1. Technique Running may seem like a fairly natural motion, but there are ways to optimize your mechanics to gain speed in both the acceleration and full-speed phases. In the acceleration phase, shift your weight forward by leaning ahead with your entire body, created by a roughly 45-degree angle from your head to your back foot. Push off the ground with the balls of your feet, using short strides. Pump your arms aggressively, with your elbows bent about 90 degrees, and keep your head up whenever your run, because you must scan the field to find the best running path during game conditions. When you reach full speed you’ll lengthen your stride and reduce the amount of time each foot is in contact with the ground. Lean forward a bit less and continue pumping your arms, but don’t do so as aggressively.
2.Relaxation One of the hardest things about running is trying to stay relaxed while you run. Most athletes first think that in order to run fast that they have to run hard. They associate running hard with trying to create as much tension as possible. You can tell easily if an athlete is too tense, just by looking at their facial expression. If you see an athlete with a tight face, their eyes will be squinting, teeth are mashed, and you know that they are trying too hard and are forcing themselves to be slow down. If you see an athlete with their cheeks flopping up and down as they run, you know that they have mastered the relaxation technique and are getting the most out their sprinting. You have to let your muscles work for you and not against to maximize your speed potential. This is a tough concept to learn and must be practiced if you want get the most out of your speed. Other things to look for if you are running tight are clenched fists, elevated shoulders and a shortened stride.
3.Proper footing and Leg Action When sprinting, you want to land on the ball of your foot, or across the metatarsal arch. The foot should land directly under the hip (where all your force is stored) and drive back until the leg is straight behind the body, thus maximizing stride length. As the foot leaves the ground again, this is called the recovery part of speed), your knee should be driving forward and slightly up. We call this a knee punch.The most important thing to remember about leg action is that speed is created down and back—by the amount of force applied to the ground, which drives the leg back and propels the body forward. Leg action happens very quickly. Olympic sprinters get their foot on and off the ground in about one-tenth of a second.The objective of linear speed is to go forward or straight ahead. Therefore, you need to maximize your horizontal components and minimize vertical components. Remember, the objective is to go straight ahead, not up and down.
4.Set up proper shin angle A player’s shin should be at a 45-degree angle when lifted up in a dorsi flexed manner. This is like loading a spring. As soon as the foot hits the pavement, it will spring up and cause the rate of force development to increase, which will help your athlete increase hip flexion.
5.Work on Acceleration and Quickness Acceleration is the ability to increase velocity. The key here is how quickly you can increase your speed. This is perhaps more important in basketball than raw speed, because unlike a sport like track where all the athletes take off at the same time, basketball players must be quick to recognize when they must start a sprint--such as a rebound leading to a fast break--and then be able to accelerate quickly. In basketball, having the ability to accelerate from a stationary position or from a moving position is equally important.Drills such as learning the proper 45-degree body position to begin acceleration, or using the proper arm action in the sprint can be helpful in this type of training. Each of these seemingly simple, but often overlooked aspects to becoming faster can help athletes improve their acceleration.
Works Cited:
BETH, P. (2007) How to improve your sprinting speed. Brian Mackenzie's Successful Coaching, (ISSN 1745-7513/ 46/ October), p. 7-8
Baggett, Kelly. Football Speed: Parts I and II. 2006.
Miller, Michael G. et al. (2006) The Effects of a 6-Week Plyometric Training Program on Agility. Journal of Sports Science and Medicine. 5, 459-465.
- MACKENZIE, B. (2000) Speed[WWW] Available from: http://www.brianmac.co.uk/Speed.htm [Accessed 24/10/2013]
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