Agility Training

The current definition of agility is “a rapid whole-body movement with change of velocity or direction in response to a stimulus”. Coaches often miss the change of speed element and think the fastest response is always best. This is typically not the case, at The U of Strength we teach our athletes that they need to control their speed. This will allow them to react to the stimulus with an appropriate response and solution. The ability to quickly decelerate and under control is essential for athletic success.

Another important part of agility training that is often overlooked is the connection between the perceptive and cognitive processes. The quality of an athlete’s movement will be directly related to the quality of decisions made. We promote, the athletes who can quickly make effective decisions will likely gain a step on their opponent, even if there’s a difference with physical abilities (speed, strength and power).
 
The cognitive components are organized into 2 different categories:

• General stimulus= Colored Cones
• Specific stimulus= Numbers-down situation (1v2)

 
Here are some progressions we follow to facilitate the ability of being under control and making effective decisions: 
1. Increasing the work space

• The larger work space will potentially create more problems for the athlete solve. The outcome (winning or losing) will determine if the response was effective or ineffective.

2. 1v2

• This is an example of numbers-down situation (specific stimulus) and will promote context-specific (defense vs. offense) decision-making skills. For example, if the defender commits too much speed or uncontrollable movement to one side or opponent compared to the other will result in an ineffective response and therefore a poor outcome.

 3. Reacting to multiple stimuli (opponent & ball)

• It’s important that in order for the agility drills to transfer to sport the training stimuli is specific to the sport. The number one stimulus for team sport athletes is another athlete or opponent. The second will be dependent on the sport, incorporating implements like a ball would be considered a major stimulus. Team sports are random and chaotic where athletes are constantly solving movement and game-based problems. Athletes need practice and exposure to recognizing, interpreting and screening through different cues of an opponent, environment and situations to make the most optimal response.