as much as the swing mechanics, because a specialist only gets a handful of live reps in an entire game, unlike a receiver who might get another shot on the very next down. Coaches who understand how down and distance shapes field position can help a kicker anticipate when his number is about to get called instead of getting surprised by it.
If you also hold for your specialist, remember the hold itself affects contact point. The ball should lean slightly toward the holder, never away from the kicker, because leaning it back opens up the panel and causes kicks to miss left. Catch it out in front of the body, place it directly on the spot, then work the lace, in that order. A sloppy hold will make a technically sound kicker look broken.
Coach’s Takeaway
How to teach field goal kicking comes down to four repeatable checkpoints: a consistent steps back and over approach, a measured plant foot spot, a closed, quad-driven contact position on the navicular bone, and a full leg swing that finishes through the ball. Drill each piece in isolation, especially with the no-step contact drill, before asking a young kicker to put it all together under game pressure.
FAQ
How do you teach a field goal kicker proper technique?
Break it into isolated pieces before combining them: steps and footwork, plant foot placement, a locked-out quad-driven contact position, and a full follow-through. Drill each piece separately, then build the full approach.
What is the correct plant foot position for kicking?
About one foot length away from the ball, adjusted slightly for block height. Off a 1-inch block, the middle of the plant foot lines up with the ball. Off a 2-inch block, the toe lines up instead.
How many steps back should a kicker take?
Most specialists use three steps straight back and two steps to the side, with the side steps taken at a true 90-degree angle rather than mirroring the angle of the steps back.
What drills improve field goal kicking accuracy?
The no-step contact drill is the single best tool for isolating foot-to-ball contact without momentum. Pair it with steps-only walkthroughs, an L drill for the plant, and full approach reps run to both hashes, not just the middle of the field.
Getting your specialist’s fundamentals right also means understanding the field itself. If you haven’t already, check our breakdown of football field dimensions and upright placement so your kicker’s aiming point in practice matches what he’ll actually see on Friday night. For the official rules governing field goal attempts and hash mark placement at the high school level, the NFHS football rules are the authoritative source. And if you want to understand the fast-twitch versus slow-twitch distinction behind the quad-driven contact point we teach, Britannica’s overview of muscle fiber types is a solid plain-language reference to share with your specialist.