30/06/2020
RETURN TO RUN FOR FIELD SPORTS: WHERE TO START…
As the outcome of many game-changing scenarios in field sports are greatly influenced or determined by speed, the logical point to build your “Return to Run for Field Sports” template would be at the start of the speed technical model… acceleration.
Players with a combination of force-development capabilities, greater stiffness and elasticity in the muscles / tendons of their lower limbs will be able to accelerate faster and maintain higher top speeds than those who don’t. The nature of team sports requires that players are able to perform these efforts repeatedly and effectively in the context of their game, in both attacking and defensive scenarios.
Ultimately, if you can’t get to where you’re trying to get to in time… you won’t influence the game how you intend to.
A common misconception is that training acceleration must only occur after proper strength training has taken place. Under this philosophy, not only will a significant amount of valuable preparation time be lost, but in the context of Covid-19 training restrictions, many field sports players have not had access to a gym or the regular structured strength training they would usually perform.
It should also be noted that it is difficult to replicate running demands in the gym from a force production standpoint even with unlimited equipment access, with research showing increasing peak loading rates of 127.5 x Bodyweight / sec during max effort accelerations and 224 x Bodyweight / sec when running at 9 metres per second.
Training for acceleration will therefore compliment gym based exercise in developing the explosive strength, power, coordination and muscle-tendon elasticity required for returning to run.
The ongoing inclusion of acceleration technique into team training is important for the long term development of athlete speed. Simply put, how match-play movement scenarios start will often determine how successful those later stages actually are.
Whilst each team sports player is an individual and will likely run differently than a track sprinter, it is important that they understand the concepts and “rules” around developing acceleration technique....
