05 Feb Speed Drills for Youth Soccer Players: INTENT Matters MOST!
Every time I observe a soccer “speed” session, whether it’s eyewash crap I see on Instagram of kids tapping through rings and ladders, or whether it’s at a local soccer complex here in Tampa, Florida, and all the players are going at slow to moderate speeds through a jumble of hurdles, I want to bang my head against a wall.
I put soccer “speed” session in quotes because it’s all a sad joke. It’s not true speed training.
More often than not, the players are going at a slow to moderate speed, and sure, they are becoming excellent tap dancers, but not true force producers.
Speed is about force. It’s about fast ground contacts.
It’s not about “quick feet drills” to train fast first step. Rather, it’s about long and strong first steps, pushing the ground away during acceleration (i.e. creating horizontal force for all the science nerds).
It’s about wiring the central nervous system to fire like a lightning bolt.
99% of soccer “speed” sessions I see are nonsense and are not training speed at all. In fact, they’re the furthest thing from speed.
It’s time for the soccer community to change their ways because it’s failing kids’ speed development.
True Speed Training
“True speed training is electrical,” as speed coach Tony Holler says.
I’m sure when you clicked on this blog, you were expecting me to list off a bunch of ladder drills and “quick feet” nonsense.
Hi, welcome to the side of the internet where we actually get your kid faster.
During my speed training sessions here in Tampa, Florida, I don’t do any quick feet drills with my soccer players.
I do speed drills that improve fast ground contact times, forceful knee drives, explosive mechanics, and build fast twitch muscles.
We jump, lift, and sprint. There. Those are the “drills” for speed. Rinse and repeat year-round.
It’s nothing complex. It’s nothing that will go viral or get me a million followers. It’s that simple.
But sadly, the soccer community fails to stick to simple.
It’s painfully ironic how badly soccer players (and parents) want to improve speed, yet they lack the consistency required to improve it.
I wish the soccer community was as obsessed with sticking with speed training year-round as they were with stating how much they long to improve it.
I wrote an entire blog here on why I DON’T offer drop-in speed sessions, and how much consistency each week is needed to develop speed.
Anyway…
Speed is about training plyometrics properly with short duration bursts and foot contacts quick off the ground like a ping pong ball (we measure plyos using OVR laser jump here, so we get direct feedback on how explosive and high quality our athletes’ plyos are). I recommend getting one if you’re serious about seeing how explosive your plyos actually are. Most soccer players butcher plyos and it’s tragic.
It’s also about doing consistent strength training and building the speed muscles, like the hamstrings and glutes, so athletes can push harder during their first few steps of acceleration, and put more force into the ground as they reach top speeds over 30 yards distance.
Too, strengthening is needed for injury reduction so players can handle higher speeds in the game and not pull a hamstring, or tear an ACL during a hard deceleration.
It’s about sprinting with intention, meaning, MAX EFFORT. I like to have my athletes race and time simultaneously. That’s when they give the most effort and we get an adaptation.
I use the Freelap Timing System (get it HERE if you want to train true speed and track improvements. USE CODE ERICA10 TO GET A 10% DISCOUNT UNTIL FEB 20TH 2026). If you’re in middle school or older, if you’re not tracking, you’re not training speed.
Speed, to that end, is more about intent.
You can do all the high knee, plyometrics, and A skip drills, but if athletes are not training fast and extreme, they will never become explosive.
Example of how high knees should actually be done (for less than 6 seconds max effort):
When I see soccer teams warm up, their high knees are so slow it makes me ill, and they are getting no benefit from the drill (yes, I meant for that to rhyme). ;-O
Intent is critical. Every speed drill must be done at an 11/10 intensity, as if it’s the last time you’ll ever perform the exercise. We want fast twitch muscle recruitment. We want excited nervous systems.
And it’s worth mentioning, if youth soccer players are not recovered, then there’s no way they can train fast and extreme like this. Recovery days are mandatory for speed development in order for the athlete to get an explosive adaptation.
So sure soccer community, you can continue to do your lame half-assessed “speed” work and stay slow.
Sure, you can continue to train 7 days a week and wear the “grind” like a pathetic badge of honor. But you’re only getting slower and de-training speed.
Watch a podcast here with speed coach Tony Holler on other things the soccer folks do that de-train speed:
Or…
You can go against the crowd and hang out on this side of the internet where the true speed demons thrive.
You can finally raise the ceiling on your speed and blow by your opponents once and for all.
Your choice.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Erica Mulholland is a former college 3x All-American soccer player and now Hall of Famer from Johns Hopkins University. She holds a Master of Science in Exercise Science and is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach, who has been helping female athletes of all sports with speed, agility, strength, power, and conditioning for 14 years. She works with youth female athletes who want to become stronger and faster, as well as ACL and meniscus surgery rehab for female athletes in the later stages (over 3 month mark post-surgery) who want to return to sport better than they were prior to injury.
Work with Erica in Tampa and Lutz Florida for speed, agility, and strength training, OR late stage ACL rehab (must be at minimum 3 months into physical therapy and post-surgery): BOOK ASSESSMENT HERE
Interested in REMOTE TRAINING for Female Athletes? BOOK A CONSULT HERE
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