Agility and speed training in soccer involves short bursts of jumping, hopping and running as well as abrupt changes of direction, replicating the typical runs of 15 yards or less during an actual game. Speed and agility are combined with coordination activities to form what coaches call "SAC" training, considered an increasingly important of training for players at all levels, writes coach Mike Matkovich in "Elite Soccer Drills."
Significance
Players work on speed, agility and coordination engaged in patterned footwork around obstacles and courses. This training helps young players develop better balance and body control, essential when trying to control or follow the ball. For adult and advanced youth players, SAC training can improve running technique, acceleration and foot speed.
Considerations
You ideally want your team to focus on speed and agility at the beginning of practice when players are fresh. Another option is to use the training as a warm-up before practice, Matkovich notes. Equipment needs include cones, disks, a stopwatch, agility rings and ladders, and hurdles. Heart-rate monitors and timing equipment can be part of the arsenal of an advanced program. At the beginning of preseason, you can administer sprint tests across 20 yards and the Illinois agility test, requiring players to run in a backwards "C" shape around cones, to establish baselines for each players to work to improve.
Circuit
Set up circuits for your players that balance different types of speed and agility work, without too much exhausting sprinting or jumping. Look to have players spend two to three minutes per station, with one to three minutes of rest between stations. To teach acceleration, set up four cones or poles in a diamond shape with 1-yard sides. Place a fifth and sixth cone 10 yards from the diamond to serve as a finish line. Have each player start in the center of the diamond, feet together, jumping over the cone or pole to his left, back to center, over the cone to the right, back to center, and then running through the pair of cones 10 yards away. Stress that the players should use their arms to keep balance and accelerate using the ball of the foot.
Ladders and Poles
An agility ladder looks like a row of squares made of slats that resemble mini-blinds. Set the agility ladder up as a separate station and line up players to go through it using specific footwork patterns. They can hop through the rungs on one foot, with both feet, backward and in hopscotch or zigzag patterns. Follow with a stride exercise set up by laying agility poles on the ground, spaced 1 foot apart increasing to 2 yards. Have the players adjust their stride length so that their feet fall between each spaced pole. This exercise improves foot speed, foot coordination and acceleration.
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