Phil Hewitt is a certified strength and conditioning / fitness coach with a wealth of experience at preparing players of all levels to compete to their potential. He is currently employed by Everton Football Club of the English Premier League. As one of the most knowledgable strength coaches in the game today Phil is responsible for designing and implementing conditioning programs for all the players within the Everton Youth Academy. Originally from New Zealand, he is a PhD Candidate at John Moores University in Liverpool, England.

AGILITY TRAINING FOR FOOTBALL

Agility is often used by coaches to describe how athletic a player is, and whilst most can recognise and use the term they often find it difficult to define exactly what they mean. It is generally accepted that agility is the ability to accelerate, decelerate, and change direction as quickly as possible whilst maintaining body control. A body position and reaction that is good in one sport may not be optimum in another, generally in team sports though players can transfer these skills. This can be seen when comparing the sports of basketball and soccer, the ability to lose a marker is important in both sports and transferable but the rules of the game and the receiving position for the ball will influence the final movements.

A number of fitness components are involved in the improvement of agility such as speed, which allows the player to get to the ball or attacker quickly. Strength to hold off opposition players or break tackles and flexibility that will allow sometimes-unusual body and limb positions to be reached. In addition power, the combination of speed and strength, is required for movements such as getting maximum height to head the ball. Each of these components should be worked on individually to improve the overall ability of the player.

At the Everton Academy we work to a periodised program that works on each of the above components separately and follows a structure of Hypertrophy, Strength and Power training. Free weights are used throughout the program, and medicine balls in the power training. The speed work we do utilises a variety of equipment such as rubber tubing and parachutes for over-speed work and resisted runs. Ladders and low hurdles are used to improve running technique. To bring it all together we incorporate the ladders and low hurdles, as well as resistance in the form of opposition players, within the agility training and by controlling the distance between the different apparatus so that player acceleration and deceleration can be manipulated. By carefully selecting the drills that the players are performing through the ladders and hurdles will also dictate how quickly they can enter the obstacle. Poles and cones are used so that it is not just straight line running that is being performed, most of the set-ups include areas in which the player has to go forwards, backwards and sideways whilst negotiating the obstacles as quickly as possible.

The main negative of the types of drills described above is that the player knows what is required at the start of the practice and this is not always the case on the football field were players have to adjust to opponents. With this in mind we can break agility practices down into two categories:

Known Agility practices (KAP): Obstacles are set-up and the player attempts to negotiate the course as quickly as possible. In these types of practices the player is instructed what types of drills to perform at each of the obstacles

Unknown Agility Practices (UAP): Usually game based but can be done with evasion drills such as avoiding a thrown ball in a designated zone. The player has to react to what is happening around him.

Obviously it is easier to set up and run KAP, however both KAP and UAP drills can be incorporated into the same drill as shown in Diagram (a) below.

Description of course:

1. Players (A) accelerate into ladder and perform quick feet through the ladder (ie) one foot in each space.
2. Accelerate to flag.
3. Backpedal around next flag.
4. Accelerate into next ladder and perform lateral shuffles through ladder.
5. Accelerate at an angle to next flag.
6. Tight turn around flag and accelerate to 12 inch hurdles spaced approx. 2 yards apart.
7. Leap over both hurdles.
8. Accelerate towards finish line. Coach (C) has a supply of balls and attempts to pass the ball against the players as they accelerate past him. Players must attempt to dodge the ball.

* Next two players in line repeat the sequence.

As can be seen from Diagram (a) above, both KAP and UAP practices can be incorporated into the same activity. The coach passing or throwing a ball at the players forces them to react quickly while moving at high speeds.

Ideally agility should be performed at the start of practices after the warm up, when the players are in a non-fatigued state, however it is also advantageous to work in a fatigued state which will replicate what happen in a game. So occasionally work at the end of the session or pre-fatigue the players. Through technical practices and games (both small sided and competitive) the player will improve, however by programming specific practices this learning will be enhanced and can be made position specific and also focus on specific player weaknesses.