Speed Report: Natural Speed or Team Speed - Find It Or Produce It?

When engaged with a large number of athletes, you always find certain kids who have decent speed. On the other hand, most in the group are not blessed with natural speed.
Team speed is sometimes indigenous to areas that have larger populations; that is, strength in numbers to pick from as a whole. Producing speed is vital for most programs and should be the quest for every program that’s interested in competing at a high level. Weight training has long been a significantly large part of, or at least thought of as profoundly responsible, for speed development.
Interestingly enough, I placed a speed test series of questions in the magazine recently. I asked a question about weights being heavily responsible by percentage for speed gain. The majority, two thirds or so, answered true. The answer is false. Fifteen years ago 99 percent would have agreed that weight training was directly responsible for speed gains. That being the case, it was refreshing to see that one-third of the coaches realized that speed can be produced outside the weight room.
My comment about weight training being less effective than credited requires an explanation. There is a type of weight training definitely important to improving speed. The right kind of lifting can have an effective contribution to power development that is directly related to pure impulse, which relates to the power index family of measurement. This relates to time and force relationship effectiveness. Better known as IMPULSE, the term describes the biomechanical application of time and force relationship with each stride taken. It’s a measured movement of force production to the ground during the given time spent on the surface while applying maximum force that, in turn, propels the body forward. But one shouldn’t hang complete hopes on weight training alone.
Most every program in America today has an off-season weight training system in place and a high percentage of schools show remarkable strength improvement. Usually, every athlete has significant improvement with strength levels during the off-season. That’s how it should be. My question is do you have significant speed level gains during the off-season that carry over into the season? Is everyone improving speed sideline-to-sideline during the season due to your weight training? This should be the entire team. Yes, I said the entire team. If not, can you find it or do you need to produce it? It’s a logical conclusion. Very few programs have total team speed year in and year out unless you’re in Florida, Texas, or California. These states are known for numbers of athletes and speed abundance each year because of their population and climates conducive for training year -round. But what can be done to make changes that count for your personal team growth?
You Only Have What You Have

College programs have a recruiting advantage for developing team speed. If you’re a high school coach who must develop speed, this includes most schools in America. The 4.3 types are great, but they are elite athletes with God-given talent in almost every case and hard to come by. I’ve had the luxury of working with great sprinters which included a world record holder in the 100 meters and a bronze medalist in the 200 meters in the 1992 Olympics. They were the fastest humans in the world at the time.
The key is to develop speed, not recruit it. Even in the college and NFL level you can make significant changes with those athletes if you apply the right ingredients. Remember that the amount of speed gained on the field of play needs to be collective. It’s a team sport with moving parts and they collectively must function faster as a unit. What you have should be a measure for the team speed index and then charted and averaged. The average of your team speed must improve over the designed time for your training plan.

Going Beyond Natural Talent

If you’re a coach at a high school or college you can have a distinct advantage competitively if you apply the right methods for your players to develop. You’ll never have enough natural talent to be able to be consistent each season in the team speed category. You must have a plan that makes your group better each season – collectively. It’s being done in the weight room. There’s no reason you can’t do it on the field.
I am associated with a program currently which has a great record every year and pretty good talent as well. What amazes me is that the talent is getting the job done while the speed development is marginal. What I see at this school and many others I work with is a misguided application of energy spent with minimal results in return. To me, that’s unacceptable but it does happen frequently. Knowledge is paramount about development. Everyone works hard but that’s not enough. You should apply a system that transitions normal athletes for speed to above average for all athletes.

Beyond Talent, What can be Done?

You begin with a premise that says everyone can and will get better. Second, you get rid of ladders, bungees, butt kicks, carioca drills, skips, hops, running in sand, running in water and many other wasted items that don’t help your ultimate goal. Over the past three years writing these articles to coaches I’ve stressed the key which is mechanical motor skill processing. It doesn’t matter how slow or fast a player is. What counts is the plan; that is, a plan designed for all involved to transition through. The slow get fast and the fast get faster. The plan must keep track of the progress and let the athletes know they are getting better.

Tangibles that Help Development Collectively

1. The initial approach is to frame the system to the athletes and explain how they must be involved mentally and why it counts for results.

2. The buy-in factor is huge and must not be overlooked or under achieved. You need to sell the system and the plan so the players will see where you’re taking them.

3. Concentration is the most important part of your time spent when it comes to speed training. Athletes must be in tune with the movement placements to gain full benefits from there application. So often coaches let the focus factor fall off the edge and production is marginal.

4. Your system of mechanical training must come from a slow controlled basis and progress to a faster drill speed over the course of time you’ve designed.

5. Visualization of the task at hand must be applied by every athlete. As each steps forward to perform individually or collectively they must see the successful activity in their mind happening before they move. This process prepares the athlete for heightened success before action is even involved. This method is important for assuring execution and consistency.

6. The bottom line for speed will be processing and putting in place a solid mechanical foundation that is scientifically real and not just exercise and sweat oriented.

7. A valuable ingredient for processing the group will be to explain the overview of the drill or procedure to be executed and then stand back and observe how they perceive the task at hand as they function. Too often we want to coach every move. With speed training you must let the athlete or athletes perform before you add your thoughts.

8. The best way to get the athletes involved is to involve the athletes. If it’s a small or large group, pull out an athlete or several of them and ask what they felt on the last run through. Get their perspective of what they felt. Remember, you already know what you saw so you want to see how it matches up to what they feel. This is especially important for speed training because running is a continual motion of activity that doesn’t stop.

9. You have to work with your athletes so they understand their bodies during movement. This processing will have a dynamic effect if you utilize this strategy. Successful athletes know where their bodies are during motion activity. This can be learned by each and every player. It’s your job to teach them to feel what they are doing. Remember, you can’t run for them. You can only impart knowledge to them. They have to take ownership and be in control.