Speed on the field is the key to success. The following articles are from a great series on developing speed on the field. Developing speed on the field is key to success A progression for teaching acceleration Posture: Start in the time-honored "ready position" ? legs bent, feet shoulder-width or more apart and arms loose at the sides. Girls really need to learn this position. For some reason, they don?t get into this position properly. Now, lean and take five short (and quiet) steps forward walking, turn, and repeat jogging. Stress short steps. Next, with a partner facing in front, have the player lean straightforward and have the partner use their hands to catch the player by the shoulders. Keep the body straight and hold the position for about five seconds to get used to the position. Get used to the lean at the ankles, not the hips. Now, repeat and run out eight to 10 steps, emphasizing that the first four to five should be short strides. Finally, repeat without the partner ? lean forward at the ankle into short strides for eight to 10 running steps. Arm action can be practiced stationary, and some players might think it looks odd to spectators. Standing, perform a very exaggerated arm swing, all the way up, down and way back. Then sit straight-legged and repeat, only now the arms are bent to not hit the ground. Do a lot of these. With vigorous arm swing while seated, the player can almost raise their seat off the ground. Now stand, feet staggered, and exchange arms back once, as fast as possible, with your right hand up in front of the face, left back at the hip. On command, switch as fast as possible. Repeat lots of times, but only one switch at a time, then stop. Leg action is trained with a partner, too. First do some knee hugs by bringing the bent leg and knee as close to the chest as possible ? hug it in. Next, repeat that partner drill where the player leaned into the partner and the partner caught the shoulders. Only this time, the partner resists while the player pushes for four to six strides. Then vary this so that the partner resists strong for three to four steps, loosens up for three or four steps, then quickly lets go, turns and runs off so that the other player must chase. Then have one player lean into the partner and then hug a knee. The partner releases and the leaning player now has to get their foot down and take off to run out.Other activities for acceleration can be used to get players used to feeling the speed. For example, if there is a slight slope, have them do these drills going downhill, or do the take-offs downhill. Or have them walk, then on command, execute their new skills to accelerate into a run. Or have them do two-legged hops forward or to the side, then on command sprint out as fast a possible. Or do a carioca then sprint out in any direction. Perhaps have them jump back and forth over a ball three to five times, then sprint out. Or scramble up from a push-up position. Or have them take the first step in one direction and move off in another direction. Maybe do a two-footed jump, then on landing do a 180 and take off, all the time using the proper form of posture, arm action and leg action. Soccer speed, Part 2: The first 30 meters are the most important Straight-ahead speed has been broken down by conditioning specialists like Vern Gambetta as starting speed, acceleration, top speed, deceleration and cooperative speed. Starting speed is largely a response to some stimulus that involves a series of cognitive processes. For example, you are covering a striker. Their midfielder sees your striker, looks down, and strikes the ball. Who gets to the ball first? In order to intercept this pass, you have to make a number of decisions quickly: What space is the striker moving to? Is the ball played to feet or space? How fast are they moving? What is your speed? When do you have to start running to beat them to the ball? How about the pace and spin on the pass? How do you time your response to the pass in relation to the striker?s speed? Is the ball on the ground or in the air? If it's in the air, you have to plot out the flight of the ball and determine where on the field and your body (head, chest, foot, etc) you plan to first contact the ball ? then add in the opponent?s skills and speed. Then factor in what you will do with the ball. Control? Head the ball? One-touch? Two-touch? Shot? Clear? To whom/where? All this and more is done in fractions of a second, every time something changes with the ball. These are all part of those mental features that end up being speed of thought and reactions. These aren?t reflexes; these are reactions ? not the same thing. A reflex, like the knee-jerk reflex, doesn?t involve the brain. A reaction does, because there is input from many places to process and interpret and then decide on a coordinated response. How does one get better at this? Deliberate practice and repetition. Some say the real difference between the elite and the not-so-elite is that the elite players have practiced skills so much that the execution of the skills is second nature, performed on a subconscious level, so to speak, that lets the conscious part of the brain focus on tactics, not skill. ......................................... Break the form for the first running steps down, and three factors are critical: posture, arm action, leg action. The acronym is PAL (TM): Posture: Most people bend at the waist when running, especially when taking off. While it is correct to lean forward when accelerating, the lean actually comes from the ankle, not the waist. Arm action: We all know the arms and legs work together diagonally; right leg and left arm forward. An exaggerated arm action in height and rate of arm swing helps the leg action when running fast. Leg action: The first four to six steps should focus on pushing against the ground in such a way as to propel the body forward. This is where many young players err. They mistakenly think that by taking big first steps they will cover a lot of ground fast. If that first step is long, then they are actually slowing themselves down by applying a braking force until their body gets over and beyond this lead foot and they can start pushing against the ground to go forward. If these first few steps are short, all their effort goes into pushing against the ground and propelling themselves forward. After four or five steps, they can then stand more erect and bring their hips under their trunk. More Articles... How Far Do You Run During a Soccer Game? |
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