hodge_15
Senior List
Just wondering if anyone has any advice on how to improve your mark..arm muscles techniques or anything thank.
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Coaching Footy Marking Improvement
- Thread starter hodge_15
- Start date
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Also would like some tips. My hands are pretty small which doesn't help but surley something can help.
Something we had at our club (which sounds stupid) was a raised 'ball', fixed to the ceiling.
You used to stand under it, then jump vertically and grab on. Height could be adjusted to suit.
Repeat jumping built up the calves, and the pressure of holding built up the chest and arm muscles.
No idea if it worked better than any machine, but it was kind of fun - certainly better than the running drills.
The rebound mats are great too (like a mini trampoline thing) for developing 'soft' hands. Get the angle right and have two people kick into it for the other to catch the rebound.
You used to stand under it, then jump vertically and grab on. Height could be adjusted to suit.
Repeat jumping built up the calves, and the pressure of holding built up the chest and arm muscles.
No idea if it worked better than any machine, but it was kind of fun - certainly better than the running drills.
The rebound mats are great too (like a mini trampoline thing) for developing 'soft' hands. Get the angle right and have two people kick into it for the other to catch the rebound.
not sure how young you are, but what use to do was grab a mate, purchase a medicine ball start off small with 2kg, then move on to a 4kg in 2- 3 months. just practice throwing that and catching it. should improve your marking out in front as your inner shoulders will become stronger and your body get use to the impact of taking a mark of a football as they weight alot less than a medicine ball.
WesternFront
Team Captain
- Feb 22, 2009
- 363
- 0
- AFL Club
- West Coast
The key to being a good mark IMO is reading the flight of the ball.
Other things which help are;
Always practise marking out in front at training
Practise being fully extended/ marking at the highest point possible - What this does is if you can not mark the chances of a free kick being paid are alot higher
The other thing you can practise is to lead to better areas/ be smarter when leading - If you can be smarter on the lead quiten often you can get the 2-3 meters required to slip an opponent. It is not always about leading straight at a teammate, someone from who does this very well is Cameron Bruce - watch next time they play and you'll notice he uses his angles to get a spare metre or two and therefore marking uncontested.
Practise leading and marking at full pace, quite often at training we have tendency to ease of 10% which doesnt help come game time.
I practised using the same theory last year when i was struggling with my field kicking. And what i found out was i wasnt putting myself under pressure at training. Then i practised getting the ball 1,2 maybe 3 steps and kicking to a target. This helped lots as it simulated match like conditions closely.
Hope this helps mate.
Other things which help are;
Always practise marking out in front at training
Practise being fully extended/ marking at the highest point possible - What this does is if you can not mark the chances of a free kick being paid are alot higher
The other thing you can practise is to lead to better areas/ be smarter when leading - If you can be smarter on the lead quiten often you can get the 2-3 meters required to slip an opponent. It is not always about leading straight at a teammate, someone from who does this very well is Cameron Bruce - watch next time they play and you'll notice he uses his angles to get a spare metre or two and therefore marking uncontested.
Practise leading and marking at full pace, quite often at training we have tendency to ease of 10% which doesnt help come game time.
I practised using the same theory last year when i was struggling with my field kicking. And what i found out was i wasnt putting myself under pressure at training. Then i practised getting the ball 1,2 maybe 3 steps and kicking to a target. This helped lots as it simulated match like conditions closely.
Hope this helps mate.
Always try to keep your head behind the ball so your not reaching to the left or right. You'll wear the odd falcon on a wet day but it's a massive help. Also, get a mate to kick from 15 metres away and run hard straight at him hands out. Practice!!
- Feb 8, 2013
- 3,394
- 4,555
- AFL Club
- Adelaide
Similar to the ones above. Stand 1.5m to 2m from someone and get them to kick it at you. First soft then harder and harder. If can take a grab from point blank off the boot then you should be able to take one from any distance.
Yes. Learn how to juggle. Start with juggling two balls in one hand, then move onto juggling two balls in the other. Once you have mastered that, it is time to juggle 3 balls. Juggling 3 balls can actually be quite fun, once you master it there is a lot of variations. It enhances your co-ordination, your hand eye, reflexes, and timing. If you can juggle 3 balls simultaneously - then you should have no problems catching a football (which is usually a lot larger in size). Good luck.
