Field access is the single biggest constraint on a kicker’s development — and a target you can carry solves more of it than a target you cannot.
Here is the honest starting point. Very few kickers have unrestricted access to real goalposts. School fields are locked, club pitches are booked, and the one public park with posts is thirty minutes away and busy every evening. So the practical question is not “what is the best target” but “what can I actually get to whenever I want to kick”.
The good news is that a large portion of useful kicking practice does not need real uprights at all — and the portion that does can often be served by something far simpler and cheaper than a full-size set.
This guide covers the realistic options, what each one is genuinely good for, how to improvise a target properly, the safety and setup issues nobody mentions, and how to decide what — if anything — you should buy.
📋 What’s in this guide
Do You Actually Need Uprights?
Answer this before you spend anything, because the answer is more nuanced than it looks.
What genuinely needs uprights:
- Accuracy feedback. Knowing whether the kick would have been good.
- Angle work. The uprights define what “on target” means from the side.
- Height clearance. Confirming the ball would clear the bar.
- Competitive pressure drills. Streaks and consequence work need a real make-or-miss.
What does not need uprights at all:
- Plant foot work. The cone drill — the highest-value drill in kicking — needs a cone.
- Approach path. A rope on the ground.
- Contact quality. A net at short range tells you plenty.
- Distance and hang time. Open space and a measuring wheel.
- Strength, mobility and routine. Nothing at all.
That second list covers a substantial share of what actually improves a kicker. Uprights matter for outcome feedback — and outcome feedback is valuable, but it is not the thing that fixes your mechanics.
Uprights tell you whether it went in. They do not tell you why. Most of the work that changes why happens without them.
The Options Compared
Ranked by what a kicker realistically has access to.
| Option | Cost level | Portability | What it gives you | Main limitation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Real field uprights | Free if accessible | None | Everything | Access — the whole problem |
| Full-size portable posts | High | Poor — vehicle needed | Genuine accuracy work | Cost, storage, setup time |
| Adjustable practice posts | Medium | Moderate | Scaled accuracy feedback | Not regulation dimensions |
| Kicking net with target | Low to medium | Good | Contact and rough accuracy | No height or true width feedback |
| Target sheet or aiming aid | Low | Excellent | A defined aim point | No make-or-miss judgment |
| Improvised uprights (poles, cones) | Very low | Excellent | Width feedback only | No crossbar reference |
| Cones and rope only | Negligible | Perfect | All mechanical work | No outcome feedback at all |
Read that “main limitation” column carefully. The expensive options are limited by access and logistics; the cheap options are limited by feedback. Which limitation hurts you more depends entirely on your situation — and for most kickers, the equipment they will actually use twice a week beats the equipment that is technically better and stays in the garage.
Portable Goal Posts
Worth understanding properly before committing, because the cost is real.
Full-size portable posts replicate genuine dimensions and give you real accuracy feedback. They are also expensive, heavy, slow to assemble, need a vehicle and require somewhere to store them. Realistically they suit a school, club or a family with land — not an individual kicker with a car boot.
Adjustable or scaled practice posts are lighter, cheaper and faster to set up, at the cost of regulation accuracy. For a kicker who mainly wants a visible width reference and a sense of make-or-miss, they can be a sensible middle option.
What to check before buying anything in this category:
- Setup time. Anything taking twenty minutes will get used far less than you imagine.
- Weight and transport. Does it genuinely fit in your vehicle, assembled or not?
- Anchoring. Freestanding structures and wind are a serious combination.
- Storage. Where does it live between sessions?
- Where you are allowed to put it. Many public spaces do not permit temporary structures.
⚠️ Anchoring is a genuine safety issue, not a formality. Any freestanding upright structure can tip in wind or if someone leans on it, and goal-post tipping incidents have caused serious injuries in other sports. Anchor to the manufacturer’s specification every time, never leave a set standing unattended, and take it down rather than trusting a forecast.
Targets and Nets
For most individual kickers, this is where the practical answer lives.
Kicking nets with target zones catch the ball, return it to you and mark an aim point. They will not tell you whether a kick would have cleared a crossbar from 40 yards, but they let you take a hundred reps in an hour with no ball chasing — and repetition is what builds a swing.
Target sheets and aiming aids give a defined point to strike toward, which matters more than it sounds. Kicking at “over there” produces vaguer alignment than kicking at a specific mark, and alignment feeds directly into consistency.
Chip nets and small targets suit short-range accuracy and are excellent for extra-point-style repetition in a small space.
What a net genuinely gives you: contact feel, repetition volume, solo practice, small-space usability. What it does not: ball flight, height clearance, true accuracy judgment. Our guide to kicking nets goes into the selection detail.
💡 Combine a net with an open-field session rather than choosing between them. Use the net for volume and mechanics during the week — the part you can do whenever you want — and save your limited real-field access for outcome work: accuracy, angles, range and pressure. That split gets far more out of scarce field time than using it for reps you could have done anywhere.
