Coaching - Errors When Developing Maximum Speed in Team Sports
Although speed is a major determinant of success in team sports, there are a number of common errors that team sport coaches make when attempting to develop maximum speed in their athletes.
These errors include timing at the end of practice, distances that are longer than that performed in games, and a total volume of work that is excessive.
Timing At The End Of Practice
It's common for team sport players to perform their speed work at the end of practice--for example, basketball players running lines before heading to the locker room.
This might be good for developing endurance and fitness, but it does little to improve leg speed. That's because maximal speed is best developed when the nervous system is fresh and able to incorporate faster-than-normal patterns of movement.
Unfortunately, by the end of practice, the nervous system is already fatigued and the ability of players to run at maximum speed is impaired. Maximum speed will not be improved by practicing at a sub-maximal pace.
Too Much Distance
Speed work is often performed over distances that don't reflect game situations--for example, football players performing 100 yard repeats even though they seldom sprint farther than 20 to 30 yards during a game. In fact, for most players, acceleration over the first five strides is most important.
Aside from lack of specificity, longer sprint repetitions produce early neuromuscular fatigue (see above). The fact is, most world-class sprinters reach their top speed before they hit 60 yards. Maximum speed work that goes beyond that is developing speed endurance not maximum speed.
And if your football linemen never sprint more than 30 yards, it is speed over 30 yards that is most important for them.
Too Much Volume
Some teams perform volume (i.e. number of reps) that cause so much fatigue that speed and technique suffer and the nervous system trains incorrect firing and technique patterns. Again, fatigued athletes will not improve their maximum speed.
Recommendations
There is definitely a role for large volumes of longer sprint intervals at the end of practice. Just be aware that it is speed endurance, not maximum speed that you are developing pure speed with such training.
Increasing your athlete's maximum speed requires a non-fatigued nervous system employing full-out sprints over distances of less than 60 yards… with plenty of recovery.
This is best performed early in the practice, or as a separate session. In terms of volume, a good rule of thumb is, when athletes' speed or technique declines (sprint times go up), wrap up high-intensity training for the day.
Reference: Joseph Warpeha. "Principles of Speed Training." NSCA's Performance Training Journal, June 2007. http://www.nsca-lift.org
To download the pdf version of this
article, click here:
Download Now