The morning after Seattle Seahawks kicker and Chula Vista native Jason Myers set Super Bowl records with five field goals and 17 total points in Super Bowl LX, a group of football specialists from around the world had just come off the field at Vista Sports Park and into strength and conditioning work inside a 4,400-square-foot training space in Carlsbad, all chasing the same destination.
A wall of photos looked down at them: kickers and punters who had hit the pinnacle of their craft — Nick Folk, Daniel Whelan, Brandon Aubrey, and Younghoe Koo — all of whom had passed through the same glass door, beneath a wall-mounted swordfish impaling a football, and a shelf lined with helmets from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New Orleans Saints, San Diego Chargers, New York Giants, Kansas City Chiefs, Jacksonville Jaguars, and LA Rams.
Free weights clanged against the floor. The metallic echoes bounced off the walls while one of the men sprinted in a short burst with a resistance band cinched around his waist.
The group included John Cannon, fresh from his senior year as a Western Kentucky Hilltopper; Alex Hale, an Australian who spent time on the Green Bay Packers’ practice squad this past season; Ryan Sanborn, a local punter who attended Francis Parker High School and is headed to the UFL; and Tanner Brown, a kicker with NFL practice squad experience, also bound for the UFL.
John Carney, the man they had all come to work with, moved around the periphery. Solidly built at 61, Carney’s 2,062 career points rank fifth all-time in NFL history. He spent 11 seasons with the Chargers, eight with the Saints, and had stints with five other teams, kicking professionally through the 2010 season at age 46.
“I never officially retired,” Carney said, joking. “Just to let you know, I left the door cracked [to come back to the NFL].”
“A lot of athletes are physically good at the task, but can they convert that into a high performance level when it counts?” Carney said. “That’s training yourself mentally to break the entire movement or skill down to very simple — I call them swing thoughts — focus points like tempo, good contact, follow through, head down, finish kick — that instill confidence and can be played on a loop. Can I cut out the score of the game, the stakes, the fear, the anxiety, the social media, the crowd? We always say we’re focusing on the process, not the outcome.”
Carney then pivoted to the Super Bowl, highlighting the importance of special teams. “Jason Myers — five for five in a Super Bowl, should have been MVP,” he said. “In fact, I even like the sound of co-MVP with his punter, Mike Dickson — let’s give them both MVP. But regardless, it’s process over outcome.”
Pat Villa, executive director of the Carney Training Facility, estimates that in 2025 approximately 100 high school players, 50 college players, and more than 150 professional players or free agents worked with Carney. Currently, a group of around 20 free agents has relocated to the San Diego area to train daily with Carney.
“What’s great about John is that he’s respectful and supportive of everybody’s climb,” said Drew Ferris, who had a brief NFL career as a preseason long snapper and now trains aspiring long snappers under Carney, sometimes hosting specialists to train at his Carlsbad townhouse. “A lot of coaches will tell players they don’t have a shot, or they should quit, sometimes prematurely. People don’t come to John to be told to quit; they come to get better and pursue their dreams. And as cliché as it sounds, John’s intentions are so pure that I think that’s what’s built his great reputation.”
Nobody has taken training with Carney as far as San Diego Strike Force kicker Ernesto Lacayo — now 36 and in pursuit of the all-time indoor football scoring record.
About a decade ago, Lacayo, an undersized 5-foot-8 kicker out of a small NAIA school in Nebraska chasing the NFL dream, parked his 1976 lime-green VW bus outside Carney’s Training Facility — and didn’t leave for three years. Each morning, he lifted, headed to work at Autozone, then returned to train.
Sleeping in the van’s cabin, he often let himself in at night to use the bathroom, with Carney providing a key.
“We were always talking here and there through text, and I just said, ‘Hey John, I really want to make this commitment. Do you think I could just hang outside?’” Lacayo recalled. “I’d seen the layout of the parking lot and figured I could tuck myself way over there — you wouldn’t even know I was there. John said, ‘I’ve never had anybody do that, but it seems safe.’ I’m sure he didn’t realize it would turn into three years.”
For the grinders, daily kicking sessions run Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, with warm-ups, two to three hours of field work, and conditioning. The other days focus on recovery, gym work, and one-on-one film breakdowns.
“That was my safe space, my happy place, and I was literally burning the midnight oil,” Lacayo said. “John Carney — that man, the most humble I’ve ever met — runs his gym the way he trained, and there’s a reason he lasted so long. The way he worked in the gym, on the field, breaking down film, showing kickers from the past and teaching the essentials — those are some of the most important things I’ve carried through my career, and still do to this day.”
“He’d walk in, come to the sink, and rinse out dishes,” Villa said. “He just always worked his tail off.”
“He was the night watchman,” Carney said.
John Carney talks to Ernesto Lacayo at a Strikeforce game. (Photo courtesy of Ernesto Lacayo)After unofficially retiring in 2011, Carney began training former NFL teammates and players from around the league in his Encinitas garage — longtime punter Steve Weatherford was first, followed by kickers Nick Folk, Josh Brown, and Matt Bosher.
“I decided to move the gym out of the house and into a brick-and-mortar location so we could do some more training and be more professional,” Carney said.
It snowballed from there.
“I really didn’t have intentions of working with high school kids, but suddenly they started knocking on our door wanting to train,” Carney said. “I really enjoyed watching them start their journey, make huge improvements with just a few adjustments, and then blossom into great kickers and punters headed to college — it was incredibly rewarding.”
Devin Bale, a punter out of La Jolla High School and the University of Arkansas, is one of those local players Carney has worked with at every stage. Bale is preparing daily at Carney’s Training Facility as an upcoming NFL draft hopeful.
“He’s always been talented. He’s athletic. He’s always had a strong leg. He’s always been very capable of kicking and punting, and he fought through sitting on the bench and competing with guys through college,” Carney said. “I really believe he has NFL ability and talent. He has the mental game, and now it’s a matter of putting it together when it counts, staying healthy, and getting a true opportunity.”
“He helped me build confidence in my form,” Bale previously said. “A lot of punting is not overthinking it. It’s just you and the long snapper and the football.”
“I wish I would have met him sooner [as a player],” Ferris added. “I’ve been with him during my highs and my lows. He’s super supportive. And just, he gives a lot of insight, because he played for so long and he’s seen a lot. He’s just a really great resource for guys to understand what works.”
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