How Do You Audible Onside Kick?

How far does a kick have to go to be considered not onside in the canadian football league?

• If the kicker kicks the ball, it has to go more than 10 yards, but how short does it have to go before its considered a normal kick/no yards, or whatever?

• Answer:

  "onside" does not exactly have the same meaning in Canada. No yards is something else. Any kick further than 10 yards is a kickoff and is recorded as such and whatever the return is will be considered the return. In the US we call an "onside" kick a kickoff that the kicking team attempts to recover. In Canada, the kicking rules are much more liberal and "onside" takes a different meaning. Basically any player can kick the ball at any time and only an "onside" player can recover. Examples include, if you and I were rushing the passer and the ball slipped out. If I tried to pick up the ball but accidently kicked the ball forward, you could recover the ball as long as you were either next to or behind me. Also in Canada there is occasionally an onsides punt. This is where a "hands" player will line up behind the line of scrimmage on the same plane as the punter (onsides). At the snap that player will trot down field in an attempt to jump, catch, and recover a short, low punt. No yards is a penalty stemming from a kicking team not giving the returner a 5 yard halo to catch the ball as there is no fair catch in Canada. Hope that helps.