Struggling kicker gets peer support
These men walked where Rene Paredes is walking.
Not footstep for footstep, of course.
Larry Robinson’s approach, as an old-school straight-ahead kicker, was from simply two steps back. And J.T. Hay could eyeball his sidewinding lead-up without needing to actually pace it off.
Mark McLoughlin, meanwhile, would go back three strides, then a half-stride forward, then shift leftward.
But, nuance aside, they’re well familiar with the territory that comes with being the kicker of the Calgary Stampeders. Toted up, the trio represents 40 years in red — and a staggering 5,260 points. So they know the deal. Uprights split, backs get slapped.
Attempts adrift, fingers get pointed.
And here is Paredes — three steps back and two to the left, by the way — and his hiccupy start. Not only by his lofty standards, but by anyone’s.
The bootsmiths of old are hardly panicking, though.
“I know (coach Dave Dickenson) is behind Rene and everyone else should be, because he’s certainly proven his capability,” says McLoughlin. “I don’t see any issue or reason for concern.”
Hay, pointing to the clutch 42-yard field goal in overtime at Ottawa, agrees.
“I think he’s on his way,” he says. “The only advice is what I’d tell any kicker — keep your head down and follow through. Kick every kick the same, whether it’s a 10-yard field goal or a 32-yard convert or a 50-yard field goal. Make sure you keep your mechanics the same.
“Rene, even if he’s struggled a little bit, he’s always been able to make that big one.”
It’s the little ones, so far, that are eluding Paredes.
He’s missed five converts. At least one every game.
No one else in the Canadian Football League has blown more than one. The league success rate last year was 85.5 per cent. Paredes, at six-for-11, is hitting barely half.
In two rock-steady seasons — 2012 and 2013 — he botched only three field goal attempts each year.
Four games in? Four miscues already.
“I’m not worried about him,” says Robinson. “He’s a pretty good kicker. It looks like he’s hooking the ball a little bit. To me, his foot’s coming across it too much instead of straight through it — but that’s just from watching on TV and watching from up in the stands.”
Paredes, no doubt, is feeling the heat.
Scrutiny was no less intense back in the day. Nor was coping.
“You have to be mentally tough,” says Hay. “I don’t think that aspect has changed, whether it’s 30, 40, 50 years ago — or today. For any position, it’s the same thing. To play at that level, you have to have that mentality, that thick skin.”
Robinson had been too busy to be beaten down by expectation.
During his stellar career (196174), the Calgary native kicked and handled defensive back duties. Time was so tight that he’d wear his square-toed specialty shoe the entire game.
He carried a string around his waist at all times so he could quickly cinch up the toe of his kicking boot.
“I wasn’t standing on the sidelines, I was running around,” he says. “I didn’t have a lot of time to think about the kicking.”
Yet Robinson wasn’t immune to cold snaps. Nobody is.
The trick is escaping those slumps. For Robinson, that usually meant extra work.
“You’ve just got to talk nice to the centre and the holder and stay out after practice until you get it back,” he says, laughing. “I would say (to Paredes), ‘Don’t worry about the long ones.’ Just stay inside the 40 and hit it smooth and easy. Maybe you just sit him down at that 32-yard (convert distance) and let him kick till his foot falls off — that would straighten everything out.”
Hay, interestingly, preaches the value of a lighter load.
“Sometimes, you’re best to take a couple days off from kicking. Get your leg fresh again,” he says.
Then again, experts abound. (As McLoughlin puts it: “Everybody has an answer, right? Everybody’s got a pointer. Just like golf.”)
Besides, Paredes, 31, is no newbie. He owns the CFL record for consecutive three-pointers, making 39 straight. Three times, he’s been named a league all-star, including last year.
McLoughlin, when in a rut, liked to watch video of himself from bountiful times.
“You’re in that rhythm where you want to be on the field a lot,” says McLoughlin.
“You feel lighter, if that makes any sense. You feel stronger. You’re seeing the ball that much more clearly. You’ve got a better feel for it coming off your foot.” He pauses. “But that can switch pretty quick, too. Then it’s, ‘How quickly can you get yourself back into that zone?’ ”