In field and court sports, the speed and success of performance isn’t just down to the speed of movement. Speed of thought and interpretation of situations are equally important.
We all know those players who aren’t the fastest in the tests and races, but always seem to be in the right position.
A typist thinks in phrases rather than letters and words. This is called chunking. skilled players develop the ability to chunk and act in ‘action phrases’ through repetition. By always practising movement sequences in training, even simple practice situations, will contribute immensely to the speed and rhythm at which a team can play in competition.
At the same time, training for reaction speed will bear little success. Reaction speed is very specific to the stimulus. Responding to a single stimulus has very little impact on performance speed. Match situation involves a player having to filter constant information from the field of play. The ability to pick out and respond to the most important information develops through learning from previous situations. This will be facilitated through coaching feedback from live situations. Not drills or exercises.
True Game Speed is about:
1) always being in a ready position
2) reading the situation
3) movement
And I would put them in that order for most field and court sports. If you’re lacking in one department, you’ll always be beaten to the ball/tackle or have to work twice as hard to make up for it and fatigue too quickly.
Yours In speed
Rob
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