Do barefoot kickers in middle school exist? Just exactly when does a football kicker realize he's a barefoot kicker. I'm the mother of one. He's 14 now and just entered my school as a freshman. I'm the choral director there. Yes, by the way, it's very cool. That's another blog.
As his mother, I look back and remember specific things that stood out in my son. The second my Father saw Nicky when he was born, he said, "Look, he has ski feet." His feet were normal to me. I'm his MOM. They were just slightly longer is all. He started walking early in the 9th month. Everytime I put his shoes on, he went atside to play and immediately took his shoes off and ALWAYS kept his socks on. I went through socks like a candy addict in a candy store. As he got older and started football, they would play on the field and Nick's shoes were always gone. At practice one day he knocked the snot out of the ball and the coaches went nuts.
Here's the scary part. One practice, he kicked for over an hour for a hard game coming up. He never let up. I got him home and asked him to remove his right foot's sock. I was sure there was going to be some damage. He removed the sock and his foot wasn't even red or bruised. His right foot is slightly more muscular than the left. In amazement, I asked him if he was human.....I was so shocked.
Since then, he was aloud to kick at the games if the other team's coaches didn't mind. They didn't until he started kicking over 40 yards in 7th grade. Then everybody had a problem with it. He had to put his shoe back on. We know have a soccer shoe for him that he hates. He kicks about 10 yards less with the shoe on.
He is now in High School and they won't allow him to kick without a shoe. Varsity snatched him up this year for kicker but he's a confused little sole about this. The rules state cushion of 3/16ths of an inch padding. It does not state anything about a shoe. That is two socks worth and he kicked like that for a short time in middle school till it became an issue. He chose to let it go and kick as told.
When he gets to college level, as they allow it, his goal will be to change that rule for the younger players. He feels that his football growth was stifled. If you are going to be a kicker, what does it matter. They have NASA making swimsuits in the olympics for speed.
Let kickers wear nothing to beat records also.
Thanks for the rant.
You can see him on the new web site. It's a different approach that he is building. Keep checking back for more updates and stories of his adventure on this. He's on a focused rampage.
Patty
www.powerheavenelectronics.com
www.getmynameout.com/nickanderson