By Ian Ransom
MELBOURNE, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Once an amateur club soccer field on the outskirts of Melbourne, the Monbulk Recreational Reserve's stretch of artificial turf is now an unlikely nursery for Australian teenagers with dreams of making the National Football League.
Three days before the country stages its first regular-season NFL game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, dozens of teens assembled on a sunny Tuesday to practise punting an American football in a programme run by specialist academy
Prokick Australia.
The NFL set up its Australia and New Zealand academy on the Gold Coast in 2024 but Prokick has been training young athletes to become elite punters and place-kickers for nearly 20 years.
Despite notable success stories, it retains a decidedly DIY aesthetic under owner Nathan Chapman, a former Green Bay Packers signee. Chapman hand-painted the yard-lines on the pitch himself after the local soccer club left to train on a new field.
Prokick's students get changed in the open on concrete steps by one side of the reserve. The old changing rooms were pulled down because of a termite infestation, Chapman explains.
The American football helmets were bought second-hand for cheap and the shoulder pads worn by some of the players may or may not fit them properly.
"So when they get across (to the United States), they go, 'Oh, this is what actual pads that fit are like.' They get a bit of a surprise," Chapman told Reuters.
AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL
None of the students appear fazed by the no-frills setup as they go through their drills.
What is far more important to them is Prokick's record of securing scholarships at American universities via their football programmes. College football is the usual stepping stone to an NFL career.
A slew of Prokick-trained punters have made it to the big time.
Chapman can name six alumni who are punters on NFL teams this season, including New England Patriots' Mitch Wishnowsky and Seattle Seahawks' Michael Dickson.
The Aussie punters in the NFL tend to have a strong background playing Australian Rules football, a contact sport wildly popular in the country's southern states but rarely appreciated elsewhere.
Booting an oval-shaped ball long distances is a big part of Australia's indigenous game.
Chapman played over 70 games for professional Australian Rules teams but his dream of breaking into the NFL proved elusive despite a few pre-season appearances with the Packers.
His near-miss planted the seed for his academy.
"You can't just go over there and generally pick it up and think you're going to be good at it," said the 51-year-old.
"I could kick. It's the consistency and exposure to the scrimmage and the speed. It's understanding how to be calm, relaxed and consistent.
"I went straight to the NFL version. If you have a bad week, they'll cut you. I sort of had to learn that in real-time."
Prokick has about 100 students across the country training in several Australian states, and a broad network of contacts at U.S. college football programmes.
On Tuesday, the students used their phones to shoot video of each other kicking. The highlights are packaged and find their way to college coaches who may be looking to add someone new to their squads.
Along with the training, that level of access does not come cheap.
For students at the right age and motivated to make a tilt at U.S. college football, Prokick charges up to A$16,000 ($11,500) for an intensive 12-18-month training block.
Eighteen-year-old Prokick pupil Oscar Steward, a mad Chicago Bears fan, told Reuters he was hugely grateful to his parents for covering his fees on his mission to make it big in America.
"Like, even if I don't make it, I still get a good education out of it," said Steward, who has a ticket for the Rams-49ers game on Friday. "Once I get over there, I'll see how I go."
($1 = 1.3870 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by Ken Ferris)
