| #1 in Soccer Speed Training Education! | |
   
Soccer: Developing speed on the field is key to success Part 1 of 4
Special Note: Small-sided practice games can be adapted to require players to recognize, anticipate, decide, react and act more quickly Regular readers of this column will attest to my bias that the fitness component most important to success is soccer-specific endurance: a good aerobic capacity to speed recovery from fast running. What I haven’t addressed is the "fast running" part of that statement — speed. It's a topic that In his travels, he sees many teams that make little attempt to develop speed, and he thinks players and coaches want ideas of how to improve speed. In the mid-1950s the nature of the game changed forever when the great Hungarian national team destroyed, dismantled and wholly embarrassed The Hungarians had four or five players who could run 100 meters in 11.5 seconds or less! I first started paying really serious attention to the World Cup in 1974 and read that all the field players from the former East Germany could run under 11 seconds for the 100 meters — from for or five players under 11.5 seconds to the entire team under 11. Nowadays, 11.5-second speed might not be fast enough for a good high school team. The game I see today is played so much faster than the game I played. Is that a result of a better athlete, better coaching, or something else? I would like to think it is the first two, but I also see coaches using the free-substitution rule to encourage players to run as fast as they can — get tired and then be pulled for a rest. So players have the mindset to sprint whenever they are on the field. If you have watched recent NCAA men’s finals, you have seen teams that try to play at a high pace all game vs. teams that play a more controlled pace and use speed selectively, like past winners Speed is an elusive creature. Is it innate or can it be developed? What goes into the concept of speed? The first player to the ball may not be faster than the opponent; some people just consistently get there first. The great Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics was never to be confused with a sprinter, but he always seemed to be in the right place. Was it speed afoot or speed of thought, or both? The 1. Perceptual speed: using the senses to decipher various elements of game 2. Anticipation speed: predict what will happen before it happens. 3. Decision-making speed: making decisions in the shortest amount of time. 4. Reaction speed: ability to react to some action by teammate or opponent. 5. Speed without the ball: maximum movement speed. 6. Speed with the ball: movement with the ball at highest possible speed. 7. Game action speed: make effective tactical decisions to changing conditions. If you look closely at this list, you will see that much of the different aspects of speed are related to speed of thought and decision-making. These are things that can only be developed by playing the game. Yes, “the game is the best teacher," but you can help it a bit. It is fairly easy to modify small-sided games to require players to recognize, anticipate, decide, react and act more quickly. Just reduce the size of the field putting more players in a smaller space, so defenders are on the attacker quicker. This will force both offense and defense to speed up the thought process. 6v6 in half a field can be speeded up dramatically by playing now in the penalty area. Obviously, skills need to be very good to be successful (the T of the Ajax TIPS program). In games like this, the opponent grabs a missed trap very easily. If you don’t have good skills, you can’t play in a game like this. And much of defensive tactics today is geared toward reducing the size of the field and putting more players in a small space. Physically, development of speed is largely based on improvement in running form. And from experience, I can say that the running form of soccer players will never be confused with that of a sprinter in track. Speed specialists like Vern Gambetta think running speed can be thought of as combinations of starting speed, acceleration, top-end speed, deceleration and matching speed with teammates (think of the running back that out runs his blockers in football). In addition, remember that agility and speed are two different animals. The fastest players are not necessarily the most agile, and the most agile may not be the fastest. Elements of agility and lateral speed involve recognition, reaction, decisions, balance, footwork, change of direction, and avoiding obstacles. Over the next three parts of this series, I will address the concept of speed and how it can be improved. Realize that what you will see are suggestions to improve specific aspects of speed by improving the mechanics of running. By Dr. Donald Kirkendall
Soccer speed, Part 2: The first 30 meters are the most important By Dr. Donald Kirkendall
Last time, I introduced the concept of speed being part mental (e.g. decisions and anticipation) and part mechanical (running form). Special Note: Elite players have practiced their skills so much that they are ingrained into their reactions. 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. But the running part can be improved. This too is mental because improvement in running speed is largely changing how you run — the skill. In soccer, improvement in top-end sprint speed is not all that important. Why? Look at 100-meter sprinters. These runners don’t reach top speed until the middle third of the race; it takes 30 meters to reach top speed. In soccer, full, all-out sprints (i.e. over 30 meters) are pretty rare. Most runs are of 30 meters or less. What that means is that the time spent teaching one to increase top-end sprint speed might be time better spent on other lessons — like the first 30 meters where the player is reacting and accelerating, but never quite reaching top speed. Thus, the initial first steps are important. Break the form for the first 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 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. Warming up for speed training It is very important to prepare the muscles for speedwork. This kind of high-intensity work can cause an unprepared muscle to pull (strain). Warming up seems to protect muscles from strains. Popular activities include pendulum swings of the legs both sideways and front-back; carioca with long strides, short strides, in a partial squat and standing tall; high-stepping; high and long reaching; "volley traps"; and passive stretches of the hams, quads and groin. Some people like using hurdles and elastic bands. 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 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. 
The Soccer Speed Training Experts! Speed Trainers USA |