Speed Development for the Whole Team
Case Study: Client E - Speed Development for the Whole Team
Client E is a football team in one of the lower divisions of the English league. The team coach wanted to improve their fitness levels and general speed on the pitch in order that they could match and beat most of the teams in their division.
The team did not have extensive resources in terms of time, equipment and training facilities.
Team Fitness started with a general fitness programme based on a more structured running schedule, interval and sprint training as well as hill runs. Running technique was also studied.
Using a local gym, Team Fitness introduced weight training for both upper and lower body, and cardio-vascular workouts.
Team Fitness also negotiated use of a local running track. By comparing performance times, the team was then split into small training groups. This ensured that effort was optimal rather than the average of the whole team. Track training added variety and made better use of training time. Sprint speeds recorded over 30 metres improved for the whole team, and endurance over 90 minutes was also noticeably increased.
The team moved from bottom of the division to within 1 point of promotion. They won their last 6 matches, scoring within the last 10 minutes in 3 of them.
