Kicking a football, is this as easy as people think? The Sterling asked two fellow soccer players to participate in an activity to determine whether if kicking a football was as easy as they thought. Our two soccer players who participated in the study were seniors, Edgar Garcia and Leo Ramirez.
Beforehand, The Sterling asked Garcia and Ramirez some questions before they endured fruitless success of kicking a football. When asked about what he expected to come before they began the variety of activities, Ramirez replied, “I think this is going to be easier than others think. I’m just going to kick it like I kick a soccer ball, and I expect to be perfect on all of my attempts.”
The Sterling then asked Edgar Garcia about his plan to attempt kicking the football, “I honestly wanted to just see if I can kick it(the football) like a regular soccer ball. I wasn’t too worried, but I wanted to experiment and see how different it would be compared to kicking the soccer ball.”
Garcia’s and Ramirez’s confidence on their pre-kicking comments began to wither away once the kicks began.
Ramirez and Garcia were put through several different methods on how a football is kicked. They endured the (PAT) Point after attempt, followed by kickoffs, Field goals, and ending with the punt attempt. The point after attempt was kicked at a distance of 20 yards, kickoffs were attempted to reach a hangtime at around 3-4 seconds and a distance of 40 yards, punts were then recorded by hangtime and distance, while lastly, field goals were attempted from 30 yards out. Ramirez and Garcia went 1/2 on their PAT attempts.
During the variety of kicking methods, both players began to second think themselves. Ramirez and Garcia went 1/2 on their PAT attempts. “It isn’t a soccer ball. My method is already out the door, this isn’t going to be as easy as I thought,” replied Garcia.
As the time went on, Ramirez and Garcia just laughed at themselves. Their preconception of “dominating” these activities seemed comical at this point. Ramirez was 50% on his field goal attempts, while Garcia went 0/2. After finally completing all activities, they both determined that their kickoff attempts were their strong point.
The Sterling asked Garcia and Ramirez some post-competition questions.
What are your thoughts after finally going through the variety of ways of kicking a football?
Ramirez: “I thought kicking a football was easier.. you just have to kick it high and far, but once I tried, it wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be because I had to get the right placement and had to kick the ball under a time constraint.”
Garcia: “Being a kicker in the sport of football is very difficult, I thought it would be easy but after missing almost all of my attempts, even with no rushers coming at me, I realized it wasn’t that easy.”
All jokes aside, which is easier to kick, a football or a soccer ball?
Ramirez: “Now, I believe kicking a soccer ball is easier because it has just a round shape and moves in a consistent way, compared to the longer oval shape of a football which travels in a variety of ways.”
Garcia: “A soccer ball is way easier to kick than a football, I used the same technique to kick a football and it wasn’t working… was not a piece of cake. I realized how hard it is and how we should give props to the kickers, as their job is not easy.”
