Casey Bass: No matter what sport your child participates in; football, baseball, basketball, even golf, it seems like today all we hear about is speed. How fast you are, how fast you swing, how fast you get down the line, how fast you get to the ball, how fast you get off the ball. And we have always heard that speed is something that can't be improved; you are just as fast as you are.
Well, I do not believe that to be true, neither does today's guest, Scott Hodges. He's going to join us and he's going to give us some very simple exercises and drills you can do with your kids in your backyard to help them increase their speed, agility, and quickness. So please stay tuned for ClubHouse Gas.
Today on ClubHouse Gas, we are pleased to be joined by Coach Scott Hodges, track coach for the Bremen Blue Devils. Coach, thank you so much.
Scott Hodges: Glad to have you here.
Casey Bass: Coach, we have been talking lately about speed. Now, it influences all youth sports and I was hoping that may be you could run us through a couple of drills to help increase speed and agility. Are there just two or three things that every younger kid can do?
Scott Hodges: There are some basic things that you can do. Everybody's misconception generally is that you cannot improve speed, but you can, and you might go from 5:2 to a 5:1, but that's an increase in speed. I can't make you run a 4:2, but we can get you faster and every young kid, as earlier they learn how to run the better off they are.
Casey Bass: What about quickness and agility?
Scott Hodges: Quickness and agility, obviously, feet play an important role in everything you do in any sport. But these drills, that's why we really emphasize track here at Bremen because it's going to carry over in everything else that you do. It's going to make you a better athlete.
Casey Bass: Now, with drills that you do with the high school kids, can those be used for kids, say, 7-12.
Scott Hodges: Yes sir, the only thing that I wouldn't do heavy with a young kid is a lot of plyometrics sometime; I would do my plyometrics on the ground, ground based plyometrics. But everything else, I would do with my boys on their 5 and 6 and get out the yard and play around. They know how to move their arms and stay up and different things out there. So you can work on it just a father; you don't need any equipment or anything or mother or anybody, a brother, you can help your child to get faster and it's going to carry over in athletics.
Okay, our first drill here is a march. How we are going to do is walk through our running technique, folks, on high knees, opposite hand, opposite foot, going chest to hip. You want your eyes looking straight ahead, chin slightly up.
Alright! First group, ready, go!
Go about ten yards, guys. Look your eyes up, don't look down. Eyes up, eyes straight ahead, chin up just a little bit. Opposite hand, opposite foot!
Next drill right here is called a bounce and what we are going to do is take the march principles right here, the form running principles and put them into with a slight bounce. Okay, ready! Go! Go just like a little skip.
One of the most important things you will see it is they don't unlock -- they have to keep your arms at a 90 degree angle and don't tighten up. A young kid, who want to open his arms out, like this.
Alright! Now we carry it back on over. We go to a high skip and this where you are really pushing up your strike foot. That's where your power is generated when you run to increase your speed and to generate the velocity.
Alright, the power skip. Ready! Go! Hit up, hit up, you are trying to keep that running action and really pushing off their strike foot. Coming back, alright! Now, they are working on high knees, high knees, high knees. Coming back, trying to put your hand aggression equals to foot aggression. The faster you move your hands the faster you should move your feet. Move your hands fast, guys, this gives as many as we can.
Ready! Go! Move, move, move, move, move! Good, good, good! Ready! Go! Move, move!
Now working on butt kicks, working on butt kicks, working, coming right back here, working on flexibility and fast speed. You can't move your arms in as biggest, I want to see as kick in your butt right here
Ready! Go! Kick, kick, kick! This is a good drill to warm up with two.
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Ready! Go! Move, move, move, move!
Alright, coming back here, right here, facing this way, put your left foot back. Left foot back and this is power karaoke. This is working on an explosion in the hips and driving in knee.
Alright! Ready! Go! Driving me up, driving me up, driving me up. Notice, this is not a plain old karaoke where you are going across right there, you are trying to drive that opposite knee up.
Alright! Ready! Go! This is one of the most difficult drills you have to work on. Alight, here we go. Last one right here is really good and it works on this, I would do it everyday, it's hang bound, look pretty in the air, look pretty in the air. If you can do it on a solid surface, it's great for you.
Alright, Ready! Go! Hang in the air, you are trying to be like a deer going through the woods. Hang in the air, hang, reach out there and hang. It works on their explosion and their running form.
Casey Bass: Alright! So Coach Hodges, thank you so much for joining us today
Scott Hodges: Thank you
Casey Bass: I really appreciate all the great information. Coaches, parents, now you have something that you can get out in the yard, even, work with your kids, get them faster, get them quicker. When they get to this high school level, you can turn them into state champion.
Scott Hodges: Glad to have.
Casey Bass: Coach Hodges, I am Casey Bass. I will see you tomorrow on ClubHouse Gas.
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