SPEED AND MOVEMENT E BOOK BY BRIAN GRASSOSpeed & Movement Aptitude Teaching Winning Strategies Introduction The ability to ‘move’ has long been considered an innate skill that athletes either posses or don’t. The notion that movement aptitude or ability can in fact be taught, progressed and even perfected over time remains a constant source of debate for many strength coaches. More over, several sport coaches often design drills and maneuvers within the context of a given practice that are intended to enhance the specific speed or movement proficiency of an athlete as it relates to a particular pattern of motion found within the respective sport. More often than not, the drill or sequence is demonstrated once, discussed briefly and then executed by the individual athletes on the team. Phrases such as ‘Get there!’ and ‘FASTER!’ are yelled by the coach as he or she laments at the lack of speed or proficiency with which the athletes are performing the drill in question. The issue however, resides not in the fact that the athletes are lacking anything in particular as the reason why they can’t seem to perfect the drill to the level that the coach demands, rather it is the coach/trainer who is lacking… Specifically, a well thought out and progressive system intended to gradually increase the level of ability in each athlete allowing for adequate if not perfect execution. This remains one of several issues I feel are lost and missing on so many coaches and trainers working with young athletes today – Strength, speed, mobility, agility and even flexibility exercises are skills that must be taught, reinforced and perfected through a progressive and systematic means. I feel strongly that this is at least partially attributable to the notion that many of the best athletes in a given sport seldom become quality coaches. It is the ability to understand the individual elements that comprise a specific technique, how to break them down to their finer parts and incorporate them into a methodical instructive process that accounts for one’s ability as a coach. Very often, naturally talented athletes lack this ability, as their skills were typically ‘unconscious’. Coaches and trainers who don’t adopt an instructional system within their training sessions are not allowing for optimal development of the skills associated with the exercises they are prescribing and therefore not reinforcing a lifetime adherence of ability to that drill. For example, Coach ‘A’ takes his soccer players out on to the field for a training session and creates a cone drill intended to improve agility. Five to ten minutes are spent explaining the drill and he demonstrates the movement sequence once. He then instructs the athletes to go through the drill as shown/discussed. After everyone has gone through the drill, he bemoans that his team did not execute the drill to the level that he had expected. But what ‘level’ is he talking about? He only showed the drill once and discussed the complexities of it for a few minutes. Is the level he was hoping to see one that he ‘saw’ in his head? Very often coaches and trainers will know what a drill or exercise should look like, but struggle with why their athletes aren’t performing it as such. In this example, Coach ‘A’ did not take the time to make his athletes understand the finite characteristics of each motion within the movement sequence, so adherence or demonstration of the drill is not going to look like the image he created. Same coach. Same team – two weeks later. This time Coach ‘A’ asks his team to perform the exact same drill but is shocked to see that, although still not at the level he wanted it to be, it is being executed poorly for different reasons now. Two weeks ago when he first prescribed the drill, the kids were going through the exercise reasonably well, but the speed and tempo were far too slow. This time, the speed and tempo are much better, but the actual exeuction of each ‘cut’ and ‘change of direction’ looks very sloppy. In the absence of a quality and orderly instructional method, young athletes simply cannot adhere to a level of competency in performing a drill or exercise because they do not have a grasp of the finite and fundamental components of how to perform it. Physical elements such as ‘cutting’, ‘changing direction’, ‘decelerating’ and ‘accelerating’ are items that many coaches and trainers want their athletes to be good at, but don’t realize that they are not inborn skills we simply posses. They can however be taught and systematically perfected if the coach in question develops and executes a well thought out and progressive teaching model. Having said all that, there are three fundamental reasons coaches and trainers should teach movement skills as part of their curriculum: Injury Prevention There are currently over 40 million young athletes in the United States alone participating in organized sports annually. Over 3.5 million sport-related injuries are reported every year as well. The interesting portion of that statistic is that 3.5 million injuries are reported. The number of ‘slight’ hamstring pulls or ‘minor’ inversion sprains that are not reported and dismissed, as ‘no big deal’ is innumerable. How many of those slight pulls and minor sprains however, lead to more serious injuries due to an alteration in normal gait or mechanics is an impossible debate to wage, but I would suggest that the numbers would bereasonably high. The crux of the argument as it relates to movement aptitude instruction is clear, however. Anterior cruciate ligament damage in the knee for example, occurs most frequently in three sports – volleyball, basketball and soccer. In separate studies, several factual considerations with respect to ACL injuries have been shown: 1. Non-contact ACL injuries often occur with the knee at modest flexion along with a valgus motion. 