Disclosure: this post includes affiliate links, including Amazon links. If you buy through them, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you — it helps keep Kickers of Earth running. I only recommend resources I’d hand to a teammate.
You can’t drill what you can’t name. Every plateau I’ve ever seen a kicker hit — accuracy, height, nerves, whatever — eventually traces back to missing knowledge, not missing effort. Kickers grind reps on a fault they can’t describe. The fix is usually a resource: a book, a framework, a film habit. This is the shelf I’d build for a kicker starting from zero, ranked by how fast each item pays for itself. Free stuff first where it’s good, paid where it’s worth it, no filler.
Start Free: The Video Library
Before you spend a dollar, use what’s already on your phone. My YouTube channel is a working library of form reviews, drill breakdowns, and game-film reactions, and every video is aimed at one question: what does good look like from the sidelines of a real kick? Watching a pro kick in slow motion, then watching your own kick in slow motion, is the single cheapest coaching session in existence. Start with the form reviews, then compare them against your own film, then bring me your questions.
The Core Book: The Art of Kicking
I wrote The Art of Kicking because kickers kept asking for the whole system in one place — technique, drills, film study, and the mental game, organized the way a season actually flows instead of scattered across fifty videos. It’s the resource I wish I’d had at fifteen, and I’m not shy about saying it’s the best starting point on this list. The Gumroad version is the ebook, and the code KOE takes ten percent off.
If you want the paperback on your shelf instead, the printed edition lives here: The Art of Kicking on Amazon. Same material, different medium — some kickers train with a tablet in the bag, some want a book on the nightstand. Both are fine. Reading it matters more than the format.
I put together a full walkthrough of what’s inside and who it’s for in my post on the best book for field goal kickers and punters, so read that if you want the table of contents before you buy.
The Mental Game Shelf
Kicking is the most psychological job on the field, and the mental side of kicking is where most specialists lose games they were physically ready to win. These are the classics I’d hand any kicker. I link to searches rather than one edition, since printings change:
| Resource | What it teaches | Where to get it |
|---|---|---|
| The Art of Kicking (mine) | The full kicking system: mechanics, drills, film, mindset | Gumroad ebook / Amazon paperback |
| Classic mental-game books | Focus, pressure, and trust — the psychology behind a repeatable swing | search Amazon |
| Athlete mindset and habits | Routines, self-talk, and process thinking for competitive athletes | search Amazon |
| A blank notebook | Your own kick log — the cheapest, most underused training tool in this sport | search Amazon |
That notebook row isn’t a joke. Charting makes, misses, conditions, and what you felt builds the evidence that real confidence comes from — my post on the mindset for kicking field goals explains why the mental game responds to evidence, not affirmations.
How to Actually Use a Resource
Buying a book does nothing. Here’s the reading method that works for athletes, because you’re not reading a novel — you’re loading a playbook:
- Read a chapter, take it to the field within 48 hours. One idea, one practice. Resources only transfer through reps.
- Write one line per session. Not highlights. One sentence: what you tested, what changed.
- Re-read the same book next offseason. Kicking books read differently at different levels — the chapter that seemed obvious at 14 is the one that unlocks you at 17.
That third point is why I don’t chase novelty. A good kicking resource isn’t a dopamine hit; it’s a reference you grow into.
Free Doesn’t Mean Worthless, Paid Doesn’t Mean Good
One honest caution as you build your library. Free content — including mine — is scattered by design: videos answer questions, but they don’t hand you an order of operations. Paid resources earn their price by giving you a sequence. Judge any resource the same way: does it tell you what to do first, second, and third? A resource with no order is entertainment. A resource with an order is training.
Where to Go Next
Resources tell you what to fix; a coach tells you what you can’t see. When you’re ready for that second set of eyes — on film, on your swing, on your season plan — start with my guide to whether a kicking coach is right for you. And if you’d rather browse the wider reading list first, my post on the best books for kickers stacks more titles onto this one, each with a note on which kicker it’s for.
My honest ranking, for what it’s worth: start with the video library, because seeing beats reading; then grab the ebook for the system, with KOE for your discount; then add the mental game books as the season exposes which mental leak you actually have. Build the shelf in that order and every resource will be pulling in the same direction instead of competing for your attention.
