Speed Report: What’s Often Overlooked When Teaching Football Speed Skills

Biomechanics, physiology and motor learning must blend together and not be looked at as separate bodies of application. My objective for this article is to bridge the gaps between certain aspects of training norms and application considerations that are often not used collectively. Training for speed and movement must have greater understanding as to why effective techniques are effective. In this article we’ll discover why many coaches experience difficulty in teaching the key aspects for speed and movement development.
Often coaches chose to occupy athletes with a variety of activities that are not relative to specific development. Another aspect that is often emphasized is the hard-work theory. Applying workouts that would kill a mule makes the athlete feel he is getting something accomplished because of the volume of work involved. The opposite is true. Less is more when dealing with high-twitch training of the nervous system. You don’t have to over-work your athletes to get a desired result.

Speed & Movement Strategy Formation

Let’s use the term ‘movement and speed organization’ to describe the process and establish strategies that accomplish motor tasks. When your players misunderstand the type of motor task that’s being used over and over again, it can have a distinct effect and easily disrupt the following consideration:

• Cognition ( Perception )

Certain thought processes trigger the use of certain effective or ineffective motor patterns. If the good patterns are used consistently, the deliberation is slowed down for accuracy. Once they begin to identify a constant factor of controlled execution, the kinetic process takes hold and they begin to control movement accurately. This allows the athlete to build motor patterns that create benefits in the area of force and power improvements that are meaningful to adding speed to the movements intended. Keep in mind that running is a constant cyclic activity and requires controlled skill placements for each cycle performed. Perception of the task plays a major role for successful performance.

• Identifying the Task

The demand of the drill or task must be visualized prior to any active function taken. Then, the first motion will be implemented properly. The determined result must be visually understood as you look at the task. The next step is understanding the word picture and addressing the drill with confidence. If the athlete fails to overlook this prior to his performance, he will be setting himself up for potential mechanical errors before one step is taken. As indicated earlier, the success of rotational consistency relies greatly upon this method being executed.

• Nature of the Task Employed

As coaches, we set in place certain drills and challenges to equip players with successful experiences. Sometimes we design certain objectives for enhancement that can be beyond consistent control and execution. Make sure that whatever drill you decide is doable at the learning curve in which they are performing. Don’t rush the athlete beyond the skill level acquired. The foundation of the mechanical cognition is far better served later if training allows for solid foundational attainment. The idea is to have the challenge ahead of the athlete but within the scope of success. Another area to consider is that you have to keep the challenges group oriented. You are trying to develop team speed and play to the unique individuals who get it quickly. This can be a challenge when training numbers. Last but not least, identify the reason for the drill and determine if it is specific to the development completely. Coaches have a tendency to think of a drill or task and not see the downside of the whole activity and what may have negative counteraction to proper movements.

• Prior Motor Experience

When a group has never been trained mechanically or has been trained incorrectly, identifying good from bad habits can be a huge challenge. As a coach, it’s your job to sell the athletes on what you present and why the facets of the functions will enable them to improve their performances.
‘Just do it’ works for Nike but not for athletes learning intense skill processing. Our job is to bring them knowledge and be able to prove the items being displayed are sound. Evaluating your athletes for speed training is an all-encompassing process. You should not let the new procedures you introduce fall through the cracks as you work week-to-week.
I sometimes forget that the objective is to work to the lowest common denominator or the weakest link in the chain. As you work through this phenomenon of drill placement and execution, remember that what’s important first is just that. We tend to gravitate to what’s exciting such as sprinting fast. However, we must muzzle our desires at times and focus on the fact that yesterday we weren’t as skilled as we are after today’s completed workout. We must build off where we were and be guided by where we need to go. All in all, prior experience and retention of where we were when we started is important to a successful finish down the line.

Analyzing and Adjusting What Works

All coaches would be well-served to analyze your respective athletes and identify strengths and weakness as speedsters. Then, categorize them into areas that can help improvement. This could be strength levels, flexibility, mechanical ineffectiveness, and coordination. Speed training is an industry responsible for altering and refining movement patterns.
There are many areas we should identify before we can be successful at completing the job at hand. One of the most important ones is Postural Solidarity. As coaches we spend a decent amount of time teaching and observing the periphery of the body and its motion displacement during movement actions. We shouldn’t overlook the center of the body mass. Our primary concern is the alignment of the head, spinal column and leg. As force is applied to the surface, it gives back to the body causing a direct movement. Poor alignment of the three major factors – head, torso, and leg – will cause distortion within the postural integrity. This poor positioning will immediately disrupt the possibility for solid and efficient limb speed (frequency) to allow the force reaction necessary to be applied more often.
The last item of concern is to be mindful of where the foot strike lands on every rotational moment of movement taken. This is clearly the secret to body control when moving rapidly through varying changes of momentum.

In Summary

There are many considerations when training for speed that must be addressed and carried out. None is more important to my mind than the attention given to the body motion we must deal with when acceleration and momentum are at work. Football causes tremendous opposition to a steady body control function when one runs aggressively or changes direction. Understanding the athletes’ need for these topics is your responsibility and one that will require a bit of study and patience. A good training system is how we finish and grow, not how we start. Remember, it’s not volume, entertainment, nor hard work. Rather, it’s doing things physiologically and mechanically well, consistently over time. u