Speed and Agility, What age?

My Lil 05 has been approached to do private speed and agility training.  I believe its too early can someone guide?  I do want her to at some point start speed and agility but looking for guidance on what age we should start her at. If anyone knows a good S&A coach in the Allen area let me know.

I had no luck in the Allen area specifically, but mine is enjoying hers we found in Richardson.  It is not necessarily the age, but it being age specific IMO.  Not having them do things their bodies are ready for.

I don't think she's physically too young to do speed work, but I personally wouldn't hand over my hard-earned at this age. I don't know much about soccer, but I do know about building speed. From what I have seen, these soccer speed and agility coaches do not understand the CNS (Central Nervous System) and its role in being explosive. If it is speed you want, join a track club or train her yourself. If it's conditioning she needs, any random coach can do it.

[Source: I train my 06' for track]

S.A.Q is a important part of a young players developement. Form running, agility patterns, and explosion is processed over time and frequency. It is a good idea in my opinion, but do your research to find a quality trainer or as the last poster stated " run track "

wrongsided wrote:My Lil 05 has been approached to do private speed and agility training.  I believe its too early can someone guide?  I do want her to at some point start speed and agility but looking for guidance on what age we should start her at. If anyone knows a good S&A coach in the Allen area let me know.  

I guess it depends on how money you have. If you can afford it then she should do speed and agility. If not then I suspect those apporaching would be less interested. But as a reference I deep read an article from Barcelona that they don't do any of that until 14.

go99 wrote:

wrongsided wrote:My Lil 05 has been approached to do private speed and agility training.  I believe its too early can someone guide?  I do want her to at some point start speed and agility but looking for guidance on what age we should start her at. If anyone knows a good S&A coach in the Allen area let me know.  

I guess it depends on how money you have.  If you can afford it then she should do speed and agility.  If not then I suspect those apporaching would be less interested.  But as a reference I deep read an article from Barcelona that they don't do any of that until 14.

I would bet that SAQ is built into each of their practice sessions.

Zizou wrote:

go99 wrote:

wrongsided wrote:My Lil 05 has been approached to do private speed and agility training.  I believe its too early can someone guide?  I do want her to at some point start speed and agility but looking for guidance on what age we should start her at. If anyone knows a good S&A coach in the Allen area let me know.  

I guess it depends on how money you have.  If you can afford it then she should do speed and agility.  If not then I suspect those apporaching would be less interested.  But as a reference I deep read an article from Barcelona that they don't do any of that until 14.

I would bet that SAQ is built into each of their practice sessions.

Actually what they said is they don't do anything without the ball. The belief is that time is limited to teach mastery of the ball and that you always do the SAQ later. But to be fair Barca isn't under pressure to win games with children. The reality is that you don't teach SAQ anyway. You can improve it but those that are fast will always be fast and those that are slow will also. so if you have the cash to burn by all means spend it. You will see you kid improve. If they aren't the fastest kid now they still won't be, but they will get faster. Look for a SAQ coach that is soccer specific or at worst a football guy. Stay away from the track guys. Much of what they teach is counter productive for soccer

I'm a sports specific coach in Richardson and I can tell you now if your athlete is ready to touch a ball then they are ready to learn form and technique for Speed and Agility. At their age it's all form and technique specific to their game.

explosivebalance89 wrote:I'm a sports specific coach in Richardson and I can tell you now if your athlete is ready to touch a ball then they are ready to learn form and technique for Speed and Agility. At their age it's all form and technique specific to their game.

My daughter once trained at Crull Fitness (I had a groupon), and I endorse this company. She was five at the time.

go99 wrote:

Zizou wrote:

go99 wrote:

wrongsided wrote:My Lil 05 has been approached to do private speed and agility training.  I believe its too early can someone guide?  I do want her to at some point start speed and agility but looking for guidance on what age we should start her at. If anyone knows a good S&A coach in the Allen area let me know.  

I guess it depends on how money you have.  If you can afford it then she should do speed and agility.  If not then I suspect those apporaching would be less interested.  But as a reference I deep read an article from Barcelona that they don't do any of that until 14.

I would bet that SAQ is built into each of their practice sessions.

Actually what they said is they don't do anything without the ball.  The belief is that time is limited to teach mastery of the ball and that you always do the SAQ later.  But to be fair Barca isn't under pressure to win games with children.  The reality is that you don't teach SAQ anyway.  You can improve it but those that are fast will always be fast and those that are slow will also.    so if you have the cash to burn by all means spend it.  You will see you kid improve.  If they aren't the fastest kid now they still won't be, but they will get faster.  Look for a SAQ coach that is soccer specific or at worst a football guy.  Stay away from the track guys.  Much of what they teach is counter productive for soccer

Got it, that makes sense.

Texican wrote:

explosivebalance89 wrote:I'm a sports specific coach in Richardson and I can tell you now if your athlete is ready to touch a ball then they are ready to learn form and technique for Speed and Agility. At their age it's all form and technique specific to their game.

My daughter once trained at Crull Fitness (I had a groupon), and I endorse this company.  She was five at the time.  

Crull fitness in Richardson is excellent! My DD has been in their program and was pleased,but cost was a big deterrent.

