Punting
Stages of Development
The punt or AFL kick is a complex skill to master as it involves kicking a moving ball whilst it is still in the air. Introduce around the age of 5-6 years with round, soft balls and don't expect children to master this skill until the age of 10 years or older.
Teaching cues
- Hold ball with laces facing forward
- Nose to toes (head over ball)
- Step & drop ball
- Kick with toes pointed (ballet dancer kicks)
Teaching strategies
- Start by kicking with soft round balls off the ground then progress to holding the round ball and kicking
- Practice stepping and kicking, use markers for where to step
- Play fun kicking games such as Discovering Punting and Over the River
- Focus on providing plenty of opportunity to kick all types of balls and kicking for distance rather than accuracy
- Introduce AFL and rugby balls
- Try kicking off 2,3, 4 and 5 steps and then as children get the hang of this introduce kicking on the run
- Play fun activities such as Titanic, Rapid Fire and Shrink and Grow
- Use a full size AFL or rugby ball
- Practice kicking for accuracy in front of goals from different distances
- Introduce different types of kicks
- Work on increasing the distance of the kick
- Encourage the child to guide the ball down with one hand
- Play activities such as Six or Safe and small sided games of AFL or rugby
Skill criteria
- Eyes focused on the ball
- Balls held lace forward at hip height
- Step forward onto non-kicking foot
- Ball connects with straight instep
- Backward lean of the trunk
- Hand matching kicking foot guides ball down towards foot
- Arm opposite kicking leg lifts forward and sideward
- Follow through with kicking leg toward target area
Common errors
- Ball is thrown in the air rather than dropped on to the kicking foot
- Looking up rather than down at the ball
- Connecting with the wrong part of the ball - the ball should spin backward end over end if the foot is connection with the base of the ball
