Having a training partner for your kicking sessions is a great way to accelerate your learning and presents a number of benefits. You can practice your technique together, learn from each other and make your kicking session a lot more fun and enjoyable. Here are some of the benefits plus a few kicking drills to do in pairs.
Accountability
When you have a training partner, you automatically have more of a sense of accountability. When you’ve made plans to meet for a kicking session, you’re more likely to brace the icy cold, wet and windy conditions of a wintery night when you’ve made that commitment to meet up for example and practice. Having someone to relying on you makes it harder to cancel, allowing you more consistent kicking practice and in return, see more progress in your kicking game.
Outside perspective
You can learn from each other and bring a fresh perspective to each other’s kicking game that you might not have noticed before on your own. If you can apply that learning to yourself then it’s another input to the learning process.
Healthy competition
Having a sparring partner for your kicking training means you can put each other under pressure with a little competition between you. Becoming more comfortable under pressure, even learning to enjoy it, will have cross over into a match situation.
Take a look at our article with some pointers on preparing for match day pressure - here
Celebrate success together
Rugby is a team sport and one of the best parts about it is the community and a sense of comradery – having others to lean on through the good times and the harder times. In the same way, with a kicking training partner, you have someone you can share your high’s and low’s with. Someone to celebrate your successes with!
Kicking drills you can do in pairs
Watch kicking coaches, Tony Yapp and Stuart Alred demonstrate a kicking practice you can do in pairs focussed on the drop punt. The running drop punt is a great kick for all levels of ability as it's easy to learn from scratch and creates the foundation movement for all other kicks in rugby.
Here, Tony Yapp and Stuart Alred demonstrate a kicking practice you can do in pairs focussed on the running spiral.
Finally, watch Tony Yapp and Stuart Alred show a drill to bring it together; the drop punt, drop shunt and running spiral.
We hope you enjoy these kicking drills to do in pairs! Let us know how you get on via Instagram, Facebook or Twitter.
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