Soccer Speed Drills - Part Three

Part three of the speed training series is about soccer speed drills. Why this topic? It’s what the readers want. So let’s get to it.

Tip#1 Keep Soccer Speed Drill Volume Low

Speed training targets the nervous system. Be careful you don’t turn your speed training into fitness training. In other words high volume and high intensity don’t go together. It is an inverse relationship-The higher the intensity the lower the volume. Sprinting over and over and over again to get faster will soon turn into a fitness activity.

Tip#2 Always put speed training at the beginning of your workout

Speed training is a nervous system intensive activity (where have I read that before). Therefore, speed drills must be done at the beginning of a workout. When I say beginning I am not saying the very first thing you do. You must warm up first. Do speed training drills while fresh. Doing it after strength training, fitness training and practice is not optimal.

Tip#3 What is a speed training drill

 If you read part one and part two you know that speed is about force into the ground. If you don’t get stronger and more powerful you are probably capping your speed potential. So don’t think that speed training is only about running because it’s not.

Tip#4 Remember What Soccer Speed Really Is

Soccer speed is not Olympic 100 Meter Speed. 100 meter speed is straight with no cutting. I might even go out on a limb and say on the pitch Usain Bolt would not longer be the fastest man in the world.

In my mind it is a fine line between soccer speed and soccer agility. It’s all fine and dandy to be able to sprint fast in a straight line, but if we are really going to be fast in soccer you have to be fast with all the cuts, stops and starts.

Soccer Speed Drills

Hill Running

Hill Running

Instructions:
1. Run a hill that has a 20-35 degree incline.
2. Sprint up the hill as fast as you can using good acceleration technique for desired distance.
3. Because of the steep incline and the fact we are working on acceleration I recommend keeping the distance to 15-20 yards.

Sitting and Standing Arms Drills

Try working on proper arm angles and power by doing arm drills. These drills can be done sitting, kneeling or standing.

Arm Technique Training

Instructions:
1. Swing arms in sprinting motion.
2. Elbows typically stay at 90 degrees in the swing up and may naturally open up a little in the down swing.
3. Do not move your arms across your body.

Sled Training

Heavy Sled Pull

Instructions:
First, make sure you read this speed training article which talks about heavy sled pulling.  Also watch the video on how to do it.  It's probably not as affective to pull a very heavy load around your waist.
1. Pull a heavy object that is not too heavy that it negatively affects your technique.  Acceleration technique lost=stop the repetition.

Reaction Drills

Maximum soccer speed requires good reactionary skills. As you design your speed training drills you should implement reaction into your daily drills. This requires a second person if training by yourself. Start each sprint by reacting to a clap, whistle, voice command, or roll of the soccer ball. After mastering reaction on a straight sprint start to include direction. This would happen by lining up a player on a line then point any direction. The player would then be required to sprint and react as fast as possible by sprinting in the direction of the point.

Bring it to an even different level by starting the athletes using different feet positions. Start them with the left foot or right foot in front, feet parallel, your back towards the direction of the run and more. Try putting yourself in situations during a game when you must react and sprint. Here are some ideas:

• Slide tackle-put yourself on the ground as if you just finished a slide tackle.
• Header-Throw the ball up, head the ball, and sprint.
• Give and Go Situations-Pass to a player or wall, sprint to receive the ball back.
• and more