If you're a sport coach you probably don't have time to learn about your sport, rule changes, fundraising, academic requirements, recruiting AND strength and conditioning. And you should be leery of becoming a 'master of none' type of coach.

Curved Sprints Manual

Maybe something quick and painless for you to do is to copy or use another coach's materials. But which materials should you ~~steal~~ borrow from? That's really up to you and what you want to accomplish. I have stolen these five drills from Kurt Hester (Tulane) and Dale Baskett (link).

Something easy to copy and work from is my Curved Sprints Manual. It's $5 and has diagrams, videos, and a testing protocol to drive competition and engage your athletes.

Here is "session one" of our combined, Curved and COD program:

COME TO BALANCE

Every athlete needs to be able to decelerate, and dead stop, in play. You can't just train the gas, you have to train the brakes, too.

BACK AND ACCEL

The back pedal and accelerate has an easy progression. Once the athlete is used to working on a "go" call, then a hand signal, incorporate a partner. The partner will back the player down, and the player can use whatever footwork they use to 'work back.' Then when the partner moves or reverses the athlete sprints through the drill.

BACK AND FLIP

The back pedal, flip, and accelerate is a useful tool to prep players for COD. Imagine a lob pass in soccer, a fade route in football, etc etc. The athlete is working backwards, and on a sudden movement then flips and runs through.

THE WEAVE

Moving on from the COD to the Curved portion. The athlete runs the linear weave. I like to set the cones 4-yards apart. That gives the right amount of space for the big footed and the small footed alike.

THE CURVE

The curve is a tried and true Dale Baskett curved sprint. It's easiest to set up if you're on a pre-painted soccer or lacrosse field. It's also a great test that way because it's a permanent track to run.

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