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All contents Copyright © 1999, George Jakowenko.
 

Punting Glossary

Ball Address:  the act of standing in the ready position prior to the snap of the ball from the center.

Center:  the most important man on the punting unit. He snaps the ball back to the punter. 

Coffin Corner:  punting the ball to the sidelines.  Generally done when the punt can be made to land inside the opponents 20 yard-line. 

Contact point-ball:  the area on the ball that the foot must hit.

Contact point-foot:  the area on the  punting foot that must hit the ball.

Hang time:  the time from the moment the ball is struck by the foot to when it is caught or hits the ground.  Anything above 3.5 seconds for high school is good.

Punt time:  time it takes from the moment the center snaps the ball to when it is  punted.  Usually expected to be around 2.3 seconds.  

Mental Routine:  Things to think about during a game or prior to punting the ball.

Panel:  one of 4 smooth surfaces on each football.  Try not to punt a panel, as it reduces the distance of the punt.

Planting Foot:  the non-punting foot.  

Seam:  one of 3 on a football.  This is the best part of the ball to  punt.

Spiral:  the rotation of the ball where neither the front of back points of the ball wobble in flight. 

Stride:  the distance between each step.  Must be normal length.

Stride Length:  the distance between the toe of foot and the heel of the other.

Sweet spot:  the best part of the ball to punt.  It produces the most distance when hit.  Found about 1-½ inches from the center of the ball.  

Thunk:  the sound heard when the correct part of the foot makes contact with the sweet spot. 

Turnover:  The action of the ball during a punt.  The ball travels in an upward spiral in to the air, then at the peak of the punt, the leading point of the ball starts to head back to the ground.  Picture an arrow or a javelin in flight. The front part of the arrow (lead point of the ball) starts with the point up, and then as the arrow (ball) it reaches its peak, the arrow tip (lead point of the ball) heads back towards the ground.  

Visualization:  Picture yourself performing the punt.  Picture the perfect form you have used.  The goal is to “see” what you are supposed to do and then the mind will tell the muscles to perform the same moves.