Welcome to our 11th blog interview! This week, we had the privilege to discuss young athletes speed and agility training and development with Michelle Toy, the 2023 California Coach of the Year by the NHSSCA. With over a decade of experience as a strength and conditioning coach working with high school athletes (2012-2023), Michelle has now embarked on a new venture. In January 2024, she founded her own company, "Toy Soldier Training", based in San Jose, California. Her company is dedicated primarily to speed training for athletes aged 6-19.
Coach Michelle Toy
At what age should young athletes begin with speed and agility training? How should the training be structured in the early stages of athletic development?
I believe speed and agility training can begin as young as 5-6 years old. The focus at this age is about gaining knowledge and awareness of the body. Coordination, balance, learning how to do simple drills like jumping, skipping, backpedaling, shuffling, and sprinting. It must be a fun learning environment with activities that challenge their bodies and create competition. Activities may include relay races, tag, games with tennis balls, mini hurdles, etc. Learning how to run is boring for kids at this age unless you make it fun and engaging. The goal is not to run a fast 40-yard dash or a 10m fly, the goal is to introduce movement patterns that will allow the athlete to thrive in a chaotic environment (such as a soccer or basketball game) and have the ability to move their body and react quickly.
What kind of warm-up should precede speed and agility training?
I start my warm-ups with mobility, activation, increasing the heart rate/body temperature, then low level plyos, and finally build up sprints. The mobility focuses on the ankles and hips with exercises like kneeling ankle pumps (knees over toes) and adductor rockers. The activation focuses on the glutes/hip area with modified side plank leg lifts, side plank Copenhagen’s, glute bridges and lateral lunges. Increasing the heart rate/body temp incorporates exercises like jog/backpedal, skips, cariocas, and dynamic stretches such as forward lunges w/twist and spiderman crawls. The low level plyos include pogos, bunny hops, and skips for height. Lastly, the build-up sprints are anywhere from 10-20 yards.
What are the key points when assessing young athletes’ running form? What strategies do you use when correcting young athletes’ running form?
The main thing I look for with any aged athlete and their running form is where they are striking the ground. Most young athletes are heel strikers. That means they are reaching out with their front leg to get a bigger stride and cover more ground, but unfortunately, that’s the exact opposite of the technique required to be fast. To help an athlete learn how to land under their hips, I teach them a drill called switches. It looks like high knees when done fast, except the goal is not to focus on the knees/thighs coming up, but rather to focus on the power of getting the leg down. The foot must land under the hip. Be tall, keep your standing leg straight. Tuck your butt. These are all cues I give to help athletes learn how to do a switch correctly. Once you understand how to do the switch in place, then start moving forward with it. You can increase speed similar to a build-up, where the focus isn’t on sprinting per say, but rather switching the thighs.
Should speed and agility training be adjusted during a growth spurt?
I don’t adjust my training around growth spurts as maintaining balance, coordination, spatial awareness, etc., are all things that can get thrown off with growing fast. Therefore, I believe it is important to stay connected to the body as it grows and add in more balancing and rhythmic drills to maintain that neurological connection with the body.
Many confuse Change of Direction (COD) speed with agility training. Can you explain the main difference and when each should be used with young athletes?
I agree these 2 terms are used interchangeably but they are actually different. Change of direction (COD) drills typically involve cones or lines where an athlete is told when to change direction. (For example, run the cone 1, then side shuffle to cone 2, then back pedal to cone 3, etc.) The athlete knows exactly what movement to do and when to do it. In sports, the athlete has no idea when they will have to shuffle once then sprint 5 yards, then cut left, etc. That’s where agility/reaction training comes into play. Agility is the ability to move in reaction to a cue/stimulus. Contrary to COD drills, agility drills have less structure and more freedom. A rabbit drill is a great example, where one athlete is offense and the other is defense and the athlete has to react to what the other athlete is doing. COD drills are great for a beginner athlete trying to learn how to cut, but agility/reaction drills will be better for them long term.
At what age should youth athletes start sport-specific speed and agility training?
I don’t really believe in “youth” sport-specific speed/agility training. At the youth age, kids should not be narrowing their abilities. The more dynamic they are in all movements, the better athletes they will become (even if they only choose to play one sport).
What are the basic differences in sport-specific speed and agility training for youth basketball players compared to soccer players?
No difference. For youth, they all need to learn how to sprint, cut, shuffle, backpedal, jump, land, etc. So, I would not train a basketball and soccer player differently at the youth level.
How can speed and agility training help in young athletes’ injury prevention?
- a) Injuries (that are non-contact) in nature occur because of lack of strength, mobility, body control, or overuse. Youth athletes can endure more once they learn how to control their bodies. The more coordinated and balanced athletes are, the less likely they are to fall. With better sprinting mechanics, they can go faster with less strain on the legs. Also, youth athletes will develop better change direction abilities with less stress on the body if they learn how to decelerate correctly. All these factors will allow an athlete to stay healthy longer and perform better.
- b) Injuries that are deemed chronic/overuse injuries may require more time to heal. Give your 7–14 year-olds time to be kids! Sports are an opportunity to have fun, make friends, learn life skills, develop body coordination, and exercise. It’s not a job. Any athlete getting overuse injuries are probably going from tournaments to private sessions, or from one sport practice to the next. Allow rest in between seasons, between hard tournament weeks, between multiple sport practices, etc. Overuse injuries are preventable in my opinion. Listen to your body.
