Micheal Minthorne: Hi! I'm Micheal Minthorne. I'm showing you how to perform proper soccer movements. Right now, we're going to discuss agility. Agility is a combination of coordination, balance, speed, reflexes, strength, and endurance. Every soccer player needs each one of these components, since soccer is a very dynamic sport. No player knows when they have to move forward, backwards, side to sides or even change directions. There are 100 different pieces of equipment to help you train for agility.
Right now, I'm going to show you how to use the agility drill. I have Dan here to help me show you some simple agility drills with the agility ladder. Alright, the first drill here is called Icky shuffle. It's also called 33s or triples. The pattern is you go three steps before you go the next box. It's in, in, out, or you can count the steps. 1, 2, 3, and 1, 2, 3. Some things you want to keep in mind as you perform a drill like this is you want to stay on the balls of your feet, you want to pump your arms and when you get better at it, try and raise your eyes up. So Dan is going to go through one time. Alright, this is the drill that every soccer player should be able to do quite well. The unfortunate part about soccer, as I said it before, you never know we're going to have to move forwards or backwards. So he has to be good at doing something like these forwards as well as backwards. So, I'm going to turn him around and have him do the same drill backwards keeping the same patterns. Here we go. Now since, we're moving forwards and backwards, let's not forget side-to-side. We're going to go through some lateral drills. The first drill is going to be two feet in, and two feet out.
He is going to leave with his left foot going in, then his right foot going in, stepping out with his left foot, and stepping out with his right foot. In, in, out, out, that's the pattern. Now as you get better, same thing with the forward and backwards. You want to keep your eyes up and your arms pumping. Now I'm going to have him go down ladder, get to the end and come right back. Keep those arms pumping, eyes up. So, remember when you're training with the agility ladder, some simple tips, use the balls of the feet, pump your arms, and keep your eyes up.
Any time you get a drill, that's easier or that you make easier, make sure you perform it faster. Now I set my cones up for a simple drill called the Tee drill. For this drill, Dan is going to be moving between the cones performing a different movement in between each of the cones. For the first cone, he is going to be sprinting up to the middle cone, side shuffling left to the left cone, side shuffling right all the way to the right cone and side shuffling left back to the middle and back paddling out. Now each one of the movements he wants to focus on his technique.
So, he is going to start off nice and slow, make sure he keep his hips square and his eyes up. Here we go. Sprint forward, side shuffle left, side shuffle right, all the way back to the middle and back puddle back. He is now going to perform that same drill faster, keeping in mind the same technique of pumping his arms when he goes forward, keeping his hips, feet, and eyes square when he side shuffles, pumping his arms, keeping his eyes forward when he back puddles. Here we go.
Up side ways, keep your feet moving, back to the middle, back puddle back. Now with this drill, you can change up the movements between the cone. You can have him side shuffle in forward and backward movements in between the cones and side shuffle up any which way you want, but you want to make sure that the technique for each movement is consistent. Make sure, if he is going forward, he is pumping his arms, if he is going sideways, he keeps his feet, hips, and eyes square and when he is back paddling, not only is he pumping his arms, he is keeping his eyes forward.
Now when all the movements you've seen here, Dan has been staying low. Now the proper way to stay low is to get in athletic stance. In soccer, they're always moving forward, backward, and side-to-side. You never know when you're going to need each.
Alright, so the best way to prepare your body for all types of movements and that's to be in athletic stance. Athletic stance is very simple. Feet are going to be about shoulder width apart. He is going to have his hips back, his weight is going to be on the balls of his feet, his back is straight, and eyes are forward. In this position, he can either go laterally, he can go backwards or you can explode to go forwards. Alright, athletic stance is crucial. So practice staying in an athletic stance through all these movements and you will find yourself moving quicker on the soccer field.
That's it for agility. Next, we're going to talk about how to change directions.
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