James Wilhoit Kicking Coach: Down Under in Arizona

Monday, April 25, 2011

Down Under in Arizona

After just finishing a Special Teams Clinic with Coach Walters of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, I was able to just recently exchange ideas with a Professional Rugby Kicking Coach from Australia.

Damien Hill (pictured above) is a rugby coach for the Nationial Rugby League (NRL) and decided to travel all the way from the city of Newcastle, Australia to learn more about the professional kicking techniques here in the United States.

In this video (below) one of Coach Hill's players, Benji Marshall, kicks a 50 meter drop goal in a NRL game.

I spent the day with Damien going over the kicking fundamentals of American football and also learning the game of rugby for myself. It was really a lot of fun observing how kicking is involved in the game.

After crossing the goal line in rugby they will attempt a "goal kick" for additional points. These kicks are done from the sideline at an angle and can many times be the difference between winning and losing.

As you will see in the video (above) there are some kicking coaches in Australia teaching all different types of kicking techniques for goal kicks. One of the things I notice about some kicking coaches in Australia and in the United States is that they will tell you to just kick the way you feel comfortable. Having comfort is important but there are fundamentals that are needed to be successful.

Coach Hill spent the day learning the proper drills and techniques to teach his rugby players back in Australia. I was able to show him the benefits of a training program and how to implement it.

Check out Coach Hill's Testimonial

Once we were done with the coaching session we went to see some of my friends for an Easter dinner and pool party. He said that American girls were a lot prettier than he once remembered and I told him that when I was in Australia last year I was equally impressed with the Australian ladies!

Coach Hill said that he plans to do some coaching for some rugby teams in Santa Barbara, California for the next week and then head back to the land "down under". It was great working with him and I look forward to doing some consulting with him in the future.