Football Kicking Tee: The Complete Guide for Kickers, Parents & Coaches

Here is the short version: most kickers need a 1-inch tee if they play college or pro football, and a 2-inch tee if they play high school football. Youth leagues usually allow 2 inches or taller. Buy a solid rubber tee, check your league’s rule book before your first game, and practise with the exact same tee you will use on Friday night.

That one paragraph answers what most people came here for. But if you want to know why those heights exist, which tee fits your situation, and how to actually train with it, keep reading. This guide walks through all of it.

Choosing a kicking tee sounds simple until you start looking. One store lists a dozen models. Some are orange, some are black. Some say “kickoff,” others say “placement” or “field goal.” Prices swing wildly. And nobody explains which one you need.

By the end of this guide you will know exactly which tee to buy, why it works, how to set it up, how to practise with it, and the mistakes that quietly hold most kickers back.

What a Kicking Tee Actually Does

A kicking tee is a small rubber or plastic stand that holds a football upright and slightly off the ground. That’s it. No moving parts, no technology. But that small lift changes almost everything about your kick.

When a football sits flat on grass, the bottom of the ball is buried in turf. To get under it, you have to dig your foot into the ground. That is inconsistent and rough on your foot. A tee lifts the ball so your foot meets clean air underneath it.

Three things happen when you use a tee:

• You get a cleaner strike. Your foot contacts the sweet spot instead of scraping dirt. The ball comes off truer.
• You get more height. Lifting the ball gives you a better launch angle, which helps the ball clear the line and the crossbar.
• You get repeatability. The ball sits in the same position every single time. Grass never does that.

That third point is the one people underestimate. Improvement comes from repeating the same motion until it becomes automatic. If the ball’s position changes on every rep, you are not really repeating anything — you are improvising. A tee removes that variable so the only thing changing is you.

A tee doesn’t make you a better kicker. It makes your practice consistent enough that you can become one.

Who uses a tee, and when

Tees are used for kickoffs at nearly every level of football. For field goals and extra points, it depends on the level. In high school football, a tee is generally permitted for place kicks. In college and the NFL, field goals are held by a holder rather than placed on a tee, so tees there are mostly for kickoffs and practice.

For practice, everyone uses a tee — including pro kickers. It lets you get through far more quality reps than working with a holder.

Why Tee Height Matters So Much

Height is the single most important spec on a kicking tee, and it is where most buyers go wrong. Get it wrong and you may show up to a game with equipment your officials will not allow.

The two standard heights are 1 inch and 2 inches. Here is what that difference actually does.

The 1-inch tee

A 1-inch tee is the standard at the college and professional level. It gives you just enough lift to clear the turf without changing the ball’s position much. Because the ball sits low, the kick comes off flatter and travels more directly. You get less natural height, so the height has to come from your technique.

This is a more demanding tee. It rewards clean contact and punishes sloppy contact. If you are a developing kicker, it will expose the flaws in your strike — which is useful, but sometimes discouraging.

The 2-inch tee

A 2-inch tee is the common standard for high school football. That extra inch does more than you would think. It gives you a bigger margin for error underneath the ball, so slightly low contact still produces a decent kick. It also naturally raises your launch angle, which helps young kickers get the ball over the line.

The trade-off is that you can become dependent on it. Kickers who spend years on a 2-inch tee sometimes struggle when they move to college and drop to 1 inch, because their technique was quietly relying on the extra lift.

Not sure which height fits your age, style and field conditions? Our Tee Height Calculator walks you through it in about thirty seconds.

The Main Types of Kicking Tees

Once you have height sorted, the next question is type. There are four you will actually run into.

1. Kickoff tees

Built for one job: launching the ball as far and as high as possible. They tend to be taller, heavier, and shaped to cradle the ball at a slight backward tilt. That tilt is deliberate — it helps you get under the ball for maximum lift and hangtime. Champion Sports’ Ground Zero tee is a well-known example used at the pro level.

2. Field goal / placement tees

Lower and flatter than kickoff tees. They hold the ball more upright because a field goal is about accuracy and a fast, low trajectory that clears the rush. Usually 1 or 2 inches.

3. Adjustable tees

These let you change the height, usually by removing or adding a section. Handy if you are training across levels, coaching a group of mixed ages, or unsure which height you need. The trade-off is more parts, which means more things to lose or wear out.

