Specialist Path' Handling Pressure

This weekend I was able to relax and watch football games all weekend. As I watched both the college and NFL games I saw kickers having trouble making pressure kicks.

Pressure is something that is perceived but can be very real if you allow it to affect your emotions and your mechanics in kicking. On Saturday I watched some struggles from the college kickers but there were also similar struggles that decided games in the NFL.

This is "On A Specialists' Path"-Handling Pressure.

Being a former Tennessee player and lifelong fan, I watched the UAB vs. Tennessee game this weekend and saw UAB kicker Josh Zahn miss his first five goals of the game. I have seen kickers have trouble before but nothing like this game.

The UAB kicker missed a 41 yard field goal early in the game and then missed a 35 yard goal in the second quarter. As I watched on television, they did a close up of the kicker and he was alone on the bench with his head in his hands. He proceeded to miss kicks of 49, 30, and 54 in regulation.

My biggest issue with the kicker was not that he was upset with missing the kicks but it was his overall body language. He looked like he did not want to attempt another kick.

I learned early in my career that you must embrace the pressure and want another opportunity if you want to be successful as a kicker. It becomes a fight or flight mentality and as a kicker you have no place to hide!

Kicking is a pressure packed position and I have been in that position numerous times, but from my work in Sport Psychology I always tried to implement the "5 minute rule". Basically this is the idea that whatever happens in a game, good or bad, you have the ability to process it for 5 minutes and then it is time to move to the next kick.

One of the toughest challenges for a kicker is that there are so few chances in a game and rarely do you get the chance to make up for your mistakes. It is important to always focus on the "process" in kicking rather than the "outcome".

A person's self worth should not be decided by what happens on the field. People who have never kicked a pressure kick before can understand the analogy of a golfer on the tee box.

When a golfer has a bad tee shot it is important not to let the next tee shot be affected by the previous shot. This is where it is important to trust your technique well enough that you go into the next shot or kick with a clear mind and continue to be fluid.

Garrett Hartley and Sebastian Janikowski are two of the best kickers in the world and both of them had trouble under pressure on Sunday.

Even the best kickers will occasionally have trouble under pressure and one factor that can attribute to this is simply rushing the moment. As a kicker it is important not to rush the kick and to embrace the moment. Be comfortable with the uncomfortable.

When I was a freshman in college I took a public speaking class. One of the first things they tell you in the class is that it is normal to feel nervous before a speech. This theory can also apply to being a kicking specialist.

My suggestion for any kicker would be to process a missed field goal and keep your head held high after a miss. Everyone makes mistakes but the true sign of character is in times of adversity.

Embrace the moment and understand that there is not a bigger rush than kicking under pressure. If you embrace the pressure than you can learn to enjoy it and in my case you can even miss it!

Visit: www.jameswilhoitkickingcoach.com

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