Quiz The Coach - I Want To Be Faster!

Reviewed by Kidzworld on Feb 22, 2007

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Quiz the Coach helps kids and teens with sports and fitness-related issues. - Page 2

So ya dig sports but need some help with your game? Don't understand some of the rules of football, basketball or hockey? Got a gripe about P.E. class, skateboarders, cheerleading, coaches, or anything? Why not ?

Hey Coach,
I am a soccer and basketball player that needs to improve her speed. How can I do this?
soccergirl24

Hey soccergirl24,

A training program for improving speed really depends on your age. For kids who are older (15 years old and up) and more physically developed, strength training and plyometrics (a type of exercise the uses explosive movements like boxing punches to develop muscular power) are good ways to improve speed. But if you are younger than that, those methods could injure you. br> Here are some tips and drills that you can try that will have you looking like speedy gonzales on the field or court!

Do quick sprints of 40 yards. Do this three times, with a few minutes of rest in-between. Do this workout regularly (at least two to three times a week). Feel free to increase the distance to 50 or 60 yards as you get in better shape.

If there is a small (not too steep) hill by your house, there are a few drills you can do on it to increase your speed. Do one-leg-hops up the hill, switch every legs every 10 yards till you get to the top. Next do frog hops up the hill, which are when you crouch down and leap up the hill. Do both these drills in sets of two and do them once or twice a week. This will improve your leg-strength and endurance, which will in turn make you faster!

Since you are training for basketball and soccer, it is important to be quick while dribbling a ball. Set up cones and dribble the basketball or soccer ball around them as quick as you can. Your agility, coordination and speed with the ball will improve. This is something you should do at least every other day.

Do you need tips or advice on sports, fitness or health? to the Kidzworld Coach. Keep in mind peeps, the Kidzworld Coach isn't a doctor or a professional athlete or anything like that. He's just a dude who digs sports, plays 'em and knows a lot about 'em. You should always talk to your 'rents, a doctor or your school gym teacher before starting a new sport or a new exercise.

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