4. Youth tees

Taller, wider, and softer. Designed for smaller footballs and developing kickers who need every bit of help getting the ball airborne. Confidence builders more than precision tools.

Rubber vs plastic

Most serious tees are heavy rubber, and for good reason. Rubber grips the turf so the tee stays put in wind. It stays flexible in cold weather instead of going brittle. And it survives being kicked, stepped on, and thrown in a bag for years.

Hard plastic tees are usually cheaper and lighter. They are fine for casual backyard use, but they slide more, crack in cold, and can split when struck. If you are kicking regularly, buy rubber.

Tee Rules by League

This is where people get caught out. Here is the general landscape — but treat it as a starting point, not gospel, because rules are revised and vary by state and association.

6 Football Kicking Tees Worth Considering

These are established options from brands that show up consistently in football equipment catalogs and pro shops. They are grouped by who they suit, because the “best” tee is entirely situational.

Side-by-Side Comparison

How to Choose Your Tee (Step by Step)

1. Confirm your league’s height rule first. Before anything else, ask your coach or check your state association’s current rule book. This one answer eliminates most of the options and stops you buying something you cannot use on game day.
2. Decide what you’re mainly kicking. Kickoffs need lift and hangtime, so a taller kickoff-profile tee helps. Field goals need a flat, fast, accurate trajectory, so a low placement tee is right. Doing both? Own one of each — they are inexpensive enough.
3. Pick rubber over plastic. Unless you are buying a throwaway backyard tee, choose heavy rubber. It grips turf, survives cold, and lasts seasons instead of months.
4. Match it to your level honestly. A 1-inch tee builds better technique but frustrates beginners. A 2-inch tee builds confidence but can mask flaws. Be realistic about where you are right now, not where you want to be.
5. Think about your weather. Training through wet, cold winters? Prioritise a tee rated for all conditions. Cold makes cheap plastic brittle, and brittle plastic cracks.
6. Choose a colour you can find. Genuinely. Orange saves you ten minutes of searching in long grass at dusk. Black looks better and disappears.
7. Buy two if you can. Tees get lost, borrowed, and left behind. A spare in the bag means a lost tee never costs you a session.

Want this narrowed down for your specific situation? The Kicker Match Quiz takes about a minute and matches you to a profile and a gear setup. You can also browse everything in the Kicking Gear Database.

How to Set Up and Use a Kicking Tee

Most kickers set up their tee on autopilot and never question it. But a sloppy setup quietly costs you accuracy on every single rep.

1. Find firm, level ground. Avoid divots, soft patches and slopes. Uneven ground tilts the tee, which tilts the ball, which sends your kick off-line before you have even moved.
2. Press the tee into the surface. Give it a firm push so it seats into the turf rather than perching on top. A seated tee will not shift when you approach.
3. Seat the ball with the laces forward. Laces face the target. The laces are a hard, uneven surface — striking them gives you an unpredictable ball flight. Every kicker learns this eventually; learn it now.
4. Set your tilt deliberately. For field goals, keep the ball close to upright with a slight backward lean. For kickoffs, a more pronounced backward tilt helps you get underneath for height and distance.
5. Step off your approach the same way every time. Most kickers use three steps back and two to the side, but the exact numbers matter less than repeating them identically. Count them out loud at first.
6. Check the ball before you commit. One glance: laces forward, ball stable, tee seated. It takes a second and saves wasted reps.
7. Strike and hold your finish. Contact the sweet spot below the ball’s centre, follow through toward your target, and hold the finishing position for a beat. Holding it tells you whether you were balanced.

How to Actually Practise With a Tee

Owning a tee changes nothing on its own. What matters is how you use it. Here is the difference between kicking a lot and actually improving.

Quality beats quantity — every time

Thirty focused kicks beat a hundred lazy ones. Once your technique starts breaking down from fatigue, you are just rehearsing bad habits. Stop when quality drops, not when you hit a number.

Warm up properly first

Kicking is explosive and hard on your hip flexors and groin. Five to ten minutes of dynamic movement — leg swings, lunges, easy jogging — before you strike a single ball. Cold-kicking is how kickers get injured.

Start close and move back

Begin at 20 yards. Make several in a row before backing up. This builds rhythm and confidence, and it means you are grooving a good motion rather than straining from the start.

