Speed Training

Everyone wants to get quicker. A player with better speed is able to –

• Be faster on and off the ball
• Create space and lose markers
• Get to loose balls quicker

In this article, we’re going to learn how to test our speed, and learn 3 drills to develop blistering pace.

A stronger player has a better capacity to improve their speed. You can read more about strength training by clicking here.

Once you’ve improved your strength, it’s time to work on your speed. We can improve our speed by –

• Working on running technique using drills
• Maximal accelerations and sprints up to 20-40 m.

In a game we won’t tend to sprint for more than 20 m without changing direction. Working on our ability to accelerate and get up to top speed quickly over 20 m can be a really effective way to improve your speed.

Test your speed

If we are going to improve our speed. We need a target to base from.

After a good warm up, we do a 20 m maximum sprint test to measure our players speed. Get a friend or coach to time you over 20 metres, and track your improvements over a number of weeks.

3 DRILLS FOR BLISTERING SPEED

Wall Drives

• Rest your hands against the wall, and walk your feet back until you have a straight line from your body to your heels. You should roughly feel like you would fall if you took another couple steps back.
• Push off the wall and step back with one foot. With a forward lean, drive into the ground with your front foot and explode into the wall. Bring the knee and toe high and through, and punch into the wall aggressively.
• Return to the start position, and repeat the movement on both sides.

How can I progress it?

• Resisted – Get a partner to loop a resistance band or an old hoodie round your hips and apply some light resistance by holding you back slightly.
• 3-Point start – Start on the floor in a sprinter start position.
• Prone start -Lie on your stomach and pop up and drive into the wall rapidly. Reacting to a partners call can make the movement even more reactive and challenging.

A-Skip

• With the opposite arm high with the opposite leg, skip and bounce quickly, bringing the lead knees and toes high.
• Maintain a stiff, bouncing posture, keeping tall, with the head up.
• At the top position, have the lead knee high, heel towards the hamstring, and the toes up towards the shin.

How can I progress it?

• Resisted – Get a partner to loop a resistance band or an old hoodie round your hips and apply some light resistance by holding you back slightly.
• Get faster! – Perform the movement with quicker movements and faster contacts on the ground.
• More distance – skip for a further distance, and perform more sets.

Watch the videos below to see a couple of A-Skip variations in action

Accelerations

How can I progress it?

• Resisted – Get a partner to loop a resistance band or an old hoodie round your hips and apply some light resistance by holding you back slightly.
• 3-Point Start – Start from the same position you would from the wall drive drill, resembling a sprinter.
• Reactive! – Rather than initiating the sprint yourself, start upon reacting to either a partner saying “Go”, a football being rolled in front of you, or another reactive stimulus.

Watch the videos below to see a couple of acceleration variations in action

Summary

• Speed drills can help us be faster on and off the ball, create space and lose markers and get to loose balls quicker.
• In this article, we learned 3 simple drills to get faster for football. Doing these 2-3 x per week can help to rapidly improve your acceleration, speed and sharpness.
• You can regularly assess your speed (every 4-6 weeks) using the 20 m sprint test, to help track your improvements.