Lets get faster! PART 5

FITNESS-Bread and Butter!

Fitness is not about just making players tired. All that does is, make them tired! It all to often also makes them slow. Tired people cannot move fast! We have developed a speed programme so how do we get them fit with out blunting speed?

In the next article I will outline a basic training method which we found had a high degree of success in developing the ability to work hard and fast for the duration of a match.

Lets get faster! PART 6

FITNESS-BREAD AND BUTTER

Having worked with many players from a variety of sports I did note that, yes, they don’t travel in a straight line. Now you can refer to my book “101 Youth Hockey Drills” for more information. We need to develop sessions of quality to enable the players to deploy speed reserve and intensity.The sessions should be of a high quality to enable adaptation to take place.Otherwise the players will become slow-at everything! So ensure there is sufficient rest-possibly more rest than you may have been giving them up until now.

Start players not by a whistle or a verbal command but a visual cue. This is the prime mover on the field of play. They are reacting to the opposition, the ball and their own team mates. Get them to carry the ball, kick the ball or hold a Hockey stick-after all that's what they do!

The specific requirement to be able to work at high intensity for the duration of a march can be gained by combining straight line movements with change of direction work.

Basis Back to back session (running out then back over a distance).

Method:

• Mark out 30m on your training area.
• On the signal the player runs the distance fast, slows down then has 20 seconds to walk to the finish line.
• On the signal the player runs back an other 30m to the original starting point.

This represents two reps. The number of reps is decided by the drop off in speed of each rep.

If I was coaching Rugby players I would get them to run ball in hand. Hockey players with stick in hand.