By Jonas Forsberg

Do you as a coach feel the importance of acceleration in the game of soccer, but due to information-overload out there, you don’t know who to listen to or what methods to follow?

I don’t blame you. According to research, most of the youth soccer coaches out there today are voluntarily coaching a team, meaning in a lot of cases you are probably a parent to one of the kids in the team. So with this being said, you have a regular job on the side, and you simply don’t have time to spend hours reading and researching in order to find new methods.

All you need to do is what athletes back in the days focused primarily (and almost exclusively) on, and it is…SPRINTING.

You don’t need to use resistance bands, parachutes or any other fancy stuff, you simply just need to line the athletes up next to each other, and then upon your command, sprint to point B.

When talking about speed and how to improve it, there are certain laws of physics that comes to mind. The probably most important one is to teach the players how to apply more force to the ground. This may sound extremely difficult, and it can be, but just follow the drills here below and I promise you that you’ll get the players to apply more force to the ground in their start, which will result in improved acceleration, and most important of all, these drills are fun.

As a matter of fact, you may even have done these before without even thinking about the benefits.

When discussing acceleration for soccer players, I tend to set up a distance of 15-30 meters. A few years back, a long term study performed on English Premier League players showed that the most covered distance in a soccer game is between 10-30 meters, and therefore, your ability to pick it up as fast as possible, decelerate and change a direction, and then accelerate again is probably the most important aspects of soccer speed (in this lesson, where are only going to focus on acceleration, and will leave deceleration and change of direction for another day).

To sum it up, you shouldn’t have the players sprint for 50-60 meters, at least not now. Anywhere between 10-30 meters is great (go with 10-15 meters in the beginning).

When talking acceleration vs. top speed, it’s important to know that acceleration is about creating an angle, that forward lean. So below you’ll find some different variations of starts to use with your players, and these starts will create that forward lean with your players.

Here are the different starting positions:

Staggered

One foot in front, and the other back. The position they are in when ready to run. Standing Track & Field start basically.

Falling Start

Have the players stand tall and keep a straight line through their body. Then tell them to keep that line and fall forward, and just as they feel it’s getting scary and they feel like falling to the ground, that’s when they’ll explode and run out for 10-30 meters.

Pushup Position

Have the players lay in a starting pushup stance (at the top of the motion, straight arms and a straight body). Upon your signal, they’ll explode out of there as quickly as possible. Important here is that they shouldn’t stand straight up and then run. From the starting position, they should try come forward as quick as possible, and when doing that, they’ll create that forward lean that’s so important for teaching a player to apply more force and improving their acceleration.

As a last note, speed training is always done right after a proper warm-up consisting of mobility and flexibility, some activation exercises together with some running and skipping drills.

With that being said, speed training is always performed at the beginning of a practice, and make sure that your players have recovered between the starts. Soccer speed training is done in a resting state. If you perform a lot of reps with low rest in between, it’s conditioning and will not give maximum speed results, it’s that simple.

A good rule of thumb is for every 10 meters the players run, they’ll rest 45-60 seconds before repeating. So if they run 30 meters, they should rest 135-180 seconds before next rep. Don’t ignore this, it’s a very important rule to follow!

Use these tips and you’ll see great improvements with your players soccer speed!

Good luck!

If you enjoyed this article and want more tips on how to improve your players soccer specific speed without making it too complicated, then sign up for Jonas Forsberg’s speed program over at The Soccer Speed Blog.

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by Trevor A. Sumner

In youth soccer, goals win games and goals come from your offensive attack. Attacks are about good teamwork, creativity, speed and composure. There are so many different ways of attacking in soccer, and that is one of the beauties of the game. Your soccer offense must be able to attack using multiple methods to be successful. It’s not enough just to score from crosses – the other team might stop you from crossing the ball and then you’d be stifled. Attacking is about out thinking and outmaneuvering the other team’s defense. Then, when your offense finds an open shot they better shoot at the goal accurately, because there will be limited open shooting opportunities during the game.

