Speed is an essential part of most sports and nowadays, sports at all levels are demanding more physicality and skill from all athletes of all ages. Speed education is often left out of traditional coach education in sports away from Track & Field and often coaches are left to work with players with poor running habits and slow reactions, without an understanding as to how to fix them.
Whilst we can’t all be blessed with the fast twitch fibres of Usain Bolt or Dafne Schippers, all athletes of all abilities can improve their overall quickness and speed. Speed is influenced by a huge range of factors including an athletes mobility, strength and technique and it is important to work on all aspects to ensure the longevity, health and overall speed of an athlete.
One important thing to know as a coach outside of track and field, is that the speed needed for team sports is very different to the speed needed for an individual sprinter. The biggest difference is that sprint athletes need a force production strategy along with the elastic strength of connective tissues to carry them down the track at full flight for 100, 200 or 400 meters.
An athlete in team sports which involves twists, turns, 10 – 40 meter sprints and quick movements relies more on muscle contractions and reaction speeds. These differences require very different training strategies for both types of athlete.It is also important to train speed all year round. Too often, coaches focus on endurance and increasing workload in the off-season without any speed movements or drills at all. Training slow = competing slow. So having an element of speed from beginning to the end of the season is essential to improve speed and maintain it all year long.
Author: FCN Academy Speed Coach – find out more CLICK HERE
