Training Tip: 3 Tips On How To Kick On Wet Grass

By some reports, the field the NFL used on Sunday for the Super Bowl ran $80 million dollars to create, but the footing was some of the worst footing imaginable for kickers.

Jake Elliot, Eagles kicker, nearly snapped his ankle in half on the kick off below:

Most kickers today don’t grow up today playing on grass. A lot of it is turf. So it might be a good reminder for a simple checklist when you are playing in bad conditions:

A lot of kickers wear two different cleats, especially the ones that play on grass. Truthfully, there is very little difference in treading between the football cleats of today and soccer cleats most kickers prefer.

A low cut football cleat from Nike or Adidas you can find at Dick’s Sporting Goods is more than fine for a good plant foot cleat option.

If you play another position in HS you may need to get creative with your coaches, or just suck up wearing two different cleats for a game.

An important note: you can wear firm-ground cleats or studded cleats. Studs (longer spikes on the bottom of you plant foot) are more rare to find as most shoe makers have shifted away from grass-based cleats to lower spiked turf cleats.

You can still find a few pairs of longer studded cleats on ebay.

Note, these are also available for soccer cleats - they are called “soft ground” cleats.

Another common site on grass field sidelines until turf became king were these things.

Even if you wore low cut soccer cleats with shorter spikes, keeping them cleared of grass debris can help you manage better footing in crucial moments.

Any grass game, always check your plant foot cleats.

You don’t even need a cleat cleaner, just check it yourself or have a friend do it.

You just never know what the turf might give you on a given day.

Even if you play on a pristine grass field, the moisture may be greater than usual.

Or, shoot, you might even bust your cleat apart in warm ups (have had that happen to me and seen it happen to others) And, if it does happen, you don’t want to be left without other options.

“I missed the kick because my cleat broke” isn’t something coaches typically want to hear.

Do you need to the sexiest model cleats? Not at all. Just talk to a pal on the soccer team and see if anyone wants to get rid of old cleats or hit up ebay to see who is selling what.

To recap:

That’s it for now, thanks for stopping by. Would love to continue the conversation below!

Brendan