Fast Four

TRAINING TIME : Tim Rudd for IYCA 

   When you see athletes who are both agile and quick, you never forget it. They look as though they are effortlessly floating across the field or court of play. They can cut and change directions faster than anyone else in the game, and they can do so with great body control. 

   The recipe for dominating speed and quickness must contain these four ingredients:

   >> The athlete must have great proprioceptive awareness: This means their nervous system “” the nerves in the muscles, tendons, joints and ligaments which feel pressure, speed and other forces “” tells the body how to regulate its position all the time. This allows athletes to make subtle to massive adjustments quickly and accurately, resulting in a high level of control.

   >> The athlete must have great force absorption (stopping strength) as well as force production (starting strength): This is critical when changing direction. When the athlete puts on the brakes, it isn’t usually just to stop; it is to get going in a new direction quickly. Athletes who can go from the stopping to the going, or deceleration to acceleration, at optimum rates will be quicker.

   >> The athlete must have a great ability to reposition the feet in any direction around his or her center of mass: This means the athlete should be able to replace the feet on angles that promote a positive deceleration and or acceleration angle.

Check out the rest of the article in our digital edition of SportStars Magazine: Fast Four

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