|
The A-B-C's of Footwork
 By:
Steve Myrland
Improving footwork for sport performance offers the collateral
benefit of reducing injury potential, since enhanced control
of the center of gravity in motion will do the same for the
human body that upgrading the engine, brakes, and suspension
of a car does for the performance of the vehicle. It is also
useful to consider that the "physical education" programs in
many (most) American school systems are anything but physical
and educational. The end result is, too often, human bodies
trying to acquire complex sport-movement skills before
mastering basic movement abilities. (Who, among the coaches
reading this, has not encountered the all-star wunderkid
player only to discover that he or she is unable to skip?)
Teaching a progression of quantifiable and qualifiable
movement skills with integrated upper, middle, and lower body
mechanics is a fun and relatively easy part of training.
My primary tool for
footwork training is the
ABC (Agility - Balance and Coordination)
LADDER (my
version of the agility ladder). It is worth noting that I
decided to make my own ladder after being both entranced with
the possibilities of ladder training and frustrated by the
limitations of the ladders I was using. This is not intended
as a commercial for the ABC version. It is intended as a
strong recommendation to give any ladder a place in your
training program.
Develop a repertoire
of exercises the way you would go about expanding any training
concept: in a carefully drawn progression of drills going from
simple to complex, and increasing the speed of any drill only
after you have mastered it at a slow, controlled pace. The
ideal way to build this repertoire of exercises is to work on
perfecting three or four movements in a training session,
reviewing these movements in subsequent sessions, and adding
an additional drill or two as you go. The drills you choose to
include should reflect identifiable, sport-specific movements.
This enables you to easily relate the training to the sport;
something that always speeds the learning curve along.
Changing the Training Demand
A simple way to add greater strength and proprioceptive
demands to an ABC LADDER session is to place the ladder on a
gentle hill. Now, you will have to work against resistance
when you move up the hill; and you will have the assistance of
the hill when you come back down.
A simple drill like
the THREE-COUNT SHUFFLE* now has many new options to choose
from. Facing forward when you move up the hill gives you the
increased resistance; coming down backwards forces you to move
and balance at a slightly faster pace than normal as the
hill’s gradient causes you to accelerate. You can reverse the
effect simply by working backward up the hill, and forward
down the hill. Then: rotate the ladder ninety-degrees so that
it lies across the slope of the hill. Doing the same drill,
now, will involve resistance/assistance within each
repetition. If your right shoulder is pointing up the hill,
you will face resistance each time you push off of your left
foot and extra eccentric loading on that foot as you
decelerate your return off the right.
Using an ABC LADDER
can help you move faster, better, and safer. By keeping these
simple ideas in mind, athletes can acquire ever more complex
movement skills through ladder training, and the learning can
come surprisingly fast.
The ladder, then, can
be a gratifying element of training for sports, where
acquiring new skills is, generally, a long and difficult
process.
*THREE-COUNT
SHUFFLE (forward):
Stand just to the left of the ladder, facing along its length.
Step into the first space with your right foot; step in with
your left foot; step out to the right side of the ladder with
your right foot; and repeat the other way. The rhythm is
Waltz-like: ONE-two-three, ONE-two-three...and the word cues
are: IN-in-out, IN-in-out; or: RIGHT-left-right,
LEFT-right-left.
Training Tips
Here are some simple ideas to keep in mind while
learning ladder drills:
- Go as fast as you
can, not as fast as you can't. The idea is to complete the
drill correctly, rather than trip and drag the ladder
halfway through because you are attempting to go at a speed
you cannot control.
- Rhythm before
tempo: Find the rhythm or meter of the drill, and hear your
feet achieving that rhythm before you attempt to increase
the tempo (pace) of the exercise.
- Word-cues: If the
rhythm eludes you, use word-cues (In-in-OUT; in-in-OUT, for
example) and be sure to say them out loud! Trust me on this:
feet are hard of hearing; but they will do what they are
told if you actually speak the cues.
Most athletes are
completely unaware of what their arms are doing while they are
concentrating on where their feet are going. The coach must
facilitate the inclusion of the upper-body. Always pay
attention to what an athlete's arms are (or are not) doing. In
all cases, arm movements must be integrated with foot
movements (and facilitated by strength and stability through
the body's core). Learning drills as simple foot-placement
exercises without including proper arm mechanics will not
produce functional results . |
