Agility drill

Agility drills are used in the aim of improving sports agility, the ability to change direction while in motion. The ability to change direction while in motion is very important in many sports but especially in team and dual sports. For example, a football running back must be able to quickly change direction when he sees an opponent preparing to tackle him. A soccer player must be able to quickly change directions when dribbling the ball or when trying to get the ball away from an opponent. A tennis player must be able to quickly change directions when moving to a position where the ball is expected to go but instead finds the ball going in a different direction. .

Many more examples can be given but in almost all cases sports agility requires the player to quickly change directions in order to elude or stay with an opponent. The latter is especially important in football, basketball and lacrosse when covering an opponent. If a player cannot elude his opponent he will not be able to fulfill his assignment or position task. For example, he will not be able to receive a pass or to break free of his opponent to execute or perform some important task.

The quicker and sharper the changes in direction, the better the athlete can elude or stay with his or her opponent. The ability to make quick sharp changes in direction also enables the player to exhibit great quickness. In sports such as football there are many good running backs and receivers who can run fast in a straight line. But in order for them to be great, they must also be able to elude their opponents by changing direction quickly. If they do not have this ability they will never be great.

Thus the ability to change direction quickly while in motion is critical for sports success. Because of this coaches have devised many drills to improve this ability. In general, these drills are specific to different sports but some of them are applicable to many sports. For example, tumbling drills are usually more specific to swimmers who execute a flip turn and to gymnasts who use some aspects of tumbling in their routines on the apparatus or in free exercise.

Drills that entail jumping with turns in the air are usually applicable to basketball players and receivers and pass defenders in football. Drills that use side jumps and front-back jumps are more specific to team sports in which the athlete must change direction while running. Drills that require jumping over objects is usually best suited for sports in which the player must leap over hurdles or players. These drills usually use some form of rope ladders, small or low hurdles or small cones.

The drills that use ladders, hurdles and cones have proven to be extremely popular and are now used extensively in many different sports By using these drills coaches take it for granted that the athletes will become quicker and faster and many cases, more explosive. However, close examination of these popular drills and how they are executed, shows that the actions involved in executing these drills is not specific to the actions that the athlete must execute in gameplay.

For example, in a ladder drill with the ladder approximately a foot off the ground, the athlete must raise the knees high in order to execute each step successfully. In other words, they drive the thigh upward, not forward as occurs in a running or cutting action. Understand that the key to a successful change in direction while running is in the ability to execute a cutting action. In this you plant the lead leg and then step out in the desired direction. The feet stay close to the ground as these actions are accomplished. This is needed to save time and to make the movement execution quicker.

Thus the ladder drill is not specific to what occurs in a cutting action. Similar situations exist when using the hurdles or cones. In order to go over these objects it is necessary to drive the thigh upward, not forward as occurs in running, accelerating, taking a quick first step and getting more force in kicking. Driving the thigh upward rather than forward actually creates a slower athlete rather than a faster or quicker athlete! This is a very important point that must be taken into consideration when deciding whether these drills are beneficial.

Agility drills can be of benefit to athletes if the drills duplicate or use the cutting action. In this way the athlete gets reinforcement of the action and will be able to get a little quicker or faster as his sports skill is fine tuned. Being able to duplicate the key action that is involved in execution of the sports agility skill is the secret to the success of any agility drill. When the drills are executed often enough there is a transfer of how the athlete executes the skill to gameplay.

Thus if athletes do many ladder, hurdle or cone drills, they learn to drive the knees upward rather than forward. If instead they duplicated a true cutting action in which the feet stay close to the ground and the knees are driven forward it could bring about a positive transfer that could improve skill execution. Practicing the cutting action in a drill would be much more productive.

It is also possible to have coaches talk of developing fast feet with agility drills. Most often they use ladder drills in which you step over each rung and then stutter step two or three times before stepping over the next ladder step. You continue in this manner for the full length of the ladder. For variety they also have the athlete traverse the entire ladder sideways. Execution is basically the same in which the athletes drive the knees upward to go over each rung of the ladder. Also sometimes included are stutter steps in between which are supposed to develop faster feet.

However, the cutting action, which is the basis for running agility is not a matter of fast feet. It is a matter of fast legs. You must be able to move the legs from the hips in order to move quickly or to execute quick cutting actions. In addition, the feet must remain close to the ground regardless of whether the step being taking is short or long. In other words, as the cut is being executed the body is lowered and as the athlete pushes off, he steps out with the leg closest to the direction in which he wishes to move. He then takes a step out with the leg and turns the body so he can quickly assume the running position. At times it is necessary that the athlete have the ability to rotate the hips and/or shoulders a full 90° in order to be more evasive in the cutting action. This allows him to maintain eye contact with his opponent and maintain his shoulders in a front facing position. In so doing the opponent does not get any hints that a change in direction is about to take place. Hurdle drills are essentially the same as ladder drills since their execution is basically the same. In these drills you move in a linear or sideward manner. Cone drills however, are used mainly for side movements. In the drills you leap sideways over a cone in one direction and then back in the opposite direction. The key to successful execution is a high knee drive to successfully clear the top of the cone. As should be obvious, they do not duplicate the cutting action.

For the drill to be successful in relation to improving sports performance on the field or court it must include cutting actions. Learning how to do the cutting action is imperative. It involves both technical and physical components that are learned skills. These skills must be mastered in order to get maximum benefit in the agility drill.