Speed is an essential component of most sports.

Someone who is said to be fast is

someone useful to have in a team. But what does speed, or being fast mean? It
doesn't just mean being able to sprint 100 metres in a fast time. Being able to run
fast in a straight line is great for a track athlete but for a lot of sports, and especially
for soccer, speed means a few things.

For soccer we see speed as:

 1. the ability to accelerate quickly

 2. a high maximum speed
 3. the ability to react quickly to situations
 4. being able twist, turn and change direction quickly
 5. the ability to produce bursts of fast running throughout the game
 6. the ability to read a situation and anticipate
 7. the ability to move the ball and use the ball at speed

The first five elements are areas that we can improve upon in specific speed training.
The last two are areas that are specific to soccer training with a ball.

Some key points to remember when doing specific speed sessions (that is sessions
without a ball) are:

 Players must be fully warmed up

 Speed work should be done at the start of a session when players are fresh
 Speed requires explosive movement and care should be taken if players tired or
have injuries.
 Good form and technque together with relaxation is the key to running fast.

A lot of people say that sprinters are born and not made, and while it is true that
genetics plays a large part in a players ability to move quickly, all players can
improve all aspects that make up speed.

These are just some of the ideas I use when working on different aspects of speed.

acceleration

To get acceleration, a player needs to move his/her feet very quickly, gradually
increasing stride length as he/she drives forward. Fast feet drills, using speed
ladders etc. can greatly help a players acceleration as well as coordination. Strength
can be increased using sprint drills and low intensity plyometrics (for players 13+).

Weight training is ideal to gain specific strength but not for youth players under the
age of 16 or so.

maximum speed

Maximum speed requires leg strength and leg speed. One way in which youth
players can gain more leg strength and leg speed is to work on sprint drills. These
are drills that break down the sprinting action and work on specific areas. I like to
use these as part of a long warm up session and usually perform them over roughly
20-30 metres. With all these drills, it is important that the arm action is strong and
relaxed. Mimic the arm action of sprinting style, so for instance if doing bum kicks,
don't try and kick your hand that you place behind you, run with normal arm action.

 Bum kicks, concentrate on leg speed

 High knees, taking care not to lean back
 Skips for height
 Skips for length
 Bounds for length (players 13+)
 Hops for length (players 13+)

Do 2 to 4 repetitions of good quality drills, slow jog or walk back to recover.

reaction speed

Having players sprint when they are given a command. The command can be visual
or a sound. Remember that in game situations, they will usually react to visual
stimuli. It is also a good idea to have players react while they are moving rather than
standing still. Players would not normally be stationary during a game, and nor
would they usually be required to react quickly and at speed from a stationary
position.

Lots of fun game type drills can be used, where players in pairs react to a command
or signal as part of race or relay. This keeps players concentrating on the command
and therefore making their running reaction more natural and relaxed. In other
words, rather than have them stationary, then you say "set" "go", they are running
on the spot and may have to jump, turn, or sprint forwards, backwards etc.

change direction

Setup drills and sprints where the players are not just running in a straight line. Get
them to run back then forwards, side to side, then back, diagonally etc. In a game
there are no restrictions on the directions they will so incorporate multi direction runs
into speed training.

sustain speed

Speed endurance is the ability to hold close to maximum speed for as long as
possible, a 400 metre runner has good speed endurance. A soccer player, needs
elements of speed endurance but also need to be able to carry out many short bursts
of effort during a match. To train for this requires, interval type training, with high
intensity and a reasonable recovery period. This type of training, should take place
once the player has had some base training to get some initial endurance on which
to build more specific speed endurance.