Boost your child's athletic skills with essential youth speed and agility drills.
As a Parisi Speed School Sports Performance Coach specializing in youth sports performance, I've seen firsthhand the transformative power of progressive speed and agility training for young athletes when they follow the right curriculum.
It's more than just making young athletes faster or more agile, it's about building their confidence, athletic capabilities, and love for sports. For all you parents in the San Diego area, where competition and passion for youth sports is high, this guide on youth speed and agility drills is for you.
The Foundation of Athletic Performance
First, we always start with a Performance Evaluation. We need to identify strengths, areas that need more focus and establish baseline metrics. It's added motivation and guidance for athletes when they know key metrics.
We assess their movement abilities through an active dynamic warm-up, perform a video analysis of sprint mechanics, and take them through 8 athletic assessments.
After which, it's more than just exposing them to speed & agility drills, it's about learning and reinforcing coordination, timing, and body awareness.
We introduce them to our Parisi curriculum: Master the Active Dynamic Warm-up (ADW), learn proper mechanics of Rate of Force development (RFD) drills that's age and skill appropriate, start to perfect anchor drills for Acceleration, Max Speed, and Multi-Directional Speed and learn how to apply them.
Essential Drills for Speed & Agility of Athletic Performance
Here are a sampling of drills we use to maximize their time and effort
Sprint Intervals:
One of our go-to youth speed and agility drills are sprint intervals. It’s simple yet so effective. We usually start with short distances - 10 yards (Acceleration focused), 20 yards (max speed focused), gradually increasing as the athletes master the focal points of speed. It’s amazing to see their progress over just a few weeks.
Overcoming Light Resistance Intervals:
Resistance running, using sleds with light weight or using the Ohm Run, an amazing device that produces all kinds of beneficial metrics to fine tune our coaching, which helps to maintain the same speed throughout the sprint. Unlike using a parachute, which we rarely use, since it gets harder the further an athlete sprints, which in turn reduces an athlete's turnover rate.
Overload Sprints
It helps to have tools that help us maximize an athlete's progress. When working on max speed for eg and we have an athlete that has reached their max speed ceiling, so to speak, it helps to get them on a device like our Max Speed treadmill that can safely overload and push their legs to turnover faster for a short time period.
4 more important strategies:
(1) Tailoring to Different Ages
In our youth speed and agility drills, it’s crucial to tailor these exercises to different age groups. What works for a 16-year-old won’t necessarily be suitable for a 10-year-old. In our programs, safety and injury prevention are always top priorities.
(2) Rest & Recovery are essential for growth
A key part of our approach to youth speed and agility training includes emphasizing the importance of rest and recovery. It’s tempting to push hard every day, but growth and improvement in agility and speed happen during periods of rest.
(3) Consistency is key! Implement a routine.
Incorporating youth speed and agility drills consistently into a training program is vital. It’s not about one or two intense sessions; it’s about regular, focused practice. We work with parents to find a balance that works for their child’s schedule and needs.
(4) Tracking Progress
Tracking progress in youth agility and speed training is crucial for motivation and measuring improvement. We're fortunate to have a variety of tools and tech that provide instant metrics on athletes progress.. Seeing their development over time is incredibly rewarding for both the athlete and the parent.
Questions?
Sign up for a comprehensive $69 Performance Evaluation which includes 2 Free Speed Classes.