Maybe a dumb question, but what makes soccer style kicking better than the old fashioned straight-ahead place kicking? I think it’s supposed to be more accurate, but I don’t get it. I remember watching Jan Stenerud in the early seventies when this style was still comparatively new in the NFL, and I remember thinking how unnatural it looked. Not having played soccer, I just don’t get it. What makes approaching the ball from the side and kicking with the instep a better technique?
Interestingly, the very same question cropped up in a sports page column two weeks ago, in relation to rugby, which also routinely uses ‘round-the-ball’ kicking. Didn’t hang around for the answers, but I’ll have a look and see if I can find them online
Soccer style kicking you can get extra power by swinging your hip into the kick. It’s hard to do that straight-on
Nahh, fuck me, no chance of finding a random Torygraph letter. The specific question, though, was identifying who first kicked round-the-ball. The OP assumes it’s a soccer style, which may not even be the case!
That’s interesting. “Soccer style” is how I’ve always heard that style of kicking referred to, though.
When I played soccer, I was taught to kick with the side of the foot as opposed to with the toe, the toe being characterized as an American football style. Don’t remember anything about the hip, but I didn’t play very long.
Here’s a previous thread: Why did American football kickers originally kick in an unusual way? - Factual Questions - Straight Dope Message Board
Ahh, I thought that old thread seemed familiar.
Yeah, but what ever happened to NFL kickers going with a bare kicking-foot? Man, that trend was born to prove Darwin right.
Man, there’s a ton of misunderstanding of how soccer players kick the ball in that other thread.
Kicking barefoot, at least with a soccer ball, doesn’t really hurt. I doubt it would be very bad with a football either.
But the other kick in soccer is the “on-the-laces” kick. Isn’t that what place kickers do?
gigi, a lot of people mistake “instep” kicks (laces kicks) for “side foot” kicks (which actually are used primarily for short, accurate passes along the ground in soccer). I believe what foolsguinea was describing was an instep kick, as opposed to a “toe poke.”
The main trouble with straight on kicks with the toe is that they are relatively inaccurate, since the contact area is not very uniform, and is much smaller. Old straight on kickers wore special shoes to try and flatten out the toe, but the surface area was still quite small, giving you little room for error. That’s why Tom Dempsey was one of the better kickers (he held the old straight on record): he had a misformed right foot (no toes), which allowed him to wear a shoe that had more surface area on the front. After he set the record with such a shoe, he was required by the NFL to wear “normal” footgear IIRC.
By comparison, the instep kick has a larger surface area in contact with the ball. Much like using a big headed driver makes it easier to hit a golf ball accurately (or a big headed tennis racket, etc.), this added surface area makes the kicking style more accurate. It is not clear that it results in any added power, as you will note from the fact that Dempsey’s record has yet to be bested in the roughly 35 years that kicking “soccer” style has been standard in the NFL.
And, yes, the early proponents of the style were almost uniformly converted soccer players. See, for example, the Gogolaks.
The most accurate NFL kicker stats are all from the modern soccer style type kickers. I could word that better, but you get the point…er…instep.
Dempsey has been matched twice, and a number have flirted with his record distance. Further, given the new rules on ball/field position, fewer coaches are going to run the risk of giving the other team the ball near their own 45 yard line!
Ain’t many trying 64+ yard kicks…if any.
Elam, of course, has tied the 63-yard record. Of course, that game was in Denver. I think that someday someone will best the 63-yard record, probably with a good tailwind.
And I think the Texans tried a 65-yard field goal last week at the end of the first half. One of the few times you’d probably see such an attempt–no time left on the clock and you’re either going to take a knee (meh), throw the hail mary, try something short (short pass or run), or try the field goal. To me, the field goal still had the best chance of actually getting a few points.
Yikes. Generically, the instep is the inside of the foot, the arch. But looks like usage is different for soccer. Maybe that’s why they never called it that in our kids league. :smack:
What do you mean “generically”?
A perfunctory googling indicates that the top part of the foot between the toes and the ankle is referred to as the “instep” in shoe making, sock making, soccer playing, and by the medical community.
Mark Moseley, the last straight-on kicker in the NFL, once attempted a 70 yarder.
Very very rarely are the laces used when kicking a soccer ball. The two main parts of the foot that the ball is hit with are both on the inside of the foot. The part that usually used for shooting, crossing, and long passes is the ridge from the big toe to the ankle. The other part is the arch of the foot on the side used for shorter passes. The top of the foot is generally used on volleys. The outside of the foot is also used, generally to put bend on the ball.
Um, no. From Merriam-Webster Online, “1: the arched middle portion of the human foot in front of the ankle joint; especially : its upper surface.”
The type of kick you describe for shooting, crossing, etc. is called an “instep drive” or instep kick by much of the soccer community. Often, younger players are told to think of using their laces, for although the contact point is just to the side of the laces, it works as a good reference point. See for example, Teaching the Instep Drive. Here is a decent video of a low driving instep kick, for those who might be having trouble following along.