Kicking Nets: Do You Need One, Which Type, and the Drills That Use It

A net will not make you a kicker. It will make you a kicker who got four hundred extra swings in January, and that difference decides seasons. The honest question about kicking nets is not “should I own one?” It is “what can a net teach me, what can it not, and what session do I run when I have one?” Answer those three and the net becomes the cheapest tool in your bag. Skip the answers and it becomes a garage ornament by March.

Standard honesty: some links in here are affiliate links. If you click and buy, I earn a small commission at no added cost to you, and it funds the free content on this site. I do not point anyone at gear I would not use myself.

What a Net Is Actually Good For

• Contact reps without ball-chasing. The time you save chasing balls is the whole point — it turns a twenty-minute session into sixty touches instead of fifteen.
• Swing path and footwork. The net does not care about distance, which is exactly right for working on steps, plant placement, and swing plane.
• Warming up before real work. Ten minutes in the net before you drive to the field means your first ten field kicks on grass are productive instead of rusty.
• Quiet consistency in bad weather. Rain, snow, homework season — a net in the garage keeps the streak alive.

What a Net Cannot Do (Read This Twice)

A net gives you no operation, no distance feedback, and no aim. There is no snap, no hold, no rush, no crowd, and no wind. Worse, it can quietly reinforce bad contact, because without a ball flying to a target, a slightly-off strike feels fine and gets repeated four hundred times. The fix is structure: every net session needs a feedback system — a target on the net, a phone behind you, or a drill with a pass/fail test. Unmeasured net reps are just cardio for your leg.

The Three Net Types, Compared

Product	Why it matters	Link
Pop-up round net	Cheapest and fastest to set up; fine for contact work and small spaces, wears faster	pop-up kicking net
Square frame net	Bigger catching area and a flatter face — better for target work and high-volume use	square frame kicking net
Net with target sheet	Built-in aim zones turn solo reps into accuracy reps	kicking net with target

One practical note: whichever type you buy, kick from short range. Nets are not designed to absorb full-distance rockets at point-blank distance, and the ones that survive are the ones used at two-step distance. If you want a long-form review before buying, the kicking net breakdown covers the details.

A 20-Minute Backyard Session That Actually Works

1. Minutes 0-4: footwork, no ball. Approach steps to your mark, plant and swing shape, ten slow reps, ten at speed. The net is your finish line, not a target yet.
2. Minutes 4-10: two-step contact blocks. 25-30 kicks off a low tee or a partner-held ball at contact height. Everything is about the sound and the strike, not the flight.
3. Minutes 10-15: video check. Phone on a tripod behind you at about five yards. Watch two kicks between every block of ten. You are looking for contact point on the ball and body lean, and the video shows both.
4. Minutes 15-19: target game. If your net has zones, score them: make it a game with consequences — ten push-ups per miss. Pressure lives even in a garage.
5. Minute 19-20: log it. Date, kicks, what you felt, what you are fixing next session. This is what separates a practice plan from ball-hitting.

Balance that with real field work. My rule of thumb: the net owns contact and footwork days; the field owns chart days, distance work, and anything involving a holder. A net-only kicker develops a net swing — smooth on Tuesday, fragile on Friday night under a live snap.

Three Net Drills Worth Owning

1. The stripe game: pick the laces or a stripe on the ball and strike it clean ten kicks in a row. Contact point, trained by feel and sound instead of flight.
2. Balance hold: kick and hold the follow-through for two full seconds before you step through. The net makes this easy because the ball stays put and your body is the only thing moving.
3. Weak-foot minutes: the one place a net truly shines is left-foot work — low stakes, high reps, no field required, and it doubles your roster value later.

One more use people forget: punting. A net is the only place most high school punters can get real drop-and-contact volume without a field, and the feedback — spiral or wobble — is instant. If your punting is behind your kicking, the net is where you fix it.

The Sound Test

When you get good at listening, a net session gets its feedback back. Clean contact — the bone-on-ball thud — sounds different from a toe miss or a sideways strike, and the difference is obvious once you start listening for it. Video from behind plus sound from the side is honestly most of what you need to self-coach a contact problem. Pair it with the wall-and-tee drills from small-space kicking drills and your garage becomes a legitimate training room.

If you are building a full offseason around limited field time, put the net into a real structure with the 12-week offseason plan, and pull more drill ideas from the drills library. Buy the net, run the session, keep the chart — that is how a piece of nylon turns into field goals.