THE SECOND SECRET OF SPEED GOOD ARM DRIVE
“the arms drive the legs” Poor arm drive is the most common fault in young players of all sports that I see. Most young players that come to me for their initial assessment have obvious faults with their arm mechanics. This has a major affect on their performance and yet in younger players is a correctable problem. The common faults are • hunched tight shoulders • arms crossing the midline of the body • poor backward movement of the elbows and hands • hands bunched and tight and not brushing the pocket I find that young players find these problems with arm mechanics difficult to visualise and now routinely film the players then show them the film of their running action and their arm drive -this immediately allows them to understand what you are taking about. The backward arm movement is the vital component (not the forward arm movement which will tend to occur naturally) as this drives the opposite foot down into the ground the harder the arm drive backwards, the more force onto the ground and the more speed can be generated. Cues to use are “Eye socket to hip pocket” or “hammer a nail behind you with each elbow” PLEASE NOTE THE 2 ACTION PHOTOS BELOW WITH GOOD BACKWARD ARM DRIVE BEING SHOWN -EYE SOCKET TO HIP POCKET FROM 2 OF OUR ADVANCED PLAYERS - (PLEASE NOTE) BOTH THESE PLAYERS ARE SOCCER PLAYERS NOT SPRINTERS 
ARM DRILLS Sitting -legs out in front –moderate speed then fast for 10 secs do not allow poor technique to occur with the increased speed Then repeat with Kneeling -chest out chin level with the ground Standing -don’t allow shoulder to rock as this causes the hips to turn Get the players to practice this at home suggest they use a mirror to watch themselves is helpful as it also forces them to look forwards with their head up –as sometimes when doing arm drills they tend to be working their arms so much that shoulder, head position and posture all tend to be forgotten return from arm drive to home page
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