Aussie Rules is an amazing way to keep fit in a social environment. Joining your local club is honestly one of the best things you will do for your health and social life, with a challenging, fast-paced game played with friends who also love the sport.
If you’re an Aussie Rules beginner, you will seriously benefit from these beginner training drills.
So, grab your Richmond, St Kilda or Collingwood AFL merchandise (or any team for that matter!) and get out onto the field for these beginner training drills:
Warm up: free kicks
It doesn’t matter how long you’ve played the game – warming up with free kicks around the field is essential.
Here are some tips to perfect your free kick:
- Know where your body is and where the ball is. Notice how each stage of your kick is practised including grip, ball drop, kick and follow through.
- Focus on your kicking form – you want to build muscle memory for game day, so be sure to be aware of your technique and whether it is sloppy or not.
- Try drop-punting with your non-preferred kicking foot as well. You never know when you might need it, so it is good to learn in a non-match environment.
- Once you have got your technique down you can then move onto kicking at goal and kicking in match-like situations.
Accuracy: the “floodlight roost”
All you have to do for this classic training drill is to take a ball towards one of the numerous floodlights you will most likely find on your local club’s ground. Next, practise kicking the ball high and accurately towards the floodlights, attempting to mark the ball each time it rebounds towards you and chasing it down if you miss, thus working your pace in the meantime.
Tips for the drill:
- Like the rubbish bin drill, you should start at a comfortable, close distance before moving further away as you begin to master the drill from that distance. You will find yourself becoming more accurate the more you practise from each distance, though don’t be deterred if you find yourself chasing after the ball the more distance you take on – this is all part of building your on-field stamina!
- For newcomers to the game, remember that the (AFL) Australian Football posts are not actually aimed for in a match – you need to kick them in the middle of the large posts for the highest score!
Kicking for distance: “Taking Out The Trash”
This is a great drill for learning how to kick over distance with great accuracy. This can be easily done at club training as it can include having a few footies available to do the drill.
All you have to do is place a cone to mark the kicking zone. Next, place an empty rubbish bin around 10 metres from the cone.
You can then start trying to kick the ball into the bin, giving yourself one point for hitting the bin and two points for getting the ball in the bin.
Once you have nailed the 10 metre distance you can commence moving the marker back to 20 metres, 30 metres and beyond, improving your accuracy over distance as you go.
Tips for the drill
- AFL players always face their toes in the direction they want the ball to go – do the same with this drill!
- Try different kicking styles like bananas and snaps to better replicate game day kicking techniques that may be required to score or find a teammate.