Good evening everyone!! We had 2 great soccer-specific training sessions at Meyer Athletic Development today, with both groups focusing on developing linear speed! First off, I want to thank Brad, Erin, and Hannah in my Elementary-aged group and Erynn, Kaitlynn, Kelly, and Sarah in my Middle School-aged group for paying great attention to instruction and really having fun with the session!!
We started by trying to improve our stride frequency and foot speed by working through a set of agility rings. In order to establish some coordination and rhythm, we started by running through the rings, touching one foot in each and then bursting 7 yards to the next set of rings. The focus was on minimizing ground contact by striking the ground with just the ball of the foot. Then, we moved on to double foot taps in each ring. In the first ring set, we struck the ground with our right foot first, the second set with our left. A lot of folks might feel that basic patterns like these might not be challenging enough. However, I find that when you work with younger age groups, you really must hit home the basic coordination patterns in order for them to succeed with more intricate ones. You'd be surprised how right or left-dominate some soccer kids can be. Going from leading with their right foot to leading with their left really threw some of them off significantly.
Our last progression with the agilty rings was a bounding series. I started by removing every other ring and had the kids bound from one to the other and then take off on a 7 yard sprint. Again, the focus was on minimizing ground contact time. But, I also made sure to instruct them to really push off that plant foot and drive to the next ring. Since there was a bit of space between the rings, we were also working to decrease stride frequency by increasing the distance between our steps. By the end of the series, you could really see the kids exploding into their stride a bit more than before.
After finishing with the rings, we complimented our speed work with some lower-body strength and power by incorporating some split squats and medicine ball frog tosses. Starting in a split squat with the back knee on the ground and a 6lb Dynamax ball in their hands, the kids powered up from the ground and balanced themselves in a split stance. After 4 reps, they squared their feet up and lowered the ball into a squat and broad jumped as far as they could, releasing the ball in a granny toss at the same time. In combining these two exercises, we addressed the issue of hip flexibility, glute and quadricep strength, ankle-knee-hip stability, and overall hip power which is crucial to successful speed training.
We finished the session with some fun fitness. The kids partnered up and stood 15 yards away from each other. Partner 1 dribbled their soccer ball across the field to Partner 2, leaving it there. Partner 2 then passed the ball back to where Partner 1 started as Partner 1 tried to beat the ball back to the spot. After 4 rounds each, the kids were whipped with big smiles on their faces.
So, I hope you enjoyed this little view into how we develop linear speed in young soccer players at Meyer Athletic Development. If you think your young soccer player would benefit from some quality speed, strength, and agility training, then give us a shout today at 512-983-0443.
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