Q&A for How to Kick a Field Goal

Keeping the toe pointed and follow-through are keys for distance. Do not look up too early, as the jerking of your upper body to see where the ball goes could potentially cause you to kick a bad ball.

How many kicks a day depends on how many you can do. You might start with 10 to 15 a day to see what needs to happen, and to see if you are constant.

No, a field goal counts as long as the ball goes between the poles, even if it is very high.

The style in the video is soccer style; it gives out a better and more accurate kick than a toe point kick would give. It also allows the ball to go farther since it is on the hardest part of your foot.

Top part of your foot because it's the hardest part of your foot and the big strong part on your foot.

The laces should be facing away from the kicker. Kicking the laces could potentially mess up the kick.

Start with your planted foot first, so you get the idea of how many steps you need to take before your planting foot needs to go down.

It should naturally bend to the left once you bring your leg back - but you don't necessarily need to swing your leg to the left.

Anywhere from 10-20 seconds, depending on when you're comfortable and ready to kick the ball.

Right in the center above your toes.

You just need to lean a bit to the side, but not so much that you fall.

Yes.

I take 5 steps back and then two steps to the left (if you're a righty), but take 2 steps to the right if you're a lefty.

There is no kicker who never misses. The more you practice, the better you'll be. Even the best kickers practice nearly every day.

Math is involved to picture the angle you have to kick at to make it through the posts.

If you want the ball to turn a specific way, kick the ball on the side (diagonal). If you want the ball to go straight, have your foot vertical. The ball won't have too much power, but it will have accuracy.

You are hitting the football on the right side, which causes it to go to the left because of the rotation of the ball.

You can actually try and hit the ball with the front of your foot and check the accuracy as well as the strength. It could be as simple as changing your technique a little bit.

It is very hard, but you can try working on leg strength and your kicking mechanics. Most NFL-level kickers cannot hit a 60-yard field goal.

Tees are used in order to get height on a kickoff. You don't need height on a field goal. Just concentrate on the ball as you approach it.

Toe kickers aren’t as accurate, especially for long distances. Kick off the center above your toes.

I usually started at the 15-yard line and kept increasing distance once I got comfortable from where I was currently kicking.

You're talking about two different skills with little overlap between them. Practicing one probably won't help you much with the other.

In the NFL, the ball is placed at the 2-yard line. That's the equivalent of about a 19-yard field goal. At lower levels of play, the ball is placed at the 3-yard-line. (The NFL is trying to entice its teams to go for the two-point conversion.)

Make contact with a lower spot on the ball and lift it with an upward swing of your foot.

In any normal kick, the foot will be rising at least a little when it hits the ball.

You don't. Kick it straight. (If you see a kicked ball that appears to curve, it's the wind that's doing that.)

At any point (usually on a fourth down), when the team with the ball feels it has a better chance of kicking a field goal than of making a first down. It can also occur just before time runs out in a half when the team thinks it has a better chance at a field goal than a touchdown.

The longest registered field goal in American football came in college football on October 16, 1976, when Abilene Christian University kicker, Ove Johansson, kicked a 69-yard field goal against East Texas State.

Yes. How far a kicked ball travels depends on (1) how hard it's kicked, (2) how heavy it is, and (3) air movement (wind). If a ball is kicked softly, it will travel farther if it's light. If it's kicked hard, however, it will travel farther if it's heavy.