Agility Drills for Football

In the game of football, building up agility helps in maintaining the balance while starting, stopping, changing direction and changing speed. The kinesthetic awareness and neuromuscular coordination are also developed apart from the maintenance of balance. Agility drills for football are an important part of fitness training for young and experienced players.

Agility Drills for Football
The football agility drills are necessary to make the players quick in their movements and to increase the muscle strength. These drills are very important for the development of the players. Let us have a look at some of the agility drills for football in the following paragraphs.

Shuttle Runs: The shuttle runs not only help in increasing the agility of a football player but also builds up stamina and endurance. In this drill, one has to begin by running a certain distance and then gradually increasing it. For example, if a person starts with 10 m, he progresses on to 20 m, 30 m and so on. However, the players after completing the first lap (i.e. 10 m), have to turn back and once again cover the distance before progressing to the next lap. The 'shuttle runs' helps in improving the take off.

Pro Agility Drill: In pro agility drill, a player has to sprint between 3 cones placed at equal distances of 5 meters in a straight line. A player has to start from the middle cone and then sprint 5 meters in any (left or right) direction. Then he has to turn back and run 10 meters towards the cone at the end. Again he has turn back after reaching the far end cone and return to the original place, i.e. the middle cone. The starting position for this exercise should be the three-point stance, i.e. the legs and one of the hands should touch the ground. One should bend at the waist with the angle between legs about 15 degrees. If the player decides to start off running rightwards, the left hand should touch the ground and vice versa.

One-legged Squats: The one-legged squats are performed by lifting either of the legs. Generally, 2 sets of 25 squats are performed with or without weights. Around 15 lbs. weight is used to perform these squats.

Vertical Leap: The vertical leap is an agility drill for football which leads to the development of muscles and explosive movement during the game. The players should leap vertically while in a squatting position. One should perform 5 such leaps in succession and the height of these leaps should also be measured.

Steps-ups: In this exercise, a plyo box is used for stepping up. The exercise is performed by stepping up on to the plyo box and balancing the body for 5 seconds. One should step down in a controlled manner and repeat the step 25 times which completes a set. Two sets of 25 steps for each leg should be performed. The exercise can be made a bit challenging by doing it with weights.

Speed and Agility Drills for Football
The speed and agility for football can be developed with the help of ladder drills. In these drills, ladders or boxes (of generally 18 x 18 inches) are used for increasing the quickness and improving the balance. The 'Forward 2-in' is a commonly used agility ladder drill in coaching for youth football. In the agility ladder drills for football, one has to run forward in a manner that both the feet are placed in every square at a time. The arms shouldn't drop down while running, but be driven backwards.

Read more on:

• National Football League
• American Football

The above mentioned agility drills for football would help in making the players stronger and fitter for playing the game of football.