2. Quadriceps contraction applies an anterior shear force on the tibia,which strains the ACL. 3. The above mentioned quadriceps contraction can cause an ACL injury if the knee flexion angle is less than 30 degrees and the hamstring musculature does not supply necessary posterior shear force (when functioning well, the hamstrings provide a counter force which pulls the tibia back from any translation forward). The mechanisms of ACL injuries (non-contact varieties) are most commonly found during the following motions: . Landing from a jump .‘Cutting’ or decelerating to change direction Landing from a jump and cutting are both skills however, that if taught well, could decrease the injury rates experienced by young athletes. Either many coaches are oblivious to that fact, or they simply lack the knowledge of how to teach these elemental skills in a progressive manner. Developmental Performance Enhancement Who is the better athlete… the one who can get there quickest or the one who can decelerate, change directions and accelerate most economically? You better believe it’s the latter! Young athletes who learn skills and movement aptitude at a young age blossom into capable and economical on-field performers who are resistant to injury. You have taught them how to execute the finer points of a variety of movement skills and progressed them over time, narrowing their focus and making them more sport specific in nature. We all marvel at the athletes who demonstrate tremendous ‘body awareness’ and appear ‘deer-like’ in their movement habits. There is no question that athletes who demonstrate this type of ability are most typically far and away better than the average athlete. The term I find most favorable fits this type of athlete is fluidity of motion – they find themselves capable and biomechanically enabled to execute all levels of movement-based stimulus regardless of the sport. This is not to say that these performance markers are immediate necessarily. Again, a tremendous limitation in the minds of many trainers and coaches – immediate improvements for immediate on-field results. This shortsighted approach to developing young athletes is simply not congruous with their best interests and very often motivated by selfish, adult-based factors. The eight-year-old ‘plastic trophy’ syndrome is unfortunately alive and well worldwide when it comes to training young athletes: 6 Weeks to Speed Improvement! Increase Your Vertical Jump in 4 Weeks! These kinds of slogans geared towards the parents of young athletes are commonplace in our industry and more often than not attributed to the trainer and coach who themselves lack the insight of how to create and implement a longer term approach to athletic development. Cognitive Societal Change The term ‘Kaizen’ is one that is vague and unfamiliar to most people. For those of us who have heard of this term, it is generally applied to the business world and recognized as being Japanese in origin. Kaizen is typically defined as a ‘bettering’ or ‘improved change’ with the key notion being one of ‘long-term’, ‘gradual’ or ‘consistent’. A Kaizen-based approach then in developing young athletes would be to create or induce improvement on a gradual or long-term basis. Later this year, I will be releasing my newest book, ‘Training Young Athletes – The Kaizen Approach’. Although of course I will be discussing training methodology and prescription, the crux of the book will concentrate on the philosophical mindset necessary to develop young athletes with a long-term,continuous or visionary focus. Where will the young 9 year old need to be in 3 years? What assessed limitations of strength, movement aptitude or structure will prevent full potential from occurring? A Kaizen approach to this demographic of the industry would be one in which enormous effort is spent on resisting the need to stimulate immediate gratification in the form of decreased 40 times, increased vertical jump ability or improved strength. That is not to say that improvements in each of these areas would not occur – and that is the major limitation of understanding so many coaches and trainers have. Certainly, any new training stimulus intended to develop improved technique in a given strength, movement or flexibility-based exercises will cause positive change. Especially with younger athletes, enhanced ability in any biomotor skill with have a carryover effective on other biomotor skills. In that, performance improvements are a symptom of a quality instruction-based developmental program, rather than its goal. The quicker that coaches, trainers, parents and media understand this point,the better off our young athletes are going to be. Teaching Strategies Skill Sets As mentioned previously, what is lacking with many coaches and trainers is a systematic and vision-based method to teaching specific and general movement habits. Every movement-based ability can be broken down into fine elements, taught separately/progressively, reconstructed back into a full sequence and eventually perfected as a Skill Set. I have been teaching skill sets to young athletes for years and feel 100% that they are the single most crucial factor for teaching and eventually perfecting movement aptitude. The key in creating an effective skill set is to breakdown complex movement sequences into individual and less daunting parts that athletes can learn separately. Proper progressions include: -Identifying and teaching each portion of the skill set individually -Verbally naming or ‘cuing’ each individual portion of the skill set To athletes frequently so they become comfortable with the vernacular -Having athletes be able to recite the name, sequence and position of each individual portion of the skill set when asked -Having the athletes be able to either critique an inappropriate skill set when they see it, or decipher what was incorrect about there own actions while performing a skill set (or its parts) When creating a skill set for a particular movement ability, it is prudent to think globally about various aspects related to retention and adherence. For