Quick Skips are a great way of conditioning players for better speed, agility and reaction time. In today’s video blog post, we demonstrate some great ways to implement this basic yet valuable training option into your practice plan. The focus is on using big agility moves quickly and turning on the speed.
Straight-ahead Skips
Start with straight-ahead skips. Pop off the front of the foot quickly. Step down to the ground. That’s where force is applied. Skip, bouncing off the front part of the foot. Pop off the ground. Relax at the hips. Keep a stable core. Those are two key elements that you have to have for quickness.
Sideways Straight Lateral
Get your skipping rhythm. Now step down to the ground and push away from the direction you want to go. To move to the left, you have to push to the right. To move right, push left. Keep those toes pulled up. Keep that skipping rhythm. This one’ll challenge your brain and your muscles to work together.
Crossover Action
Now let’s use the knee and the hip with our crossover action. The faster you move your hips, the faster your feet are going to go. Hips, they’ve got to rotate quick. Bring the knee across. The feet will always follow those hips.
Now let’s go backward, rotating the knees out. Step down to the ground. Use your hips for greater speed. Keep the toes pulled up toward the shin and step down to the ground. Keep a solid core. Push away, push away, push away. That’s where quickness comes from.