Improvising a Target Properly
Free, effective, and better than most kickers expect if you do it with a little care.
- Use two tall markers for width. Poles, corner flags, tall cones or even two people’s bags. Set them at a known width so your reference is consistent between sessions.
- Get the width roughly right. Uprights are 18 feet 6 inches apart at most levels. Pacing that out once and remembering it makes your improvised target genuinely useful rather than arbitrary.
- Use a background reference for height. A fence line, a tree branch, a building edge — anything at a consistent height that lets you judge whether a kick was climbing enough.
- Mark a specific aim point. A cone or a marker exactly between your markers. Aiming at a point beats aiming at a gap.
- Keep it identical between sessions. The value is in comparability. A target that changes width each week tells you nothing about whether you are improving.
- Film from behind if you want real feedback. With an improvised target, the camera is what turns a rough judgment into a reliable one.
An improvised setup handles width feedback well, height feedback poorly, and costs nothing. For a kicker without access to uprights, that is a substantially better position than doing no accuracy work at all.
Space, Safety and Setup
The unglamorous section that determines whether any of this works in practice.
| Setup | Space needed | Setup time | Wind risk | Best location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full-size portable posts | Full field width behind | 20–40 min | High — must anchor | Club or school ground |
| Scaled practice posts | Generous clear area | 10–20 min | Moderate to high | Private land or club |
| Large kicking net | 15–25 yards | 2–5 min | Moderate | Park, garden, field |
| Compact net | 5–10 yards | 1–3 min | Low to moderate | Garden, garage |
| Improvised uprights | Open field | 2 min | Low | Any open public space |
| Cones and rope only | A few square metres | 1 min | None | Anywhere |
Notice the setup-time column, because it predicts usage better than anything else. A setup that takes thirty minutes gets used when you are motivated. A setup that takes two minutes gets used when you are not — and the sessions you do when you are not especially motivated are the ones that separate kickers over a season.
Other practical points: know what is behind your target and never assume a net will stop every ball; check that the space is genuinely public and that temporary structures are permitted; secure everything against wind; and always leave the space as you found it, because kickers losing access to a good public field is usually self-inflicted.
Equipment
💰 On prices and ratings: we do not print them — both change constantly and stale figures mislead. Each button opens the product’s Amazon page for current pricing, availability and genuine buyer reviews.
Football Kicking Net
The Realistic Answer for Most Kickers
For an individual kicker without upright access, a net is the highest-value purchase available. It catches and returns the ball, works solo, sets up in minutes and enables the rep volume that actually builds a swing.
✅ What’s good
- Enables real repetition volume
- Works completely solo
- Fast setup means it gets used
- Portable to any open space
⚠️ Keep in mind
- No height or true accuracy feedback
- Needs anchoring in wind
👤 Best for: Any kicker whose main constraint is field access rather than coaching.
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Portable Practice Goal Posts
If You Have Land and Storage
Scaled or adjustable practice posts give genuine make-or-miss feedback without the cost and logistics of a full regulation set. Only worth it if you have somewhere to store them and space to use them.
✅ What’s good
- Real make-or-miss judgment
- Better than any improvised width reference
- Reusable for years
- Good for a family or small club
⚠️ Keep in mind
- Expensive and bulky
- Must be anchored properly
👤 Best for: Kickers with private land, or a school or club buying for a group.
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Agility Poles
Cheap, Effective Improvised Uprights
Two tall poles set at upright width give you a consistent, repeatable width reference for almost nothing. Light, packable, and they turn a vague open field into a target you can actually compare against week to week.
✅ What’s good
- Consistent reference between sessions
- Packs into a car easily
- Doubles as agility equipment
- Very cheap
⚠️ Keep in mind
- No crossbar or height reference
- Can blow over in strong wind
👤 Best for: Kickers doing accuracy work in public spaces with no uprights.
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Training Cones
Aim Points and Plant Markers
Cones do two jobs here: they mark a specific aim point between your improvised uprights, and they mark your plant position. Aiming at a point rather than a gap measurably tightens alignment.
✅ What’s good
- Sharpens alignment
- Also the best mechanics drill tool
- Packs completely flat
- Trivially cheap
⚠️ Keep in mind
- Light cones move in wind
- Nothing sophisticated
👤 Best for: Every kicker, on every setup, regardless of budget.
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Ground Anchors and Stakes
The Safety Item People Skip
Any freestanding target or net can tip or blow over. Proper anchors are inexpensive, quick to use, and the difference between an equipment problem and an injury.
✅ What’s good
- Prevents tipping and wind damage
- Cheap relative to the equipment
- Fast to deploy
- Extends equipment life
⚠️ Keep in mind
- Easy to leave in the ground
- Not usable on hard surfaces
👤 Best for: Anyone using a freestanding net or portable post structure outdoors.
