Speed may be the single most important element of sports success, and agility adds another key element to reaching the top level of soccer, writes Ron McEachen, head men's coach at Skidmore College in Vermont, in "The Soccer Coaching Bible." Speed allows you to leave defenders behind or catch up to slower forwards. Agility enables you to wriggle through a thicket of defenders' limbs to score or to dive after the ball if you are a goalkeeper, as well as to escape injury by skittering out of harm's way. Speed and agility workouts in the gym require adapting activities typically conducted out on the field and using indoor soccer shoes with gum soles rather than cleats with protruding studs.
Agility Ladders
Soccer coach Mike Matkovich describes how to conduct agility ladder work in his book "Elite Soccer Drills." These improve food speed, balance and coordination. Place an agility ladder on the floor of the gym. Line up a group of five to seven players at one end of the ladder. Have players follow your demonstrated step patterns through the ladder, which typically involve hopscotch patterns placing the left or right foot or both inside and outside the ladder squares. They can jump with two feet or one over the rungs, step over and back, and repeat patterns facing forward or back.
Agility Slalom
To combine both agility and improved speed work in one exercise, try the agility running drill. Matkovich advises placing four cones to form a rectangle measuring 15 by 30 yards; you can shrink the size as necessary to fit an open area of the gym floor or use a gym dance area, the basketball court or group exercise studio. Place a row of cones in the middle of the rectangle. On your whistle, a player runs from one corner to another, races around each of the slalom cones, retraces to the beginning of the slalom course and then races to the remaining two corners in turn.
Mini-hurdles
University of North Carolina soccer conditioning coach Greg Gatz recommends work with 6-inch-tall mini-hurdles, which mimic agility ladder work with an added height dimension. Place the hurdles in a row two feet apart. Direct the players to step laterally over the hurdles, to move laterally again while adding a crossover step, and to shuffle sideways and back and forth between the hurdles, using them much like a slalom course.
Skip for Height
This drill works to increase speed, write the editors of "Training for Speed, Agility and Quickness." Perform it on a track if your gym has one or in an open area, either carpeted or wooden floored. Skip forward, driving the knee upward as aggressively as possible. Use an aggressive arm motion as well and try to gain as much height as possible. This exercise increases hip extension and flexion strength, improves the ankle muscles and enhances stride length.
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