soccer training skills
 

Soccer speed training to enhance performance


Soccer Speed Training
The speed of a soccer player is much more complex
than the speed of a 100-metre sprinter. Speed in
soccer is the combination of several skills.

Speed of recognition:
Recognizing the game situation and its many possibilities
and being ready to make adjustments.

Speed of anticipation:
The ability to anticipate the development of both
offensive and defensive possibilities in a game situation.

 

 

Reaction speed:
The ability to adapt to rapidly changing situations, especially unforeseen ones.

Speed of changing directions:
Moving with or without a ball, creating space
offensively and closing down space defensively.

Action speed:
The ability to carry out game specific actions under
pressure of defensive and offensive situations.
Although every player needs to be able to respond to
all the game's situations, it is the key areas of play
making that require the most knowledgeable and
experienced players.

Most of the qualities that make a player fast come
from concentration and power. These are game
specific techniques that are developed with constant
on the ball activities. These qualities are game specific
and are refined through game situations and
practice sessions.
Training is only successful when the techniques are
constantly challenged under realistic situations.
The key is to combine ball-handling skills with increases
in speed. This is because good acceleration skills
interfere with fast footwork. The challenge is to
develop power training techniques with constant
touches on the ball.

Interesting Points

  • Training intensity must be kept at a high level or it only benefits endurance and doesn't increase speed.
  • The rest intervals are important to monitor as the anaerobic alactic energy system is being utilized
    during this training phase.
    Speed training without an extensive warm up and
    stretch will likely produce injuries. 


 

 

  • Speed training is useless when the athlete is
    tired as a result of a threshold, or has reached
    a plateau. This only produces speed endurance
    and is the aerobic phase of the athletes physical
    condition.
  • The development of muscle mass is the obvious
    key to increases in speed and gaining of power.
  • Sprinting with weights at a moderate incline
    increases speed.
    Speed is more trainable post-puberty than
    pre-puberty as it relates directly to muscle
    gain and mass.
  • Understand the energy systems and how they
    flow and interchange will aid in the design of an
    effective training regime.

The design of a practice should have all these points incorporated into it to optimize the athletes' ability
to perform.

Speed Endurance - Increase Burst of Speed.

Speed endurance - the focus is on holding good
technique, even as an athlete gets tired.
Program as follows:

  • 3 sets x 20 seconds at 80% top speed with 1 minute 15 seconds rest  
  • 3 sets x 15 seconds at 80% top speed with 1 minute 25 seconds rest in between  
  • 3 sets x 10 seconds at 80% top speed with 1 minute 35 seconds rest in between  
  • Hill run for acceleration - 8 yards at ~30 degree incline x 3

Power endurance - focus on technique even as the athlete gets tired.

Line up all 6 medicine balls in a row about 5 yards in
between each ball.

  • Athlete performs squat push press explosively
    with each ball running to the next once ball is
    released. 
  • Athlete then runs to the retrieve the balls and
    squat back tosses each one.

This sequence is performed 3 times with 5 minutes
rest between sets.
I know it sounds like a lot of rest, but try this and
you'll understand the rest break!

The following sites will be very useful at this stage
Stretching and speed training, Speed and flexibility,

and peak speed with combined training,

For a more links on this, go to Soccer Speed Training Links.