Hi All - Has anyone watched either of these DVDs on soccer speed? (they are at Amazon) >>> Soccer Speed ~ Roby Stahl >>> Soccer - Coordination, Agility & Speed Training For Soccer ~ Peter Schreiner Feedback? Any recommendations on coaching for speed and agility? Books, DVDs, courses? I am working with mid-teen boys. Thanks, markb
There are a lot of diferent kinds of speed. First step speed is one of them. Fast off the first step speed great for soccer. Again not everyone has the muscle type for speed off the first step. Tab Ramos had this gift very fast off the first step, but I would not call him fast over a long distance. He was just fast enough off the first step to beat most first defenders 1 v 1. He also had great quickness, but not great over all speed. Do plyometrics for first step explosive speed. 1. Skipping 2. Striding 3. Side Shuffling Right 4. Side Shuffling Left 5. Back Peddling 6. Skipping for Height 7. Skipping for Distance 8. Sprinting 9. Bounding Right 10. Bounding Left 11. Backwards Sprinting 12. Bounding from the left foot to the right foot 13. Broad jumps 14. Sprinting 15. Walking Lunges 16. High Knees 17. Butt Kicks 18. Straight Leg Run 19. Sprinting Rest and Stretch in between the above mentioned The one I like the best is (hurdling sprinting Hurdling sprinting hurdling) alternating feet on the jumps. Do not use regular hurdles until your 17 yrs old. In the mean time lower the height of the hurdles. ---------------------------- There is a training device called an "acceleration ladder" that can be very useful to train against over striding, especially during the first few steps. You could buy, An "acceleration ladder" is a cousin of the more common "agility ladder." The difference between the two is that while an "agility ladder" typically consists of a sequence of parallel, flat 1 inch-wide vinyl slats set a constant 18 inches apart laid along the ground. In an "acceleration ladder", the first pair of slats start spaced only 9 inches apart, and the gap between successive slats progressively increases by 4 inches, until the last pair of slats is 33 or even 37 inches apart. Start each time with a stationary start at the narrow-spaced end of the ladder, taking the "first step" of the accelerating run into the gap between the first and second slat (BETWEEN the slats, NOT ON THEM), the second step into the gap between the second and third, etc. and so on until the runner's steps move beyond the ladder...keep running and accelerating past the end of the ladder for at least 25-30 yards past the end of the ladder (DON'T HAVE THE PLAYER STOP OR TRY TO CHANGE DIRECTION OVER AT LEAST THIS DISTANCE!) What this does is to force players to accelerate efficiently, without over striding. Some of this might help maybe all of it. -------------------------------------- This is from Gary rue's collection of great stuff.Soccer Conditioning Warm-up/Stability, Straight Ahead Running Ken Kontor 1999 NSCAA Convention 1/22/99 The average sprint distance of a soccer player is 15 meters.Do not train to run efficiently for long distance-train to run fast.Warm-up to play-do not play to warm-up. Movements have to build gradually to game speed; raise the core temperature and engage the nervous system.Warm-up * Jog for 5 minutes * Leg swings-forward, cross body, 10 each * Active stretching over 20 yards with the following warm-ups#1 * Skip forward, backwards * Side skip with arm swing * Cross step, skip across foot-big hip movement (quick steps) * Carioca * High knee carioca as if going to sprint * Backward run, heels kick up to butt * High skip#2 * Skip with loops or swings * Cross over skip * Quick hip swings * Long shuffles with turn in the middle * Carioca with turn * Carioca at angles * Plant and cut; three steps plant and cut, stopping and bending * Forward and backward leg swings * High leg forward and backwards * Quick step backpedal to sprint * Sprint to backpedalMaster straight-ahead speed first, but go to lateral movements, stops and cuts, etc.First step is often too long.There are 18-22 different starting (from a stop) positions in a game.Hoop equipment (18" diameter) exercises: * Walk and hit the first hoop with coach specified foot and sprint out * Jog and hit the first hoop with coach specified foot and sprint out * Sprint with coach specified foot and sprint out * Side-on with cross step into hoop... * Side-on with an open step... * Shuffle into hoop, plant and sprint * Jump and turn in air, step into hoop and sprintHoops are 10 yards apart, sprint to first, then sprint to second, but halfway turn and run backwards, turning again just before the hoop.Four lines of players, each group of four sprinting to 4 hoops, then to 2 hoops.Player dribbles to gate, passes to another player and sprints forwards as second player passes ball ahead. The first player retrieves and crosses for another player to shoot on goal. The player should be timed over the first ten yards after the pass. A defender can be added at the gate to turn on the pass and sprint with the passer.*** Carioca - A carioca (who knows how to spell it) is a footwork exercise. While moving sideways, the trail foot crosses in front of the lead foot. The lead foot then moves ahead of the trail foot. The trail foot then crosses BEHIND the lead foot, etc.Follow the numbered sequence below for the lead and trail feet (T1,L1,T2,L2...):T1 T3 T L L1 L2 L3 L4 T2 T4Do this footwork with very quick steps or do it slow with big steps and a hip turn stretch (arms out) when the trail foot crosses the lead foot. Turn away from the direction you are moving when the foot crosses in front, towards the moving direction when the foot crosses behind.I used to shy away from this footwork because of the feet crossing each other, but foot crossing does happen on a field on cut backs, power steps, etc. It's a good warm-up exercise ------------------------------------- Quickness You can do figure 8's Put up two cones and your players run around and throw and around them making a a figure 8. Have them go in both directions. Then gradually bring the cones closer together to make the 8's in a smaller space.------------ Also try thisX X X X X Lay out 5 cones Players run around the cones always cutting back around the center cone. ----------------------------------- Agility [FONT=arial,helvetica]Run and tumble and run and tumble, etc. Do shoulder roll and recover and run. Shoulder hits the pitch then you tumble back to your feet and continue running. Over and unders if you have a railing some where that have a clearance under it. Go over the bar and under the bar for the length of the railing and back again. Hurdles go over and sprint, then under the next hurdle and sprint, then over and sprint, and under, etc. [/FONT]