example, whenever possible, try to ‘link’ or connect skill sets of different abilities to have common language or similar steps. This promotes a universal connection and understanding for your athletes and leads to better observance - I will demonstrate that with my lateral and linear deceleration skill sets in the next paragraph. Another key issue is to use words/phrases/cues that are layman based and easily remembered by kids. That may sound like a ‘no-brainer’, but you would be surprised how often I hear coaches and trainers using words like ‘eccentric load’ and ‘angular position’ when teaching movement skills. That is not to say that phrases like this should be avoided. ALL of my young athletes no what a ‘plyo-step’ is for instance, but again, my work in youth development is very Kaizen-based. We take time to teach and understand what our industry jargon means and how it is defined and used. Even my 7-year-old athletes can tell you why a plyo-step is important, why we use it, what the proper sequence of movement is to perform one and what factors occur to make a plyo-step less than optimal (i.e. ‘rearing up’). If however, you do not work in long-term settings, than basic terminology is best. Lateral & Linear Deceleration I strive to split my skill sets into individual components of 4 – there is absolutely no scientific relevance there – it is just through years of trail and error that has shown me 4 tends to be the most appropriate number! Lateral Deceleration Skill Set: 1. Foot outside the ‘box’ 2. Drop your hips/bend your knees 3. Flat foot 4. ‘Breaking’ foot is pointed in Let me qualify some of that for you (keeping in mind that those are the short phrases I use and have my athlete’s commit/recite – complete explanations and qualifications of terms are always part of the teaching process. That itself is a tremendously important point… while your skill set is comprised of simple language that is easy to remember, the crux of proper application is founded explanation and repetition of both verbal/practical cues). 1. Foot outside the ‘box’ – The ‘box’ is an imaginary line that extends from the shoulder to the ground. For a safe and efficient deceleration, the athlete’s foot must reside outside this box at the point of application. Foot is outside the ‘box’ 2. Drop your hips/bend your knees – Many young athletes when learning this skill set, often are rigid and robotic in their approach. In order to a) decelerate effectively b) be in a position to re-accelerate a different direction and c) avoid injury to the ankle and knee, this part of the skill set is a crucial one to reinforce.
Hips are back and knees are bent 3. Flat foot – Simply put, being on the ball of your foot or toe is very unstable in this dynamic position and could very easily lead to ankle or knee injury. Being on a flat foot also offers a large surface area through which to push into the ground and produce force to change directions. Flat foot position 4. Breaking foot is pointed in – This point is explained very well – I do not mean to infer that the toe of the breaking foot is pointed inward in so far as a pigeon-toed appearance. That would be very unstable and prone to inversion. I am very clear however, that if the toe of the breaking foot is pointed outward at all a) a clean deceleration will not be realized b) you will have less surface area available to push into the ground for change of direction c) the knee joint will be compromised. It is best in general terms to speak of this toe angle as perpendicular to the direction of movement. Toe is in or perpendicular As mentioned above, it is prudent to link your skill sets in order to promote adherence and understanding. The skill set for a linear deceleration is identical to the later model, with the inclusion of ‘hip rotation’ as stage number 1. Forward movement Hip rotation into deceleration While proceeding forward (first from a walk and the progressed to jog/run/sprint) the athlete rotates their hips perpendicular to the direction of movement. Following that, the same 4 steps seen in a lateral deceleration apply. Principals of Dynamic Organization Principals of Dynamic Organization are the progressive sequence within which you teach a skill set. They follow a systematized plan of development that serves to take a skill set from a statically introduced concept into a functionally applicable ability that becomes relevant on a sport specific level. An interesting point here is the notion of sport specificity. While I am certainly against any degree of sport specific lifestyles being promoted to young athletes, I do not confuse that with the significance of teaching skills on a specific level. I think one of the common concerns critics of multilateral-based training have is that specific skill acquisition of the elements pertaining to certain sports can take years to develop and that is simply not possible from a multilateral perspective. Nothing could be father from the truth. Learning the specific sequences of a lateral deceleration within the context of soccer for instance, is not a bad thing – even with young kids… including the timing and dexterity necessary to learn this skill at increased velocities, under the added stressors of having opponents and will the inclusion of a soccer ball. I support the desire many coaches have to include these types of drills into their practice schedules. The confusion and inability of the coach however, is demonstrated when no congruous plan exists on how to teach these skills; When athletes are just shown a drill and expected to perform it well; When the soccer coach wants to keep this athlete engrossed in soccer 12 months of the year and refuses to accept the fact that participation in other sports will not only compliment the young athletes soccer abilities but also reduce the risks of overuse injuries and emotional burnout. Think for a second of how amazing it would be to have soccer, baseball, football, basketball and volleyball