The Speed Report - Developing Quickness in your Players, Part II

by: Dale Baskett
Football Speed Specialist
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Training to Get it Right This is where we begin the journey toward change and how we end the journey successfully. The players must go through a series of procedures that progress turnover of limb speed in short, high-intensity rotational patterns. Remember, I indicated earlier that they won’t understand the feeling of quickness. That’s why we need to explain it to them and start by giving them short-limb activity requirements over short distances. If the players are put through this type of activity repetitively, they will begin to adapt new movement patterns quite rapidly. Just hard work is not the standard for development; you’ll lose not only the battle but the entire war for quickness. I am going to give you some training tips and protocol to follow with your athletes that will change the way they currently address quickness as athletes. Let’s Apply Tools for Development Whatever drills you may have been using for quickness are unknown to me but I don’t have to see them. I just need to indicate how to create new changes to the old procedures. After that I’ll give you some drill movements that will promote new quickness results. CREATING NEW CHANGE STIMULUS 1. First, let’s take your drill and shorten it to no more than 15 yds. in length. 2. Instruct the players that you are going to have them focus on the upper arm – specifically the shoulder. They are going to proceed with the new distances, concentrating on shoulder frequency. 3. The important part of quickness development is to communicate with the athletes after the run-through of the drill as to what they felt. They should have felt the quickness of the limb speed and the continuous frequency of the limbs at a high rate of turnover. This begins the first and foremost thought process we indicated in the earlier article. 4. Create any drill you wish but require that the athlete turnover the arm rotation short and as fast as they can. Lock in the rhythm of the fast frequency which will be excessively quick and require they sustain the rhythm of that frequency for 4-5 seconds, minimally. 5. Now you must get feedback from the kids. Are they feeling the intensity of the limb frequency and rhythm? 6. The next step is to work at staying relaxed and allow the limbs to turn fast freely. A pre-tensed muscle will not contract rapidly. You can’t force quickness. BASKETT’S DRILLS These drills are designed to ignite fast-twitch properties. They’ll tap the nervous system in a positive way. Make sure to use long recoveries between efforts. 1. Short Quick Limb Cycle (Diagram 1) - 15-yd. zone, short knee lift and short quick upper-arm rotation. Establish the fast rhythm with the first three cycles then lock in the quick tempo and maintain. Begin with 5 yds. Then progress to 15 yds. Low number of reps. To keep muscle contraction at a high threshold.



2. Quick Cycle-Decel Drill (Diagram 2) - Set up five 5-yd. zones. Zone one is short quick limb cycle drill repeated. Zone two, decel the quick limb movement to a jog. Repeat action through the six zones.



3. Mixed Cycle Drill (Diagram 3) - First zone 5 yards, quick-limb cycle drill, second zone – 10 yard burst sprint. Third zone 10 yard decal, repeat over again with additional zones.



4. Burst/Decel Drill (Diagram 4)– Set zones at 10 yds, 7 yds., 10 yds., 7 yds., 10 yds., 7 yds. First ten-yard zone is 1/3 speed striding. Burst on second zone with quick arm rotation applied. The rotation must not be long it must be quick or the leg cycle will be long and your quick turnover will be lost. Arm cycle quickness is the main focus at the burst point.

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