Football/Soccer Session (Moderate): Speed & Agility (Start Time: 2022-06-07 08:00:00)

Speed & Agility Circuit

Area: approximately one-third the soccer pitch (providing enough space to add two additional courses)

Equipment: Ladders (3), Small cones (20), Agility Sticks (8), Balls (3), Hi-Hat Cones (4), High Hurdles (4), Low Hurdles (4)

Players position themselves at each of the 9 stations. The player at station 9 acts as the time keeper in this activity. When s/he completes her/his activity, the command to switch will be signaled by that player. All players will have 5 seconds to advance to the next consecutive station and then begin the next activity until the station 9 player, again, completes the activity. The circuit continues for 5 complete cycles.

Station Activities:
1) Player works the ladder quickly, then walks to and around the cone, resets and works the ladder again. Continuous. Variation of ladder activities: Side-to-Side, Two-foot hop, Facing sideways move left, Facing sideways moving right, Right-leg hops, Left-leg hops, Two-Up One-Back, repeat as needed

2) Quickly dribble ball through agility sticks using both feet. Once clear of the agility sticks, slow dribble but in control around the cone and repeat

3) Two-footed double-hops over the high hurdles, then return to starting position by slaloming through the the hurdles. Reset then restart. Continuous

4) Quickly dribble around all 4 agility sticks making a complete circle around each while one direction. Once all 4 agility sticks are completed, dribble to other cone. Repeat dribbling through the four agility sticks following the same ball control steps.

5) Player hops left to right over the low hurdles, circles the cone ahead of her/him and repeats. Second trip through, player works high knee leg lift over the hurdles there and back. Continue to alternate until"switch" is called

6) Player starts by side stepping four times within cones and hen planting on outside foot, then repeats the other direction. Once completed both ways, player runs forward with two or three hard accelerations and plants foot to stop. Player then goes backwards tow or three steps and plants foot to old and stop. Repeat cycle until "switch"

7) Player dribble ball in any pattern they choose, making sure they control the ball and bring in back under control. The player should try to touch each cone with a cycle of 4.

8) On a staggered ladder setup, players should two-foot hop from one side to the other, back and forth. Repeat and return to the start. The next trip through, players should hop side-to-side using one foot and planting/holding before hoping to next open square at the side. The third time through players should run through the ladders quickly placing one foot in each square - right foot in each square of the right ladder, left foot in each of the left ladder.

9) Player starts behind cone 1. When the activity starts, s/he grabs one cone and places it on the first hi-hat cone. S/He then returns to the start and grabs another cone to place it on the 2nd cone. the player repeats the process for the 3rd and 4th cone, going around the perimeter of all 4 cones. The player then repeats the process in reverse from the initial starting position and retrieving each cone one at a time and returning it to the start. When the player finishes the activity, s/he yells switch, at which point all players stop their current activity and advance to the next activity, which starts after 5 (or 10, depending on layout) seconds of the "switch."

Variation: Rest Areas can can interspersed amongst the activities to accommodate numbers and/or allow for rest so that emphasis is placedd on speed of movement and agility and not as much on endurance.

Team Pursuit-Full Pitch

Team Pursuit - Full Pitch 

Area: Use the entire pitch for the long version of this activity. Place cones evenly around the perimeter. The example uses 12 players a side, 24 players, total.

Equipment: 13 cones (6 of which can be hi-cones on the corners and at the 2 starting points); two pinnies

As wit the half-pitch version, one player for each team is positioned opposite the field at each cone to start. When the activity begins, both teams go in the same direction around the perimeter of the pitch. The blue team starts opposite the red team, with the starting runners of each team holding a pinnie. The pursuit is carried out by the team, passing the pinnie from one teammate to the next. After the initial runner hands the pinnie off to her/his teammate, the initial runner then runs to the cone located in the center of the circle and back to her/his original starting cone. Meanwhile, the runner with the pinnie sprints to the next teammate in succession and repeats the process. 

Both teams race around the perimeter until either the other team is caught, or four full laps have been completed. The winning team is the one that either catches the other team or completes the 4 laps first. Can repeat again going the opposite direction.

Note: after the pinnie is handed off, the player may either jog to the center cone and then back to her/his starting cone, or sprint hard. The decision is the coaches based on the objective of the activity and fitness of the players.

Variation: use less players but maintain twice as many player spots. Instead of players going to the center circle and back to their original cone, they can cross the field to a second cone. That will increase the work per player for an added training overload