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Why do young long snappers see big improvements early on, and then hit a wall when they get to the college level?
When a player is just starting with long snapping, there’s a huge gap between not doing it at all and doing it with some consistency.
In this stage:
- Even imperfect mechanics will produce measurable improvement. You could be doing the most inefficient techniques and still see gains. There are a lot of bad cues out there that “work” but aren’t the best thing to do. Athletes chase comfort rather than what is the most technically sound.
- You’ll see big jumps in accuracy, speed, and confidence just because you’re building the basic motor pattern.
- Errors don’t cost you as much in performance because you’re still developing ANY repeatable motion.
This is why new snappers often improve quickly while using poor technique. The nervous system is learning a new skill so even rough practice will build you to a point.
Once you’ve built a basic foundation, the gains from “just putting in reps” shrink. Now your body knows a pattern, so now what matters most is execution.
- Energy leaks matter. If your torso and hands aren’t sequencing correctly, your block isn’t hitting at the right time, you’ll waste energy that could be going into the ball.
- Small inefficiencies show up on tape. Unbalanced hands, lack of body control, poor posture don’t help you advance to the next level.
- Progress slows if you keep practicing inefficient movement. You might still see small improvements but not at the rate of when you first started.
In other words; early on, imperfect technique still gets the job done enough to look like progress. At higher levels, imperfection becomes the reason you stop improving.
If you start your snapping career with efficient techniques, you won’t have to relearn everything you’ve done for years to be able to get on the right track to see gains at the higher levels!
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