Lack of quickness

[BigKeeper]

I've got a player who has the highest amount of skill/technique on the
team yet his lack of lateral quickness makes him appear less skilled than he is.
He is 12 y/o, the heaviest on the team yet not fat at all. As a matter of fact he probably has one of the lowest body fat percentages on the team. He has excellent muscle tone and is very strong for his age. He hasn't matured early
either. He claims he isn't growing as fast as the other kids in his grade. He's around 5'2" 107 lbs. Not very tall but not at all small.
I know he works tremendously hard and I have tried giving him many ideas to increase his quickness. I am coming to a loss on ideas.
Let me stress again, his skills go well beyond that of his years. He is constantly used to demonstrate proper technique to the rest of his peers.
He has a thicker body structure than the other players who are mostly of average to slight builds.
Does anyone have any thoughts on this on how to help him?
Or does he simply just have to continue to work hard and wait it out till he reaches puberty and the higher testasterone kicks in?

[Middle Of The Shed]

Well it could be a combination of the two that he needs, first of all you said you have given him a few ideas, what did you reccomend to him to do (just so we can eliminate this method)?

[BigKeeper]

Basically I have had him doing varied length sprints, ie. 20,30,40 yd sprints.
I have had him doing sidestepping back and fourth about 6-7 yards.
Because of his age, I have never recommended any weights, just sprints.
I'm thinking some sort of plyometric excercise must be next to increase
that first step. I don't know which excercise would target that exactly
though.

[vanity_soccer13]

agility ladders can really improve endurance, foot speed/quickness, etc. you should look into them for your player.

if you don't want to spend the money on those, then you could get disc cones and set them down for different agility training. make a slalom type course, then the next station you have to jump one footed between a row of cones, and then another one you just sprint straight through. there are all different kinds you can do, but I think the ladders work really well. they normally come with a video or instructional booklet on different exercises you can do.

[Kbulldog3]

[QUOTE=vanity_soccer13]agility ladders can really improve endurance, foot speed/quickness, etc. you should look into them for your player.

yes speed latters really do help with quickness

[nobody]

Work on refining his strengths rather than dwelling on his weaknessses.

I've never seen a slow player become fast, but I've seen several slower players with excellent skills and thinking abilities be very effective players. Work on getting him to think quickly so together with his skills he plays faster than he actually moves.

[thegeneral]

I don't have any good input on this, but cheers to a coach for looking out for one underappreciated player.

[rca2]

...lack of lateral quickness...

Training is not my area, but I don't think working on straight-ahead sprints is the answer. The leg muscles are working differently. I would think you want to practice the same movement that you want to improve. Basketball agility drills might be the answer. Zone defending in basketball also requires a lot of lateral movement.

[Ronaldob4hegotfat]

Speed relies greatly on technique. If he is running with bad technique he will remain a bit slow no matter how strong (or whatever) he is. He should take long strides but if they are too long he will slow down even more.. He shouldn't let his head wobble around while he runs and his shoulders should be doing less work than his arms. He should run on the balls of his feet and spring off them as he steps.
Hope this helps