How to Catch a Kick in Football

Video Transcript

"Hi, this is Sean Hobson, for Expert Village. What we want to talk about now is making the appropriate catch on the kick off or the return. We want to focus on when the ball is kicked and the ball is above you, what are the proper ways to get yourself set in order to receive the kick off. What we want to talk about first is that balance. You never want to be coming up on a ball and have to catch it out in front of you. You always want to catch the ball standing underneath the ball where you have good balance. You also never want to be catching the ball on your back foot going backward when you receive the ball. The other important thing to remember is when the ball is coming in to you, you always want to catch the ball to one side or the other. You don't want to receive the ball in the middle and let it hit you in the middle of the chest. Typically, you'll see those hit and bounce off and you'll make a bad catch. If this guy's left handed he wants to catch it more to the left side so he can tuck the ball away and step out of the end zone. Or, he wants to catch it on the right side so he's on that dominant side. Also, when you catch it, catch it nice and soft. You don't want to catch it with concrete hands. This is what it looks like when he receives the kick (video demo). You see he catches it, he has good balance and then he explodes out after making the good catch. That's the proper way to do it."