coaches working together under a common belief system within which proper skill sets were taught and applied to specific situations within a given sport. The athletes progress in each sport would be intensified, but not to an unhealthy level. Indeed, the notion of Kaizen would exist and facilitated by each coach as they worked to reinforce the goals, teaching styles and overall progressive techniques that the coach from the other sports promoted. The Principals of Dynamic Organization follow a particular sequence or flow. Keep in mind that this sequence is one that I have settled on after years of experiment – 1. Repeat Statically – Learn the movement from a ‘no motion’ perspective 2. Repeat Dynamically – Add small, predictable motion into the exercise leading up to the skill 3. Repeat Randomly – Add small, random motion into the exercise leading up to the skill 4. Predictable Specificity – While this portion of the sequence does not have to be in relation to a specific sport, I find it reinforces adherence to allow a degree of specificity to enter the equation at this point. The drill can comprise standard movements/circumstances encountered in a single sport, but then progressed to other movements/circumstances found in other sports. In this phase, the coach or partner acts as an ‘opponent’ by making a standard offensive move to which the athlete must react. It is important to understand that the ‘offensive move’ is discussed an revealed to the athlete beforehand. 5. Random Specificity – Within this portion of the sequence, sport specific maneuvers are offered by the coach or partner. The athlete’s job is merely to react. Repeat Statically: Figure 1 Figure 2 In order to gain a full understanding of the skill set associated with a lateral deceleration, the first stage within the Principals of Dynamic Organization are to learn the sequence kinesthetically from a static position – this eliminates any auxiliary movement that could serve as confusion and take attention away from learning the skill wholly. Repeat Dynamically: Figure 3 Figure 4 Now that competency has been established in the deceleration skill set from a static perspective, we can add elements of predictable motion. In this case, the athlete performs 1 or 2 side shuffles and then hits his deceleration position. Repeat Randomly: Figure 5 As aptitude grows, you can now add elements of unpredictability into the mix. Have the athlete stand in front of you and randomly point one direction or the other (mix it up). The athlete’s job is to react by side shuffling the direction you pointed and then hitting a deceleration position. Predictable Specificity: Figure 6 Figure 7
Figure 8 In this phase of training, the specific application of your deceleration can coincide with a particular sport (or sports). As noted in Figure 6, the partner is standing at a 45-degree angle in front of the athlete. Once the partner begins moving forward, the athlete shuffles towards a common meeting ground (Figure 7). Once the partner cuts, the athlete decelerates and moves with the partner. Now you are involving opponents, added movements and direction changes. Keep in mind however that the goal of this exercise is to establish the direction of movements beforehand – do not look to add elements of randomized reaction yet. This is a critical step within the Principals and should not be overlooked or minimized. Random Specificity: Figure 9 Figure 10 Figure 11 Figure 12 Now the drill becomes complex with added movements on an unpredictable level. Figure 9 – The athlete begins by shuffling back and forth between two points Figure 10 – The partner moves forward towards the athlete Figure 11 – The partner cuts one direction forcing the athlete to follow Figure 12 – The partner cuts back at a random interval This entire drill is random and typically exposes the athlete’s deficiencies from a functional perspective. Keeping in line with a solid teaching model, the Principals of Dynamic Organization have allowed you to educate, correct and reinforce habits along the way. At this point, it is not atypical for an athlete to still demonstrate poor technical application – that is to be expected. What is crucial however is that the athlete can recognize the mistakes made in the application of the skill and create a solution of how to fix it. This problem solving ability is reward for following a constructive model of teaching applied skill. Athletes who can recognize and correct positional mistakes are great athletes. This ability can only be developed when a sequential method of teaching is adopted into a long-term approach of development. If you look closely at Figure 12, you will see several positional errors with respect to being able to follow the partner as he made his cut. . His decelerating foot is within the box . His decelerating foot is turned outward . His entire upper body position is leaning into the decelerating leg and away from the motion he is looking to make (a cut back). While that is not part of my skill set, it is a symptom of the above two points. You will be able to see these issues more clearly from the opposite angle –
Figure 13 Look at the athletes toe angle and his foot placement in relation to the box. It is clear that as his partner makes the hard cut, the athlete is not in a good position to change direction with him. At this point, your instructive ability as a coach is crucial. Ask your athlete what went wrong. What about his position was poor? What needs to change in order for him to be in better position? These are not ‘chastising-type’ questions. They are a give and take of important information. Your athlete must feel empowered to understand that he knows the answer. Always refer back to the skill set when looking for an answer. Clearly in this example, had the athlete pushed outside the box and aligned his decelerating foot perpendicularly, the problem would be solved. When your skill set is clearly defined, your answers are clearly defined.
