Illinois Agility Run Test
The
player starts by lying prone near the first
bottom-corner cone, (in testing
procedures it is
important
to have a set starting position). He gets
up and sprints
to the closest top-corner cone, goes
around it,
weaves back around the middle cones,
sprints to the other top-corner cone, turns around
the corner,
and sprints to the finish.
This tests
the ability to change direction and control the
center of gravity.
It also
indicates body awareness,
body control, and footwork. A deficiency here
indicates a
lack of
functional core strength, leg
strength, and bilateral development. A score under
15 seconds is considered good.
The
test should be repeated twice, once starting from
one side, then repeated from
the other side, this
is
a good indicator. As
in other tests, to compare players performance
is a
valid indicator, but it is much
more important in
the development stage, to compare
him against
himself, month by month.
There are a myriad of training drills that improve
agility, and coordination, these types
of drills are
very demanding, and should only be done in short
bursts.
Using all of the components learned in previous
chapters, it is important to emphasize the quality
of
each separate part.
This
aspect of training shows very quickly if a player
has a weakness in, strength,
flexibility or
coordination. At
its best, agility is a smooth and beautiful dance,
at its
worst a clumsy, awkward stutter.
Because a player has superior agility, he can move
effortlessly from one state to the
next, have
fantastic
self-expression, and a grace that is
wonderful to see.
