Dana Hills Uses Bass to Kick Some Habits : Football: Consultant hopes to put one aspect of the high school varsity team on solid footing.

Soon after accepting the job as football coach at Dana Hills High in January, Trace Deneke assembled the returning varsity players for a look-see.

Deneke called the meeting more for an informal introduction rather than a structured evaluation session. On meeting his charges, however, Deneke realized the Dolphins’ talent might not allow him to pursue the power game plan he would prefer.

What’s more, Scott Covington, last season’s starting quarterback, will be attending Miami this fall. The quarterback who might take over is less than a grizzled veteran, having thrown one pass in a varsity game.

And Dana Hills was only 1-9 with Covington in 1993.

So facing questions about power and skill, Deneke figured he better find an area in which Dana Hills had a fighting chance to produce points consistently--and help itself in the battle for field position in the South Coast League. He believes he has: The kicking game.

Thanks to the tutelage of private kicking consultant David Bass, Deneke has seen rapid improvement in his kickers’ skills. Although the season’s opening kickoffs are more than a month and a half away, Deneke expects a major boost from the Dolphins’ kicking game.

“We’re not going to be able to beat people every week with our offense or stop them every week with our defense,” Deneke said recently. “But we think our kicking game is something we can count on week in and week out.

“We’re hoping our kicking game will be our equalizer.”

Bass, Deneke said, makes such optimism possible.

An assistant coach at Palomar College in San Marcos, Bass is well versed in the world of competitive football.

His father, Tom, is a former NFL coach, and Dave has worked at every level of the sport from high school to the pros. Currently, Bass is special teams coordinator and linebacker coach at Palomar.

It is through Bass’ coaching at Palomar that Deneke learned of his work with kickers. Deneke, who formerly coached at Encinitas San Dieguito High, said Bass is known in San Diego County for developing standout kickers.

“He has a tremendous reputation,” Deneke said. “He has a keen eye for an area most football coaches know little about.

“To have that type of knowledge and ability to instruct so close, I just felt I had to use it.”

Deneke contacted Bass shortly after his initial inspection and asked for consultation, which Bass was eager to provide. The job was exactly what Bass was looking for, especially since he just formed a company, KickBass, to offer private instruction.

“Kicking is a very psychological position,” Bass said. “Some coaches try to coach kickers like inside linebackers, and that’s not going to make it.

“I’ve heard horror stories about coaches grabbing kickers’ face masks right before they head out to attempt (last-second) kicks and screaming, ‘You better not miss this!’ You have to understand kickers, and I bring that experience.”

Bass conducted a private clinic for Dana Hills kicker Eric Knip and punter Scott Maynard on July 6, and they attended another clinic he operated for several clients July 8-10 in San Diego. Knip and Maynard gave rave reviews.

“It was great,” Knip said. “He helped me a lot in every aspect of kicking.”

Said Maynard: “It was really beneficial.”

Knip, who will be a senior, handled the majority of kickoffs, field-goal and point-after attempts for Dana Hills last season. Knip, though, said he had no clue of how to kick properly.

“Everything I learned about kicking, I learned from (Bass) in a few days,” Knip said. “He completely changed my form. He showed me how to approach the ball, how to lock my leg properly, how to make sure I was taking the correct angles.

“No one ever showed me how to do that before.”

Likewise, Maynard, also a senior this year, found out how much he did not know.

“I’ve never had any punting instruction,” said Maynard, who might also start at quarterback. “It’s not too often you get instruction in high school. Sometimes when you do get instruction, it’s from guys who have never kicked before trying to tell you what to do.”

Bass agrees.

“Most coaches never played the position so they have no practical experience,” Bass said. “At most points in a kicker’s career, he’s not going to have coaches who understand the intricacies of the position.

“The key to my approach to coaching kickers is an extremely common sense approach. I don’t come in and say, ‘This is how you have to do it. . . . I just say, ‘This is nature.’ Once you show them, hopefully it works and they believe what you’re saying.”

They are believers at Dana Hills.