Track what actually happens

Write down attempts, makes, distances and conditions. Memory is unreliable and flattering. Written numbers show real patterns — like discovering you miss left almost exclusively in a crosswind. Our Training Progress Tracker handles this for you.

Practise pressure, not just technique

Games are not calm. Recreate pressure: give yourself one attempt to win an imaginary game, or run sprints before kicking so your legs are tired and your heart rate is up. Kickers who only practise fresh and relaxed get surprised on Friday night.

Train in bad weather on purpose

Wind, rain and cold change everything about ball flight. If every practice is on a calm sunny day, your first wet game will be an education. Use the Weather Impact Planner to think through adjustments before you go out.

The kickers who improve fastest aren’t the ones who kick the most. They’re the ones who pay attention to what each kick is telling them.

Need a session plan? The Drill Generator builds one around your focus and available time, and the Training Planner lays out a full week.

7 Common Mistakes (And How to Fix Them)

Pro Tips From Experienced Kickers

What this looks like in the real world

A pattern you see constantly in high school programs: a kicker practises all summer on a borrowed 1-inch tee because that is what was in the shed. Season starts, they switch to the team’s legal 2-inch tee, and suddenly the ball is ballooning and coming up short. Nothing is wrong with their leg — their contact point is calibrated to a different ball height. Two weeks of practising on the game tee fixes it.

Another common one: a kicker who is excellent in practice and shaky in games. Nine times out of ten they have only ever practised fresh, calm and unhurried. Adding tired legs and a one-shot pressure rep to the end of each session closes that gap faster than any technique change.

Making Your Tee Last

A good rubber tee should last several seasons. Here is how to get there.

• Rinse off mud after wet sessions. Dried mud in the ridges stops the tee holding the ball properly.
• Do not leave it in a hot car. Sustained heat can warp rubber over time.
• Store it flat. Crushed under heavy gear in a bag, it can deform.
• Check for cracks before each season. A cracked tee is unpredictable and worth replacing.
• Retire it when the grip goes. When the ball no longer sits securely, the tee has done its job. Replace it.

When it is time to upgrade your wider setup, our Kit Bundles put together complete practice packages by level and goal.

Frequently Asked Questions

What size kicking tee should I use?

It depends on your level. 1 inch is the college and professional standard. 2 inches is commonly used in high school football. Youth leagues generally allow 2 inches or taller.

Always confirm the current rule with your coach or your state association before a game, because rules are revised between seasons and vary by association.

Can you use a kicking tee for field goals?

At high school level and below, yes — a tee is generally permitted for place kicks including field goals and extra points. In college and the NFL, field goals must be held by a holder, so tees at those levels are used for kickoffs and practice only.

For practice, everyone uses a tee regardless of level, because it lets you get far more quality reps than working with a holder.

What’s the difference between a kickoff tee and a field goal tee?

A kickoff tee is usually taller and shaped to tilt the ball backward, helping you get underneath it for maximum height and distance. A field goal tee is lower and holds the ball more upright, producing the flatter, faster trajectory you need to clear the rush and hit the target accurately.

If you do both jobs, owning one of each is worth it. They are inexpensive and the difference in ball flight is noticeable.

Are rubber tees better than plastic?

For serious use, yes. Rubber grips the turf so the tee stays put in wind, stays flexible in cold weather instead of turning brittle, and survives being kicked and stepped on for years.

Hard plastic tees are cheaper and lighter, which makes them fine for occasional backyard use. But they slide, they crack in cold, and they can split when struck. If you kick regularly, buy rubber.

How long does a kicking tee last?

A quality rubber tee used regularly should last several seasons. Lifespan depends mostly on storage and weather exposure rather than how often you kick it.

Replace it when you see cracks in the rubber, when the base no longer sits flat, or when the ball stops sitting securely on top. A tee that lets the ball shift is actively costing you accuracy.

Do I need a tee to practise kicking?

You can practise without one, but you will improve more slowly. Without a tee, the ball sits differently on every rep, so you are never repeating the same motion. Improvement comes from consistent repetition.

A tee is one of the cheapest pieces of football equipment you can buy and it has an outsized effect on practice quality. If you are choosing between a tee and almost any other training purchase, buy the tee first.

Where to Go Next

You know how to pick a tee and how to use it. The next step is building the training around it.

As an Amazon Associate we may earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. Product availability and pricing change frequently — always check current details on Amazon before buying. This guide is informational and is not a substitute for your league’s official rule book.