💬 HS kickers

[UAgrad93]

Not many of us know what kind of agony a kicker goes through when they miss. Bulvalos is a class act. He was apologizing on twitter

I posted this on my Facebook page and you posting your comment made me want to share here as well.

I got to thinking about the missed FG after the game and I even said that you shouldn’t bash the kid because no one feels worse than him. Well, it brought back a painful experience that I had as a sophomore in HS at Corner some 30+ years ago.
We were playing at Pleasant Grove on Halloween Night and we were locked in a scoreless tie with less than 2 minutes left in the game. We were faced with a 4th down from the PG 28 yard line. Coach Gleaton calls timeout and decides that we will take the FG attempt. Now I come in to play because, Howie Eddings and myself were the kickers and I had been better in warmups, so Coach went with me for the kick. Coach slaps me on the shoulder and tells me, “ Now Hardiman, there isn’t any pressure. BUT, if you miss this kick, they will take the next snap and run that big ass tailback of theirs on a toss sweep for 80 yards and beat us 7-0. NO PRESSURE!!” Well, now I can’t breathe! Our QB and holder, the late Matt Thomas, grabs me by the face mask and tells me, “ you got this! Keep your head down and drive through the ball! I will tell you when to look up!” I was terrified of Matt and at the same time believed in my captain. I place the block down on the 35 yard line for what will be a 45 yard attempt. I get my steps, look at Matt and tell him that I’m ready. The snap comes, I make my approach and hit the ball in the sweet spot with that old square toe shoe and it sails into the night air. Matt screams, “look up! It’s good!” As I look up, the ball begins to fade to the right and sails over the top of the upright. NO GOOD! The very next snap, PG ran a toss sweep to their “big ass tailback” and he went 80 yards for the game winning TD. I was inconsolable!!! I cried walking across the field to shake hands. I cried in the locker room, I cried on the bus ride back to Corner. I hurt so bad. I hurt not only for myself, but for my teammates and my coaches. I had let them down. It took Matt and some other seniors to jerk a knot in my tail to get myself out of my own little pity party.
So just remember, those kids on Saturday play their hearts out for our entertainment and enjoyment. When they lose, they hurt. Joseph Bulovas posted an apology Sunday and it wasn’t necessary. People really need to take a step back, take a deep breath and relax.

 

[50+yeartidefan]

I posted this on my Facebook page and you posting your comment made me want to share here as well.

I got to thinking about the missed FG after the game and I even said that you shouldn’t bash the kid because no one feels worse than him. Well, it brought back a painful experience that I had as a sophomore in HS at Corner some 30+ years ago.
We were playing at Pleasant Grove on Halloween Night and we were locked in a scoreless tie with less than 2 minutes left in the game. We were faced with a 4th down from the PG 28 yard line. Coach Gleaton calls timeout and decides that we will take the FG attempt. Now I come in to play because, Howie Eddings and myself were the kickers and I had been better in warmups, so Coach went with me for the kick. Coach slaps me on the shoulder and tells me, “ Now Hardiman, there isn’t any pressure. BUT, if you miss this kick, they will take the next snap and run that big ass tailback of theirs on a toss sweep for 80 yards and beat us 7-0. NO PRESSURE!!” Well, now I can’t breathe! Our QB and holder, the late Matt Thomas, grabs me by the face mask and tells me, “ you got this! Keep your head down and drive through the ball! I will tell you when to look up!” I was terrified of Matt and at the same time believed in my captain. I place the block down on the 35 yard line for what will be a 45 yard attempt. I get my steps, look at Matt and tell him that I’m ready. The snap comes, I make my approach and hit the ball in the sweet spot with that old square toe shoe and it sails into the night air. Matt screams, “look up! It’s good!” As I look up, the ball begins to fade to the right and sails over the top of the upright. NO GOOD! The very next snap, PG ran a toss sweep to their “big ass tailback” and he went 80 yards for the game winning TD. I was inconsolable!!! I cried walking across the field to shake hands. I cried in the locker room, I cried on the bus ride back to Corner. I hurt so bad. I hurt not only for myself, but for my teammates and my coaches. I had let them down. It took Matt and some other seniors to jerk a knot in my tail to get myself out of my own little pity party.
So just remember, those kids on Saturday play their hearts out for our entertainment and enjoyment. When they lose, they hurt. Joseph Bulovas posted an apology Sunday and it wasn’t necessary. People really need to take a step back, take a deep breath and relax.

I think a tear was on ur post...
A lot of details Remembered from a single moment in the past...

 

[UAgrad93]

I think a tear was on ur post...
A lot of details Remembered from a single moment in the past...

They say that you learn more from a loss than what you do from any victory. I can recall a lot from losses, much more than any win as a player or a coach.

 

[Max]

They need to hire a kickers coach. Pay someone like Sebastian Janikowski to develop our kickers.

That's literally the only thing I can think of at this point.

I believe this is your answer even though it's not directed at your question.

@UAgrad93, I wonder if the kid practices with his holder more than 10-15 times per day.

 

[50+yeartidefan]

They say that you learn more from a loss than what you do from any victory. I can recall a lot from losses, much more than any win as a player or a coach.

Surely a lot more sticks with you...as you wrote in detail about...thanks for sharing...

 

[mando]

They say that you learn more from a loss than what you do from any victory. I can recall a lot from losses, much more than any win as a player or a coach.

Interesting story. A memory popped up this weekend on social media that this was the 40th anniversary of the State Championship my team won. Played for Coach McKinney at Stevenson high school. Your story reminded me of this but not because of the year we won but my senior year two years later. We were 13-0 and and just ripping everyone in the playoffs. We lost the championship game to Dadeville 3-0 after we fumbled on the 25 yard line on our first possession. Just a defensive struggle. The week before we had put up something like 48 points against Susan Moore. So when they kicked a field goal we did not even blink because we expected to put points up but neither team did the rest of the game. I can even remember the last possession where we went for it on 4th down. QB tried to throw the ball to me on a curl route to get the first down but it was deflected. Dadeville took possession and took a knee and ran the clock out.

To add insult to injure we lost the championship baseball series also. We won the first game of the three game series at home then lost the next two. A tough senior year for sure.

I remember more about the loses my senior year than I do the championship we won when I was a sophomore.

 

[Elderfalsedemigod]

Most vivid football memory I have was spinning off a block from my MLB position and a pulling guard leveled me like a pole axed mule. I watched the running back walk into the ez to beat us by 4 in HS conference championship. I am 51 and still relive what I could have done differently. Last play of the game

 

[RollllTide!]

All of us can relate to a failed attempt at something. Mine was playing our arch rival my senior year. We practiced a down field pass for our opening play all week. Got it down good. The first play I had a lot of adrenalyn going and outran the defender. The quarterback under threw the pass and the defender had an easy pic 6. Never will forget that play. It's not the same with a kicker. Usually when they miss, it is all on them. A lot of time it is the winning score of the game at a crucial time. I say support the whole team or not. Prayer or luck is the best way to look at a kicker. It's a voodoo state of mind to look at it any other way. God bless kickers.