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Footballs (Practice Set)
Enough to Keep the Session Moving
Whatever your target, stopping to retrieve after every two kicks destroys rhythm. Several balls turn a session of walking into a session of kicking.
✅ What’s good
- Keeps rhythm intact
- Essential without a net
- Shared use with teammates
- Long lifespan
⚠️ Keep in mind
- Bulky to transport
- Needs inflation checks
👤 Best for: Any kicker practising without a ball-returning net.
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How to Choose
Match the purchase to your actual constraint rather than to the ideal setup.
If your constraint is access: buy a net. It removes the dependency on a booked field and lets you kick whenever you have an hour.
If your constraint is accuracy feedback: improvised uprights plus a camera will get you most of the way for almost nothing. Buy poles and cones before you consider posts.
If your constraint is space: a compact net plus cones. Mechanics work is space-independent, and that is where most improvement lives anyway.
If you have land and storage: practice posts become genuinely worthwhile, particularly if more than one kicker will use them.
If you have real field access already: spend nothing on targets. Spend it on cones, a camera mount and a set of balls, and use the field for the outcome work only a field can give you.
Common Mistakes
❌ 1. Buying more than you will set up
A twenty-minute setup gets used on motivated days only. Usage frequency beats specification every time.
✅ Fix: Choose the option you will use twice a week, not the one that is technically best.
❌ 2. Not anchoring freestanding equipment
Wind and tipping are real hazards, and goal-post tipping has caused serious injuries in other sports.
✅ Fix: Anchor to specification every session, and take it down rather than trusting a forecast.
❌ 3. Changing the improvised target each session
A width that varies week to week makes comparison meaningless.
✅ Fix: Set a fixed width once, note the pacing, reproduce it every time.
❌ 4. Using scarce field time for reps you could do anywhere
Real uprights are the only place accuracy and angle work can happen. Spending that time on contact reps wastes it.
✅ Fix: Net for volume during the week, field access for outcome work.
❌ 5. Ignoring what is behind the target
Nets miss balls and improvised targets stop nothing at all.
✅ Fix: Check the run-off before the first kick, every location.
❌ 6. Believing you cannot improve without uprights
The drills that fix the most common faults need a cone and a rope. Uprights measure; they do not teach.
✅ Fix: Build mechanics wherever you are, and use uprights when you get them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I practise kicking without goal posts?
Yes, and a large share of useful practice does not need them. Plant foot work, approach path, contact quality, distance, strength and routine all work without uprights.
What you lose is outcome feedback — whether the kick would have been good. That is worth having, but it measures your kicking rather than improving it.
Are portable goal posts worth buying?
For an individual kicker, usually not. They are expensive, heavy, slow to set up and need storage and space that most people do not have.
They make far more sense for a school, club, or a family with land where several people will use them and they can live semi-permanently in place.
How far apart should improvised uprights be?
Uprights are 18 feet 6 inches apart at most levels of football. Pace that distance out once, note how many of your steps it takes, and reproduce it every session.
The consistency matters more than perfect precision — a target that changes width each week cannot tell you whether you are improving.
Is a kicking net better than a target sheet?
For most kickers, yes — the net returns the ball, which transforms how many reps you get in a given hour. A target sheet gives you an aim point but you still chase every kick.
The two work well together: a net with a marked target zone gives you volume and alignment at the same time.
What is the cheapest useful setup?
A handful of cones, a length of rope and a phone tripod. That covers plant foot work, approach path, follow-through and self-feedback — which is most of what actually changes a kicker.
Add two agility poles at upright width and you have accuracy reference as well, still for very little money.
Where can I set up a portable target?
Check the rules of the space first — many public parks do not permit temporary structures, and school or club grounds usually require permission.
Wherever you set up, check what is behind the target, anchor anything freestanding, never leave it unattended, and leave the space exactly as you found it.
Setup Checklist
- Constraint identified — access, feedback, or space
- Purchase matched to the constraint, not the ideal
- Setup time short enough that you will actually use it
- Improvised upright width set once and reproduced every session
- Specific aim point marked, not just a gap
- Background height reference identified
- Anything freestanding anchored to specification
- Run-off behind the target checked before the first kick
- Permission confirmed for temporary structures
- Equipment never left standing unattended
- Net used for weekday volume, field access saved for outcome work
- Camera set up behind the plant foot for real feedback
- Enough balls to keep the session moving
- Space left exactly as found
The bottom line: uprights measure your kicking; cones, ropes and nets improve it. If field access is your constraint, a net will change more about your development than a set of posts you set up twice. Get the width reference consistent, anchor anything that stands up on its own, save real uprights for the work only they can give you, and stop treating a locked gate as a reason not to train.
Keep Going
🏠 Home PracticeTraining without a field
🎯 Field Goal DrillsWhat to do once set up
🏈 Kicking TeesThe other essential item
As an Amazon Associate we may earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. General training information — always follow manufacturer instructions for anchoring and setup.
