Young kickers receive expert tuition

(stock photo)

December 07 2018 02:30 AM

Forty up-and-coming kickers from Connacht came together in Tuam last Wednesday to learn from the very best at the first of this year's ProZone series.

'ProZone: Kicking' saw current pros Jack Carty and David Horwitz, academy player Conor Fitzgerald and academy manager Eric Elwood teach their skills to the 13-20-year-olds who attended, all under the watchful eye of Connacht club coaches who were also invited.

Attendees were grouped into three pods.

One group of 20 observed a goal-kicking demonstration from Eric and Jack, while David and Conor each took a group of 10 players and worked on their grubber kicks/spirals and restarts respectively.

Following the workshop, Eric and Jack then held a Q&A with attendees on the mental aspects of being a professional kicker.

This was the first of a number of planned ProZone events for this season, with further workshops on the back three, scrum-half and hooker positions all in the pipeline.

Keep an eye on connachtrugby.ie/community for further details.