Figure 14
Figure 15 After talking it over, discussing options and coming to a conclusion, the drill is replicated. This time, the angle of the foot in relation to the box and the direction of foot placement are much improved. Key Issues in Teaching the Principals: -Understand that the process through steps 1 – 5 could take years. I have condensed it for the purpose of illustrating the entire sequence, but your job is to coach the athlete(s) you have in front of you. If that means staying on steps 1 – 3 for a full year before progressing, so be it. Understanding and adherence are the keys. -Change the velocity at which the drills are performed to progress/regress difficulty levels. Never go on to the next step until the current step you are on can be performed with competency at a high velocity (sport speed). -Use your imagination! Never assume that any one of these steps is fully complete. Challenge yourself and your athletes by devising new ways of manipulating the variances/laws within each step. Be creative with your exercise selection and program design by making your warehouse of drills limitless. For example, add foot dexterity or hand-eye coordination activities in conjunction with drills at all levels. In the hands of a capable and imaginative coach, the exercises that would serve to reinforce these steps number in the millions… literally. -Don’t restrict these drills to young athletes only – I have had great success teaching man-to-man defensive strategies to elite high school football players incorporating the Principals as the teaching tool, for example. The same holds true for elite, state level soccer players. -Have fun with these strategies and always look to ‘link’ your exercises with other viable skills. Systems Linking as I call it, is a means by which varying exercises are strung together in order to promote greater understanding/adherence and keep things fresh.
Figure 15 Figure 16 Figure 17 In this example, the athlete runs forward towards a medicine ball (or sport ball), bends to scoop the ball with proper squatting form and the proceeds on for another few yards at which time he hits his linear decelerating position. -Create fun games as a means of teaching the Principals. In the example below, the athlete and partner are playing a simple game of mirroring. They begin shuffling – once the partner changes direction, the athlete mirrors him by decelerating well.
Figure 18 -The key to quality coaching and an adherence to a long-term approach to training young athletes is preparation. Become accustom to developing lesson plans and timeframes for your athletes. Know how long you want to spend on particular tasks and when you intend to progress. You must be flexible in your preparation, however – sometimes the progression times take longer or shorter than you had envisioned. But by not planning your athlete’s developmental route, you are setting them up for failure and yourself up for frustration. This point is critical – I have long urged coaches and trainers to utilize several means to monitor and track the progress of their athletes. In North America, it is common to use vertical jump, squat/bench press poundage’s and timed speed as the markers. But what about technical proficiencies? I strongly recommend that you make written notes regarding your athletes’ technical adherence. How well they are performing a task is every bit as critical as how fast they are moving or how heavy their squat has become. Teaching skill and aptitude in a variety of biomotor features is a necessary part of working with young athletes. Again, strength exercises, speed mechanics, movement sequences and mobility/flexibility routines are all teachable skills that must be broken down and sequentially organized by you as the coach. Never assume that your young athletes know how to squat, sprint, decelerate or jump – once we realize collectively that success in both sport (specifically) and life (functionally) is dependent on how competent we are in the foundations of basic movement, the sooner we will start actually developing great young athletes, rather than hoping young athletes become great.
Austin Shadle is a high school football star in Barrington, Illinois. At 5’8 and 165 pounds, Austin earned league Defensive Player of the Year honors and was named to the prestigious All Area State Team. Austin’s tenacious attitude towards life and his remarkable maturity make him someone I will miss greatly next year when he moves on to college. Do You Aspire To Greatness In This Industry? Do You Recognize The Problems Facing The Youths In Your Area? Are You Prepared To Become THE Young Athlete Advocate In Your Part Of The Word?
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