What it's like being a foreign player in the NSFL.
By Stephen Harris.
Though the NSFL is a new league it has already seen a large influx of foreign born players such as myself.
My path to the NSFL wasn't a typical one, in fact I had no plans on playing professional football until recently as my interest in the game was only a passing one.
When I first started at Notre Dame it was on a rugby scholarship. I was the first choice full back at the college and also the designated penalty kicker and I had one of the biggest boots in the NCAA. See below.
The football team had actually been having a major injury crisis with the first and second choice kickers injured as well as the punter. The team actually held open trials to find someone to fill in, well they were going to but the special teams coach actually walked past me practicing my kicking and offered me the job on the spot.
It actually took a bit of learning to get the motion of punting together as it is actually completely different to kicking a rugby ball. I'll break it down step by step for you.
1. In rugby a punt is usually taken on the run whilst in football it's taken after a step or two.
2. In rugby you drop the ball tilted on the axis to kick the ball on the side whereas in football it's dropped on to the foot to kick it length wise.
3. This means it's actually a completely kicking motion in use in rugby more like the motion when taking a field goal or kickoff.
4. Another big difference is the pressure that's on you when kicking (physically not mentally) in rugby you have a bit more time to think about things as there's not an offensive line to block punts, though it does happen although it's incredibly rare.
One thing that came naturally to me was the kicking of the field goals or extra points the only major differences are the use of the holder instead of a kicking tee and the fact that the opposition aren't as far away to block a kick.
One thing that I also bring to the game is the drop kick a lot of people forget about this rule but in football a dropping the ball on the ground and kicking it on the bounce up is a legitimate way to score in football and is a pretty common occurrence in rugby. I can't way to see the confusion on people's faces when I do it.
Coming up to the draft there was quite a bit of media focus on me. I wish it had been about my kicking and punting abilities which kind of annoyed me but instead it was about the fact that I was a foreign player and like so many before me I was a kicker. It seemed almost every time i saw my name in the media it was about my nationality and sports journalists trying to theorise why foreign players are mostly special teams players.
The fact is we aren't all kickers look at Tiernan and O'Connell two foreign running backs who will tear up the league. Though the reason a lot of us are is purely cultural, in the US it's rare for someone to want to be the kicker or punter most kids want to be the quarterback, the running back or the wide receiver, whereas in Europe the continent is obsessed with association football so every young child kicks a ball from a young age. If you grow up playing rugby you muck around in training kicking the ball to one another or over the posts and if you are Australian you have probably experienced Aussie Rules making you experienced in punting. Basically what I'm saying is in the US everything is throwing and catching orientated whereas in the rest of the world you grow up kicking things.
When it comes to being a foreign kicker in the NSFL there's a number of expectations that the fans have of you, both home and away. Fans have the expectation that I should be able to function better than the others teams guy in adverse weather conditions, I think this would be a fair assumption and I'm not afraid to toot my own horn here in rain and cold I have the advantage and they expect me to be able to kick it further than the other guy as I probably grew up playing soccer, I did and I can. On the other side of the coin there expectation that I'd duck out a tackle, that might just be a kicker stereotype though, balls to that thought though I love getting to lay the hit on a guy though I'm more used to wrapping the guy in a tackle than smashing him down though I'm having a lot of fun learning, that's the advantage I give a team coming from a rugby back ground plus if worst comes to worst I can take a hit and get up from it as well. There is also the added stereotype that I don't know how to throw a football a far distance, I have to give them this my throwing is rubbish but hey who needs to throw when I can run, I think I'm the fastest kicker in the league and I'll race anyone who wishes to challenge me.
Actual footage of me throwing.
All in all I think the foreign presence in the NSFL is just going to continue to grow and I hope that I can be a good influence and inspiration for any foreign kickers looking to make it in to the league, showing that we bring a lot to the table and can offer so much to a team.
By Stephen Harris.
Though the NSFL is a new league it has already seen a large influx of foreign born players such as myself.
My path to the NSFL wasn't a typical one, in fact I had no plans on playing professional football until recently as my interest in the game was only a passing one.
When I first started at Notre Dame it was on a rugby scholarship. I was the first choice full back at the college and also the designated penalty kicker and I had one of the biggest boots in the NCAA. See below.
The football team had actually been having a major injury crisis with the first and second choice kickers injured as well as the punter. The team actually held open trials to find someone to fill in, well they were going to but the special teams coach actually walked past me practicing my kicking and offered me the job on the spot.
It actually took a bit of learning to get the motion of punting together as it is actually completely different to kicking a rugby ball. I'll break it down step by step for you.
1. In rugby a punt is usually taken on the run whilst in football it's taken after a step or two.
2. In rugby you drop the ball tilted on the axis to kick the ball on the side whereas in football it's dropped on to the foot to kick it length wise.
3. This means it's actually a completely kicking motion in use in rugby more like the motion when taking a field goal or kickoff.
4. Another big difference is the pressure that's on you when kicking (physically not mentally) in rugby you have a bit more time to think about things as there's not an offensive line to block punts, though it does happen although it's incredibly rare.
One thing that came naturally to me was the kicking of the field goals or extra points the only major differences are the use of the holder instead of a kicking tee and the fact that the opposition aren't as far away to block a kick.
One thing that I also bring to the game is the drop kick a lot of people forget about this rule but in football a dropping the ball on the ground and kicking it on the bounce up is a legitimate way to score in football and is a pretty common occurrence in rugby. I can't way to see the confusion on people's faces when I do it.
Coming up to the draft there was quite a bit of media focus on me. I wish it had been about my kicking and punting abilities which kind of annoyed me but instead it was about the fact that I was a foreign player and like so many before me I was a kicker. It seemed almost every time i saw my name in the media it was about my nationality and sports journalists trying to theorise why foreign players are mostly special teams players.
The fact is we aren't all kickers look at Tiernan and O'Connell two foreign running backs who will tear up the league. Though the reason a lot of us are is purely cultural, in the US it's rare for someone to want to be the kicker or punter most kids want to be the quarterback, the running back or the wide receiver, whereas in Europe the continent is obsessed with association football so every young child kicks a ball from a young age. If you grow up playing rugby you muck around in training kicking the ball to one another or over the posts and if you are Australian you have probably experienced Aussie Rules making you experienced in punting. Basically what I'm saying is in the US everything is throwing and catching orientated whereas in the rest of the world you grow up kicking things.
When it comes to being a foreign kicker in the NSFL there's a number of expectations that the fans have of you, both home and away. Fans have the expectation that I should be able to function better than the others teams guy in adverse weather conditions, I think this would be a fair assumption and I'm not afraid to toot my own horn here in rain and cold I have the advantage and they expect me to be able to kick it further than the other guy as I probably grew up playing soccer, I did and I can. On the other side of the coin there expectation that I'd duck out a tackle, that might just be a kicker stereotype though, balls to that thought though I love getting to lay the hit on a guy though I'm more used to wrapping the guy in a tackle than smashing him down though I'm having a lot of fun learning, that's the advantage I give a team coming from a rugby back ground plus if worst comes to worst I can take a hit and get up from it as well. There is also the added stereotype that I don't know how to throw a football a far distance, I have to give them this my throwing is rubbish but hey who needs to throw when I can run, I think I'm the fastest kicker in the league and I'll race anyone who wishes to challenge me.
Actual footage of me throwing.
All in all I think the foreign presence in the NSFL is just going to continue to grow and I hope that I can be a good influence and inspiration for any foreign kickers looking to make it in to the league, showing that we bring a lot to the table and can offer so much to a team.
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