LINDSAY GILBEE ELITE KICKING ACADEMY

3 out of the last 4 Monday evenings I've made the 45 - 60min from the western suburbs to sunny Reservoir to attend this 3 week coursey thingy.

We all know Lindsay Gilbee as being one of the best kicks to grace the AFL but this was far ore than learning or teaching how to kick, although that was a big part of each session.

The main men involved were Lindsay himself, Rick LeGassick (Elite Kicking Academy), Phiv Demetriou and Anthony McDonald (both AFL Victoria).

WEEK 1

- Team warm up drills with balls with limited standing around time (efficiency)

- Small group/short kicking drills (great for a bunch of mates having a kick too)

- Small to medium group/area kicking drills (again great for a bunch of mates having a kick)

- Kicking Mechanics from Phiv who has done work with countless potential draftees to get to them a level to be drafted, such as a first year player from a semi final team who just played this weekend, who wasn't going to be drafted based on his kicking,corrected it with Phiv, got drafted and played most of the year in the seniors. I've made a 10 point kicking mechanics checklist from this.

WEEK 2

- We started with a short presentation from TAC/AFL recruiter Simon Dalrymple on talent ID/assessment and what they look for in potential draftees

- Short to medium group/area game simulated kicking drills

- How to layer your drills which I got my club onto a bit for this past season which works a treat for mine

WEEK 3

- Past AFL great and ex-Hawthorn/Western Bulldogs and Richmond goal kicker Paul Hudson talked to us about goal kicking, showing us some AFL vision as well

- Before we headed outside into what felt like 5 degrees we also watched a quick Prep to Play video which has been around for a while now and is similar to the warm up programs you've seen before and probably use right now such as Footy First

- Huddo showed us a multi station goal kicking drill you can put your forwards through pretty easily with minimal fuss

- Anthony also does a lot work with AFL Blind Victoria and had us try and teach someone to kick with their eyes closed the entire time (if you can teach this you can teach anyone!)

- We finished outside with a some quick kicking games (again perfect for a small group of mates)

- Finished with some last question and answer a short written test

Except for the drive this 3 week course was excellent with content provided by coaches in the trenches who can make a drill work for all player abilities and team sizes.

They were available for any and all questions you had and didn't hold anything back with their answers - there were many now-AFL player examples used showing how everyone needs coaching regardless of your level of footy (you don't know what you don't know).

With the help of this course, my current research and extensive playing history I now have a file of over 100 training drills that I hope to make available very soon in some capacity (keep an eye out for that).

Look out for more LGEKA courses in the future because at local/amateur level we don't get this level of coaching AT ALL and I can assure you it's well worth your time.