Speed and Agility Training

Almost any sport and soccer is one of them, can benefit from a combination of speed, quickness and endurance. Most athletes spend the bulk of their training time focused on endurance, but speed training is a great way to kick your performance up a notch and make you a more valuable member of the team.

If you look at any college or professional soccer clubs you will see that those that are successful have fast players.  The forwards are fast, their defense is fast, and most importantly their midfield is fast.  Having fast players is a key ingredient to having a great team.  Great teams can be founded on skill and knowledge of the game.  But if they do not have the speed in order to carry out the skill and knowledge of the game they will not be able to ever achieve their highest levels.

I did not know that there were exercises that you could do that would actually make you faster and more agile.  I had always been under the impression that speed was something that some people are born with and others... not.  However there are drills and exercises that help you ramp up both.

I will leave it up to your child's coach or their club to provide them with those exercises.  Again, this type of thing should be done on an age appropriate level.  Also, speed training drills should be done only after having achieved a certain level of fitness.

Check out the "Thinking Fast" page for some more insight into speed training.