Photo: Snapped! by Becca Clark
Here are 5 tips to do a better kick full or kick double basket!
UNDERSTAND THAT THE KICK IS DIFFERENT
The kick in a kick full/double is slightly different from the type of kick you’d do while standing on the ground, because you no longer have a support leg while flying in the air.
How does the absence of a support leg change things?
It’ll be harder for you to lift your leg up in the kick since you’re unable to press the bottom leg down into a stable surface. When you do kicks on the ground, you naturally use the floor to help you get your kicking leg up higher and faster. Without the ground, you must rely more on your muscles, specifically the hip flexors, to lift your leg up as fast and high as possible. This means you need to have strong hips if you want to do a nice, sharp kick in your toss!
Also, even though your bottom leg isn’t acting as a supporting limb while in the air, that doesn’t mean you don’t need to do anything with it. You still need to give it the same amount of attention as your kicking leg. To be specific, your bottom leg can’t be relaxed – it needs to be fully squeezed and reaching downwards. As I’ve explained before, this reaching will create tension in your body, which makes everything better! Your toss will go higher, your kick will look nicer, you’ll have more control of the skill, your bases will be able to follow you more easily, you’ll be able to twist down easier, and more!
ALLOW YOUR HIP TO OPEN
You’re probably already naturally opening the hip of the bottom leg during your toss, but this is just a reminder in case you don’t do this! If you’re mid-kick and the knee of your bottom leg is facing the exact same direction as the knee of your kicking leg, your hips are probably not open. Although square hips like that are encouraged when doing things like splits, it’s not really needed in a kick full/double.
Allowing your hips to open a bit (i.e. allowing your bottom leg to turn outwards slightly) will give you the ability to kick higher more easily and will create a smoother transition between the kick and the twist down.
MASTER THE SLIGHTLY HOLLOW POSITION
The twisting portion of a kick full/double requires slight hollowing of the body. It’s helpful to master the position by conditioning it on the floor for a long time before using it in the air.
If you’re arched, you definitely will not twist easily. The same goes for if you’re too hollow, like a banana. The right body position will include very slight rounding of the shoulders, a neutral or slightly tucked in head, a super tight core and no piking of the hips. If you can get the hang of this mid-toss, you’ll spin a lot easier and quicker!
DON’T COMPLETELY STRAIGHTEN OUT AFTER THE KICK
Similar to what I just mentioned above about the hollow position, you need to be mindful of the transition between the kick and the twist. If you snap out of the kick too quickly, you may go beyond the hollow body position.
You don’t want to fully straighten yourself out after kicking and rush into the descent because you’ll miss the key connection point! Try to make the transition from kick to hollow as smooth as possible by (relatively) slowly opening yourself up into the hollow position. The transition from full kick to feet together again should take roughly 1/2 a twist, as seen in the video. This may depend on how high the toss is/how much time you have.
KEEP YOUR HEAD IN
Also as mentioned earlier, a correct body position for the twist will involve a neutral or slightly tucked in head. The mistake mentioned in the last point (snapping out of the kick to rush into the twist) is often paired with sticking the head out.
If you stick your head out to look in a specific direction or because you feel you need to lead the twist with your head – stop!! You’re actually slowing down the twist and making things less predicable from your bases’ point of view.
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