Category: Goalkeeping
Type: Program
SPEED IMPROVEMENT
These drills related to speed are not intended as team drills and although some have a ball as focus they are not the "ball oriented" drills that are what team sessions really need to be.
There are many parts to quickness. Foot speed, strength, anticipation, and preparation. You can train the parts separately and, sometimes, get a marked improvement.
Remember speed work is not aerobic it is anaerobic. Be sure that the two are kept fairly separate.
Speed I
1. Jump rope very fast but with a fairly deep knee bend. This works on all parts of speed fitness. Be sure that the sessions that are for speed work are not turned into aerobic sessions.
2. If you have seen the Rocky movie where he is trained to fight VERY fast you see some very good ideas for quickness training including the "catch the chicken." But I would change this to a drill like this: scatter 5 or 6 cones around a 20x20 ft area random but fairly evenly dispersed all different colors. Have the player begin in a corner and call out a color the player must move to and touch the called cone with both hands. As soon as he/she touches the cone call another color. As this progresses, when the player slows, begin to call slightly before they reach the cone. Watch to be sure that the player is maintaining bent knees and moving in balance and pushing directly toward the next cone with bent knees. When the player is almost ready to drop stop and say rest (DO NOT ALLOW THEM TO SIT OR LIE DOWN!!!) then as soon as the breathing seems regular restart the drill. Repeat 4 times.
3. Place a ball on the ground and have the player stand behind the ball. As fast as the player can have them step over the ball 1 foot at a time both feet going to each spot before the next stem is started. Progress like this: step over the ball to the front then back then to the right then over the ball to the left then back to the right then back to the back. Again, watch for knee bend and for balance. This works wonderfully with fast rock music.
For speed/quickness work, the player should work to almost exhaustion and rest for a short time and repeat in sets of 4-6. The speed work should NOT be combined with aerobic but should be on different days.
Since the speed work is VERY stressful it should rarely be used with any kind of injury except as a doctor directs. To have improvement you must really stress the player so prepair them for soreness and watch for stress and injury.
Speed II
In soccer the first step is rarely in the same direction that the player is facing at the time. In order to leave your mark quickly or regain position after a move has been executed it is often necessary to accelerate quickly to one side or at an angle.
The proper way to do this is set in two parts: First the knees must be bent fairly deeply and second the push is more like a speed skater than a sprinter. Sometimes the push needs to be in a somewhat backward direction for recovery. To train this you must work both on the knee bend and on the push.
One way to get a real good workout is place 4 balls on the ground in a flat diamond shape. First place 2 balls about 4 shoulder widths apart For a 4 ft tall player this would be about 8 feet or so. Then while standing at the center have the player take 2 normal steps forward and place another ball there and the last ball is placed the same distance back.
All the rest of the exercise is done inside if this diamond with the points being the area just inside of the balls. Then starting from the back center ball players should be standing with a slight knee bend and then push hard and accelerate in one big stride to the ball on the right. They should maintain the knee bend at all times. Then they push to the top center ball, ten to the left ball then back to the back ball. The pushes must be quickly executed and must be as fast as possible while maintaining balance and the knee bend. The number of reps should be adjusted to the size and strength of the player. Smaller lighter players will be able to do more that their bigger heavier teammates. This exercise should be done to near exhaustion, like almost all speed work, and, after enough rest for the breathing to get to near normal, repeated at 4-6 times.
The small already fairly quick player may find this a little unproductive. If they do then, if they are well into puberty, (at least 13 for girls and 14 for boys) have them wear a weight vest for training. The vest should add about 10-15% to the body weight. DO NOT USE ANKLE WEIGHTS!!! These could damage the knees because of the added stretching of the joints by weights on the ankles. A waist weight can be used as well.
More to come later.
Jim Turpin
USSF D
Hamilton Futbol Club U13B U10G (& GoalKeepers)
Submitted by: Jim Turpin
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