Improving Your Sport Speed

Speed is perhaps the most sought-after attribute for athletes involved in
team sports. Athletes who are able to win the race to the ball, puck or
base, either on offence or defense, will dictate the flow of the game in
their team's favor.
Sport speed demands more than simply being able to sprint straight ahead in
an attempt to reach top speed. In most cases, 100 per cent of maximum speed
is rarely used in sport. Instead, short, quick bursts are required to
overtake an opponent or to catch a ball.
Additionally, an athlete must be able to shift to a higher or lower gear
quickly with minimal loss of body control. Therefore, sport speed is a
combination of acceleration, agility, and speed.
There are two specific components that make up maximum running speed outside
of pure genetic potential:
Stride length: This refers to the distance covered with each stride. A
common error most young athletes make is over striding. Athletes tend to
over stride because they are trying to reach top speed too quickly. Over
striding causes a negative shin angle with the ground actually causes the
body to decelerate.
Stride frequency: Also known as the number of strides made in a specific
amount of time. The main objective of athletes attempting to increase their
speed is to increase their stride frequency (decrease time between strides)
at the same time as maintaining or increasing their stride length.
Simple running form exercises and minor corrections of stride frequency and
length can lead to immediate positive results; the biggest hurdle for
athletes is to retrain the body to run with good form and to eradicate bad
habits that have developed.

Mike Wilson is the head trainer for PURSUIT Training and Rehabilitation
Clinic (Cloverdale Athletic Park), providing complete sport conditioning and
rehabilitation services. PURSUIT is offering summer general sport
conditioning programs and speed, agility, and power training programs. Both
programs start the week of July 12th, contact Mike at 604-574-2895.

Mike Wilson

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