Six keys to avoid being a "sad SAQ".

Coaches are constantly asking me what they can do to make their in-house Speed, Agility, and Quickness (SAQ) programs more effective.

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After talking with many coaches and checking the landscape, I have come up with six keys to the enhancement of any SAQ program.

1. EDUCATE THE ATHLETES.

If your athletes don't appear to have an understanding of why they are doing a drill, it could be because they are viewing it as torture or punishment. It is up to you to explain the purpose of the drill and how it impacts their performance.

An understanding of how hard work will pay off in a game will motivate the athletes to work harder and also help you (the coach), to choose the drills that will benefit the athletes most.

I can't tell you how often I see coaches lining up cones, ladders, and boxes in the name of SAQ training. But the movements used in the drills have absolutely nothing to do with the movements used in the sport.

2. FOCUS ON MECHANICS.

Allowing your athletes to drill with faulty movement patterns is like a golf pro watching his student hit ball after ball with terrible flaws in his swing, and never providing any corrective feedback.

Athletes practice sports skills and play games all the time, but they are rarely taught how to move properly. If you never show them how to perform a certain movement, how can you expect them to do it correctly?

It's up to you to teach your athletes some of the more basic movement concepts in sports-running, cutting, shuffling, pivoting, jumping, etc. You should treat the athletes as beginners, as if they have never performed these movements in their lives.

In my writing and seminars, I refer to this as Movement Training, and I try to convince my athletes that by implementing Movement Training concepts into their SAQ program, they will always end up farther ahead.

3. QUALITY NOT QUANTITY.

Too often, SAQ workouts turn into conditioning sessions. You have to remember that the goal is improving speed and agility, not aerobic fitness. Keep the work periods short and the rest periods long, so that the athletes can give 100% effort on each drill. By teaching the nervous system how to work more efficiently, you will keep the athletes fresh.

If the rest periods are too short, the work periods too long, or the athletes simply fatigued from previous work, their mechanics will disintegrate and the same old faulty movement patterns will ultimately be reinforced.

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For optimal SAQ results, we condense the work periods to 2-10 seconds and the rest periods from 20 to 60 seconds or even longer if the intensity is extremely high.

Explain that you are prescribing long rest periods so that the drills can be done with maximum intensity. Stick to your word.

4. SPORT SPECIFICITY.

As long as you are trying to teach your athletes to move more efficiently, it makes sense to practice movements that will actually be used in a game. Sprinting and cutting are used in just about every sport, but you also have to remember the very specific skills that your athletes will have to perform on the field or court, such as shuffling, stopping, pivoting, faking, spinning, cross-over running, backpedaling, etc.

As much as possible, include these movements into your SAQ sessions. Baseball and softball players should practice their starts just as they would in stealing a base. Volleyball players should incorporate lunging, approach steps, and jumps into their drills.

Football receivers should practice their routes; quarter-backs should incorporate drop steps, and linemen should start drills from 2-, 3-, or 4-point starting positions.

Use your imagination to create drills that mimic competition.

Ladder drills and plyos are great general training methods, but if you don't make your athletes practice their most important movements you will probably wind up wondering why they don't perform them well in a game.

5. CONSISTENCY.

As I stated earlier, SAQ programs train the nervous system. The best way to make this happen is by consistently practicing the sport-specific skills so that will enable the nervous system to learn the optimal movement patterns: 5-20 minutes, 2-3 days per week is all it takes.

You can make this happen by adding two short drills to your warm-up routine, or by including one or two sport-specific drills into the beginning of each strength-training session. I do not mean strength movements that "resemble" the sport movements. I mean actually doing a couple of sprints or agility drills before each workout.

As long as technique is emphasized, this brief, consistent practice will add up and allow your athletes to perform them perfectly on the field or court without any special thoughts.

6. LONG-TERM DEVELOPMENT.

Another major problem I see in a lot of SAQ programs is implementing them too late before the season, hoping for a miracle. You can't wait a few weeks before your first game. That is simply too late for major benefits.

You will certainly derive benefits from doing SAQ drills during the pre-season, but you can ensure maximum benefits by working the drills into your year-round training program. The pre-season training should focus on technical/tactical skills and conditioning.

Too often, I see coaches conditioning the athletes during the off-season. This is a waste of time and energy.

If you can teach your freshmen how to move by including a few minutes of practice before every strength-training session, imagine what a difference this will make by the time the athletes are juniors and seniors. It's never too early to teach kids how to move. Don't wait until it's too late.

SAQ training will have a positive impact on any team. That will introduce changes gradually and continue to abide by the six keys.

By Jim Kielbaso (MC, CSC), Director, Total Performance Training Center, Wixom, MI

Author, Speed & Agility Revolution