Willie M

Principles, NOT Drills
By Scott M. Phelps

Do these drills…run more…get stronger…these are common misconceptions on how to make someone faster or quicker. As I continue to teach and do camps I find that we all expect some super metamorphosis to take place when drills and such are done. The truth is far from the drills, or running, or just getting stronger. The principles that govern movement need to be reinforced in all drills, running and strength development. Can those things make our athletes better? Yes. But positive reinforcement of positive skills must be the underlying base. Coaches don't need more drills; they need to focus on what takes place during the drills.

Lets look at some principles that must take place during drills and exercises to promote speed, agility, and quickness.

Head: The head needs to stay in line with the spine. If athletes look down or up they will have a cause and effect return. Eyes down create a rounded spine and hunched posture. Eyes up will have the reverse; an unnatural spine position that does not reinforce transfer of force to the ground.

Arms: Arms must be active. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Often the initiating action is the arms. They are balance and are also one of the wheels of generating power and force. Most of the time the backward thrust or drive of the elbow is where the power is generated.

Core: The core must be centered! This is possibly the most important tip you can take from this article. The control center to all movement is the core. It must be stabilized (great and perfect posture) to generate and transfer force throughout the body. My keys are "suck in the belly and tuck in the back." This keeps athletes tall and locked in--ready to apply force to the ground and drive the body in any movement or motion.

Knee: The knee recovers in front of the body. There needs to be forward rotation at the hip to put the knee in a power position to deliver the leg in a downward (backward) motion. Force must be applied in the opposite direction than the body's mass is traveling.

Heel: Picture a rubber band connected from the heel to the hamstring belly (not the buttocks). The heel must always remain in that relationship. Heel to hamstring. For lateral movements there is very little lift and for running motion there is greater lift. Always reinforce relationship here.

Ankle: Dorsiflex your ankle. Athletes must reinforce this on everything they do. Pull the toes up toward the shin and hold them there. Even if you are doing an upper body drill, practice this skill. Ground force contact is huge in the balance of power transfer from the ground up the body. We must create an absolute habit of staying on the front of the foot at all times. The only time there is extension (plantar flexion) is on the push-off of the ground. Then the ankle must return to a dorsiflexed position to be ready for the next contact opportunity.

Force: What goes up must go down. This seems simple but more and more I see athletes who lift up aggressively and passively put the foot back to the ground. You must teach and emphasize force application - step down to the ground. Too many times I hear coaches telling athletes to lift their knees up but they never tell them to step down to the ground. There are two part to the movement-focus on both.

These areas will help all of the drills you do become more effective tools to improve performance. You must remember, "Repetition is the key to learning." Repetition also develops our habits and response in a crisis or chaos situation. Sport is a reactive situation. What has been reinforced the most and most recently is what will be performed. We are simply creatures of habit, and will perform what we have practiced, so make sure that you are practicing the driving principles of sport performance. Perfect practice makes perfect performance!