Speed, Agility and
Quickness Circuit
The circuit
consists of 8 soccer specific speed, agility and quickness drills. Each
drill is done for: 45 seconds then a: 30 second rest is given for rotation
and recovery. As the conditioning level of the players increase decrease
the rest time to 15 seconds and increase the work time to 1:00 minute.
Click on the
Sub Menu links or Circuit above to view each station in detail.
Guidelines
-
All
speed work must be performed when the body is
fully rested.
-
Proper
sprinting techniques must be taught and mastered
by the player.
-
All
sets and reps must be followed by adequate rest.
-
Speed
workouts should be varied between light, medium
and heavy.
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Acceleration
- Most
important component of speed development.
- The
highest rate of acceleration is in the first
8-10 strides taken by a player.
- Close
to 75% of max running velocity is achieved
within the first 10 yards (8 metres).
- As
mentioned earlier true max running speed is
seldom attained in most sporting situations.
- The
two things that will improve soccer speed is
stride frequency and stride length.
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Stride
Frequency
-
Stride
frequency is the number of strides taken in a
given amount of time or distance.
-
By
improving stride frequency the player will be
able to decrease the time between strides, while
at the same time maintaining or improving stride
length. This will result in overall increased
speed.
-
Traditional
methods of improving stride frequency are
downhill running or towing.
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Stride
Length
-
Stride
length is the distance covered in one stride
during running.
-
Stride
length can be developed by improving the players
elastic strength.
-
There
are numerous ways to improve elastic strength
including resistance training, plyometrics and
resisted running, weighted vests and uphill
running.
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Coaches
should be careful not to get carried away with some of
these methods. The decision to use these methods depends on the training
level of the player, time available to train the player
and familiarity of the method.
Don’t
know, Don’t teach it!
Sprint
Mechanics
Sprint
mechanics is just another term for
sprint
form or sprint technique.
Proper technique allows the athlete to maximize the forces
that the muscles are generating so the highest speed
predicted by the players genetic potential and training
can be achieved.
There
are three main elements to concentrate on regarding proper
sprinting mechanics. Posture, Arm action and leg action.
Posture:
Forward lean in acceleration, as player approaches top
speed the posture should be more erect.
Arm
action: Vigorous and
coordinated arm movement is necessary in all phases of
sprinting. The arm swing counteracts leg and hip
rotational forces. This counterbalance allows the body to
stay aligned in the intended direction.
Leg
action: Relationship of the hips and legs relative to
the torso and the ground.
Proper
Sprinting Technique
-
Head
Position: should be inline with the body.
-
Body
Position: a slight forward lean during
acceleration. At max speed the torso should be
tall.
-
Leg
Action: weight should be on balls of the feet.
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Agility
Agility
is the ability to accelerate, decelerate and change
direction quickly while maintaining good body control.
Soccer is not performed straight ahead, it is all change
of direction in which lateral movements are used in
several planes.
Agility
doesn’t tend to dissipate as quickly as speed, strength
and endurance training. Players that develop the ability
to change direction quickly and efficiently will be the
better prepared for competition.
Players
need agility to increase their speed of movements, manage
injuries and improve athleticism.
Quickness
The
successful performance of a player relies heavily on their
ability to react quickly. The
quicker player will maintain the competitive advantage.
Quickness
in of itself seems simple enough to explain. A player is
either quick or not.
Although genetic potential plays an important role in a
player’s physical ability, many biomotor skills that
depend on quickness can be improved.
Reaction
Time: Reacting to a stimulus with speed. The time it
takes for a player to react to a stimulus can be the
difference between winning and losing.
Improving
quickness has major implications for the enhancement of
speed acceleration and reaction time. The faster one can
teach the brain the movement patterns required, the faster
one can concentrate on improving the quickness with which
the movement is performed.
How
to be quick? Perform successive repetitions of
technically correct movement patterns as fast as possible.
