How to teach kicking from scratch
Kicking from hand arrives at U11 and it'll take up your September. Almost all of it comes down to one thing nobody watches: how the ball leaves the hands. Get that right and the rest follows in a fortnight.
Free to read with no account. It works at a pitch with no signal too.
What U11 lets them do
More than you'd expect and less than they'd like. Kicking from hand is allowed anywhere on the pitch, so a squad that's never kicked before is suddenly allowed to do it in a match.
- Kicking from hand, anywhere. Restarts are drop kicks that have to travel 7 metres
- No conversions, no drop goals, no box kicks. So there's no place kicking to teach at all
- No fly hacking. Kicking a loose ball along the ground is still out
- A mark can be called anywhere. From an open play kick, though not from a restart or a free kick
- Knocking on a kick you're trying to catch isn't a knock on. At U11 only, so that they have a go rather than letting it bounce
The drop is the whole skill
A punt is a drop with a leg swing after it. Nine times out of ten a bad kick is a bad drop, so spend three sessions on the drop alone and don't let anybody kick for distance until it's consistent.
- Two hands on the ball, kicking-side hand underneath. The other hand steadies the middle
- Ball upright, pointing slightly forwards. Held out in front, about waist high
- Drop it, never throw it. The hands go down with the ball rather than letting go of it
- Drop in line with the kicking leg. Not across the body, not out to the side
- Eyes on the ball until the foot has hit it. Heads come up early. Every time
Practise it with no kick at all first. Hold, drop, catch it on the laces with the foot still. If the ball lands flat on the instep with the toes pointed, the kick is already most of the way there.
- Punt to your partner, 8 minutes
The order to teach it in
One: drop and catch, no kick
Standing still, drop the ball onto a still foot and catch it. Twenty of those a side. It's dull and it's the reason the rest works.
Two: short punts to a partner
Five metres apart, half a leg swing, aiming to put it in their hands rather than over their head. Accuracy first. A child who can drop a ball on a team-mate from ten metres is more use than one who can boot it thirty into nobody.
Three: a few steps and a target
Two or three walking steps in, shoulders square, then kick to a cone or a coach standing still. Distance comes from the strike being clean rather than from swinging harder, which is worth saying out loud because they won't believe you.
Four: catching it, which is the other half
Somebody has to take the ball at the other end. Hands up early, eyes on it, turn side on so the shoulder goes towards the chasers, call for it so a team-mate doesn't run into you.
- Take the high ball, 10 minutes
Five: the other two kicks
The grubber along the ground and the drop kick for a restart are separate skills and they come after the punt. A drop kick is the fiddliest thing on this page, so give it to whoever fancies it and let them practise it while everybody else warms up.
- Grubber into the space, 9 minutes
- Kick off and chase, 10 minutes
What to say
- Drop it, don't throw it
- Hands travel down with the ball
- Toes pointed like a ballet dancer
- Head down until it's gone
- Aim at somebody, not at the sky
- Chase your own kick
What going wrong looks like
| What you see | What to say |
|---|---|
| The ball tossed up before the kick | Drop it from your hands. Stay with it on the way down |
| It comes off the side of the foot | Drop it in line with the leg you're kicking with |
| Head lifting at the last moment | Watch your foot hit it |
| Enormous swing, terrible contact | Half the swing, twice the accuracy |
| Kicking straight to the other team | Who are you kicking to? Find the space first |
| Nobody chasing | The kicker goes first. Everybody follows |
When to kick is harder than how
A squad that's just learned to kick will kick everything, including good possession on the opposition's 22. That's the September problem and it doesn't get solved by technique.
- Kick to space, not to a player. Behind a defence that's rushed up, into a corner, never down somebody's throat
- Somebody has to chase it. An unchased kick is a present
- Running is usually better at this age. Space is everywhere at U11 and a kick gives the ball away
- Ask the question in the drill. Give them a defence that's sometimes up and sometimes back, then let them choose
- Kick it or run it, 11 minutes
- Counter from the catch, 11 minutes
How it changes as they go up
| Grade | What's new | What to work on |
|---|---|---|
| U7 to U10 | No kicking of any kind | Nothing. It isn't allowed and it isn't missed |
| U11 | Kicking from hand anywhere, drop kick restarts | The drop, short accurate punts, catching a high ball |
| U12 | Kicking stays as it was | Choosing between the kick and the run, counter attacking |
Common questions
They can barely kick it five metres. Is that normal?
Completely. An eleven year old hasn't the leg length or the strength for distance and chasing it makes the technique worse rather than better. Keep the targets close, keep the swing short and the distance turns up on its own in a year or two.
Should everyone learn to kick or just the fly half?
Everyone. Positions aren't fixed at minis and a squad with one kicker has no kicker the week they're away. It's also one of the few skills a child can practise on their own in the garden, which makes it worth giving to the whole squad.
Why are there no conversions at this age?
Regulation 15 leaves them out, so there's no place kicking in the minis game at all. A try is a try and the game restarts with a drop kick, which keeps everybody moving instead of standing about watching one child and a kicking tee.
What's the difference between a punt and a drop kick?
A punt is struck straight off the hands before it lands. A drop kick has to bounce first, which is why it's harder and why restarts take longer to teach than anything else in this section.
The rules on this page are Regulation 15 and they are the RFU's. How to teach it is ours, written from the RFU's age grade coaching material and World Rugby's Tackle Ready, then tried at training. A club coach who has done this for ten years will have a better order than ours for some of it. Take theirs.
Read against the RFU's 2026/27 appendices in August 2026.
The RFU's own U11 rules of play · Their contact training guidance · Headcase, on concussion
The drills that go with it
What U11 is allowed to do is the rules side of this, which is where every number on this page comes from.