In the heat of the match, soccer players don’t have too much time to plan their attack. By practicing soccer drills and playing a ton of games, players build up their soccer speed of thought – so that eventually they always know what the best option is in an attacking move.

Attacks nearly always start in the team’s own defense. Yes, even defenders in their own half have an attacking role. They should make intelligent passes that springboard the attack. However, passes only work with movement. The attacking players should be making runs, and offering up positions to receive the ball. By moving constantly, your team becomes impossible to pin down. The offense is like a boxer that just won’t stand still.

Once the attackers get the ball, it is time to go in for the kill. However, rushing or forcing the issue never works. The team has got to be patient and clever. It is best to keep the ball, keep moving it around, and make the opposition work. Then, when the opening comes, your offense should pass the ball quickly to create scoring opportunities. With a quick wall pass, a clever through ball or a cross… All that’s left is for the striker to go for goal.

No matter how many defenders the opposition cram in front of their goal, there is always a way through – if your team has the guile, the skill and the confidence. These qualities come with experience and practice. Below are some tips and drills to get your team hitting the net. You can also find many more free soccer attacking drills online at websites like Weplay.com.

Attacking Tips for Soccer

• Your players should look to exploit the other team’s weaknesses. If the other team has a slow full back, your fastest winger should try to isolate himself with the full back and beat him 1on 1.
• Choose the right pass. Your players need to know when & where to make passes. They should learn to give the ball to the player in space and in the best position to expose the other team’s defense.
• Good movement makes for good attacks. If your players are moving then it is much harder for the defense to mark them. Your offensive soccer players should be able to switch positions and areas of the pitch to confuse the opposition.
• Keep the ball moving quickly. A slow attack is easy to thwart. The other team will simply smother the ball and block the chance. If your team passes the ball quickly, the defense won’t have the time to get behind the ball in numbers and frustrate your attackers.
• Be decisive. Hesitation on the ball lets the opposition in to steal the ball – and wastes the good opportunity. When near goal, your team should move the ball quickly and rapidly try to open up the opposition’s defense. There is a huge difference, however, between being decisive and rushing. There will be times when your team must be patient and simply keep possession.
• Play to your strengths. If your team has fast players, look to play on the counter-attack. If your team has tall strikers, seek to get crosses into the penalty box. However, try to vary your attacks to prevent the other team anticipating your moves.

Youth Soccer Attacking Drills

• Instep passing: Two players face each other, four or five meters apart. The players strike the ball to each with their instep. They should act as if they are hitting a shot but not put too much power into it. The head should be over the ball, the non-kicking foot alongside the ball and the arms outstretched. It sometimes helps to feel the instep before kicking, to remind your subconscious mind of what part of the foot to use.
• Wall Ball: Players should take turns to strike a ball against a wall. They should generate as much power as they can but keeping the ball low. Different shooting techniques can be used – e.g. instep shots, curling shots, outside of foot shots. Each player is allowed only one touch. If a player misses the wall, or takes two touches, he drops out of the game.

By Trevor Sumner who works for Weplay.com, a youth soccer community dedicated to providing parents, coaches and athletes the tools and information to celebrate the love of the game. Weplay.com has one of the most comprehensive, free soccer drill libraries in its active soccer community.

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By Gary Christopher

For a soccer player to gain speed or get faster on the soccer field, learning these seven skills will help them develop blinding speed. Running faster is a skill that once learned will pay dividends for years to come. I have taught the following 7 skills for over the last 10 years to help soccer players get faster on the field. Practice these 7 skills every day and in one week you will be faster than you were a week ago. I hope you enjoy them and can use them to help yourself or your team get faster.

If we look at how a soccer player runs, there are 7 skills they need to learn in order to get faster. Developing proper running mechanics can increase a player’s speed almost immediately.

As an example, if you look carefully at how a soccer player runs, you will see that changing, perfecting, modifying their mechanics can have a drastic change in their performance. So let’s look at it more closely.