Applying Sprinting Skills and Speed to the Football Field

In my opinion the athletes need to be provided with an environment that is conducive to developing good fundamentals. Ideally, having the luxury of helping the football player to maximize explosiveness and speed to get from point A to point B without having to deal with opponents and other responsibilities, is a good thing, and can be a very important part of the learning progression. I believe that familiarizing a football player with how to best run a 100-meter dash is very valuable. That distance is long enough where the athlete's max velocity that he/she is capable of can be attained, but short enough where mistakes in the various sections of the race may be too much to recover from. Using this as a basis, the athlete and coach can then seek to best apply this to the given game scenarios the athlete is in, because ultimately, functioning best in game-like scenarios is the objective. In addition, for injury prevention, there is also the aspect of preparing the joints, tendons, and musculature for the stresses that an improvement of speed may have when starting, stopping, changing direction, jumping/landing during play.

Some athletes, without being told anything are better than others at coordinating their actions and recruiting the right muscles to push-off explosively into some kind of sprint, have their body aligned well during the process, as well as doing a good job of keeping the body segments in front of the body while minimizing any action that occurs to the back of the body, ie, a visual that can be observed during top speed running is that the thigh of the leg that is pushing off should travel no more than just a little bit past being in line with the torso, and then will recover up in front of the body. This is referred to as having good front side mechanics. When the body is in a position where the hips and torso are angled forward, ie; during the start and initial acceleration, the same thigh to torso relationship applies. What also is critically important to stopping, starting and changing direction are the aspects of "Trunk Discipline" and "Shin Discipline" as has been described in previous blogs, along with having a high degree of eccentric strength and balance.

It is definitely easier to be effective at decelerating, changing direction, stopping, etc..., when the legs are recovering up in front of the body as they should, feet under the center of gravity, and in the appropriate dynamic posture for the given sequence. Meaning, that an athlete that runs with too much backside mechanics has a harder time being effective in these situations. The same goes for having good trunk and shin discipline (explained in the Preparing Athletes for Sports That Feature Starting, Stopping, and Changes of Direction blog). FYI - That blog very much compliments the information in this one.

The traits alluded to above are evident in this Top Ten Human Highlight Reel video along with the players demonstrating a good combination of stride length and stride frequency that can be used effectively on the field of play. Note that these players represent different positions!

In sprinting, working to best develop top speed is a priority. There is a temptation to believe that because so much of the game of football is played within confined spaces and for short distances within short amounts of time, that developing top speed doesn't have much value for a lot of the players. The truth, however; is that giving some attention to transitioning from the start and initial acceleration to top speed, benefits the hips and legs in general, which then affects starting and accelerating!

Now of course it is not hard to understand the value of top speed for skill position players. Although, once again, much of the game is played within confined spaces, and players certainly have to know how to play with shoulders down (behind pads), but being able to take it to the house from over 50 yards away while running past defenders that have a good angle, or even just the threat to do so is a real difference maker, as are open field chase down touch down saving tackles. This Fastest Football Players of All-Time video has great examples of this. We all have seen quick guys on a football field break into the open only to get run down fairly quickly. An important aspect in developing top end speed is conditioning. Having players in training doing repeated all-out sprints for good distances without having previously put in the time getting in shape, can result in muscle strains and pulls. The man we acknowledge as the greatest wide receiver in history, Jerry Rice, had good but not great speed, but note how effectively he uses his speed. Rice was known for getting his body in tip top shape.

When sprinting, during the start and initial acceleration, the head is angled downward and the eyes are focused downward. When engaging opponents on the football field, however; although the hips and torso may be angled forward, the head is basically up, and as many skills are executed the hips have to be able to roll, flip, snap, etc..., to be in the proper alignment for maximum effectiveness. The hanging forward that is done during the drive phase on the track is replaced by whatever is most appropriate for the skills that need to be executed, ie; for drive blocking there is a lifting upward of the defender as the hips roll to have the body in a strong alignment as feet continue to move in short steps. For players that are in situations where they are not moving fast but who at a moment's notice will need to react and move explosively and powerfully, the alignment of the body parts and movement efficiency during the lesser intense movement, again, play critical roles. I'm not a football coach, although I played a few years as a youth and followed my son's football career through college. I'm sure a football coach can clean up and better explain what I just referenced.

One huge benefit in coaches and players becoming familiar with the mechanics that support speed is that when watching film, there can be a better understanding of what went right during those instances when the player looked exceptional. Understanding what happened can better enable the player to be able to replicate that more frequently.

Once again, it goes without saying that first and foremost, the bottom line is that football players need to be prepared for all of the demands of their position, but obviously, some of these demands have to do with speed in various ways, and like it or not, coaches, easily fall in love with speed. So please check out my blogs that detail sprinting and allow time for the lessons to translate into performances on the field.