Sport is constantly pushing acceleration work. We teach kids to move as fast as the can. So why are we teaching walking before crawling? Starting is only half of the race.
Kids aren’t learning to safely stop and we’re seeing kids as young as 12 with ACL injuries. This drill is to work on two things. 1. An athlete is successful when he or she can respond quickly to an external stimulus. The girls are facing away and listening to my sound(actively and blindly searching for the stimulus) in order to beat their teammate to the mat. 2. Their job is to get to the line first, but to stop before the mat as closely as possible. I had the girls go multiple times and switched the foot they had to stop with. This allows for the girls to learn Time to Contact. We’re using all of these tools to help prevent injury and make our athletes safe and proficient athletes, while the athletes are just playing a game and competing against each other. Find ways to make the exercises competitive/fun and the athletes will work harder for you!