"Stay away from the track guys. Much of what they teach is counter productive for soccer." Please do elaborate. I'm not looking to argue; I genuinely welcome any first-hand insight as I'm hoping to do both with my DD.

From what I can tell, these young soccer players don't know how to run. It's all pull, no push. Arms flailing around. I don't see how programming in good running mechanics could be a bad thing.

My dd trained at crull when she was much younger. They had her doing a bunch of jumping around off boxes, and I beleieve it led to knee problems. We paid for several months and ended up not using it after the problems started.

It seemed like great training at the time, but in hindsight I dont think it was age specific.

4-3-3 wrote:My dd trained at crull when she was much  younger. They had her doing a bunch of jumping around off boxes, and I beleieve it led to knee problems. We paid for several months and ended up not using it after the problems started.

It seemed like great training at the time, but in hindsight I dont think it was age specific.

That sounds terrible! I guess it always depends on the individual trainer, not the company.

Texican wrote:"Stay away from the track guys. Much of what they teach is counter productive for soccer."  Please do elaborate.  I'm not looking to argue; I genuinely welcome any first-hand insight as I'm hoping to do both with my DD.

From what I can tell, these young soccer players don't know how to run.  It's all pull, no push.  Arms flailing around.  I don't see how programming in good running mechanics could be a bad thing.

Agree with this. Too many top level teams where the most explosive players are dual sport track athletes to say track coaches are counterproductive for soccer.

Yes lateral movement is different from str8 line speed, but go watch NCAA finals this year if you need further proof. I'd let them play basketball as a cheaper and probably more beneficial alternative to paying big dollars for SAQ at a young age, but I wouldn't rule out track as a great tool.

4-3-3 wrote:My dd trained at crull when she was much  younger. They had her doing a bunch of jumping around off boxes, and I beleieve it led to knee problems. We paid for several months and ended up not using it after the problems started.

It seemed like great training at the time, but in hindsight I dont think it was age specific.

My DD never jumped off a box in that place. A lot of work on balance board, medi balls, and resistance bands, and the instructor was great with her communication. We must have just got lucky at that time.

It is very expensive.

I think any type of athletic involvement is good but I have always hesitated with full on SAG training (as my DD already gets some at practice) due to worries about injury. Also, since my DD is younger, and with limited time I'd prefer soccer skills training, involvement in other sports, SCHOOL and so forth. I have found that agility training outside of club practices (we do with a soccer coach) such as agility ladders and so forth help her in soccer as well as in the other sports she does. I wish I could find someone to just take her out to the track a few times to work on running technique as I do not run well myself and was never taught. It seems like "how" you run and doing the mechanics correctly is important to many sports--example, running to the vault in Gymnastics.

Also, I'd be curious to hear what others think about Crull and such. While I think the agility work (ladders and such) and teaching mechanics of correct running would help, the strength and conditioning training only last while you are consistently doing it, right? At this stage, I don't care if my kid is fast and strong (believe it or not) so long as she is learning correct techniques that will be there when she is older and she needs to focus on conditioning/strength. What do you all think?

My dd is at crull, no box work, I would yank her if they did. Her trainer sat with me at length and discussed her as an individual, not a soccer player. everything has been age specific, fun, and showing signs of improvement with her already.

what I always caution is that proper techniques are being taught. Proper technique for soccer is not the same as proper tchnique in track

futbolfreak wrote:Also, I'd be curious to hear what others think about Crull and such.  While I think the agility work (ladders and such) and teaching mechanics of correct running would help, the strength and conditioning training only last while you are consistently doing it, right?  At this stage, I don't care if my kid is fast and strong (believe it or not) so long as she is learning correct techniques that will be there when she is older and she needs to focus on conditioning/strength.  What do you all think?

Agree, no resistence needed, quick feet, preferable with a ball, and agility patterns.

futbolfreak wrote:Also, I'd be curious to hear what others think about Crull and such.  While I think the agility work (ladders and such) and teaching mechanics of correct running would help, the strength and conditioning training only last while you are consistently doing it, right?  At this stage, I don't care if my kid is fast and strong (believe it or not) so long as she is learning correct techniques that will be there when she is older and she needs to focus on conditioning/strength.  What do you all think?

yes, its about learning proper technique, breathing, proper warmup, stretching, etc.. my dd got home from a very good JM session just this week and stretched herself out using what she had been taught at Crull... i would say that alone is showing me she is learning and developing.

Zizou wrote:

futbolfreak wrote:Also, I'd be curious to hear what others think about Crull and such.  While I think the agility work (ladders and such) and teaching mechanics of correct running would help, the strength and conditioning training only last while you are consistently doing it, right?  At this stage, I don't care if my kid is fast and strong (believe it or not) so long as she is learning correct techniques that will be there when she is older and she needs to focus on conditioning/strength.  What do you all think?

Agree, no resistence needed, quick feet, preferable with a ball, and agility patterns.

You might use some resistance bands to strengthen the adductor and abductor muscles to prevent injuries to the knees.

Zizou wrote:

Zizou wrote:

futbolfreak wrote:Also, I'd be curious to hear what others think about Crull and such.  While I think the agility work (ladders and such) and teaching mechanics of correct running would help, the strength and conditioning training only last while you are consistently doing it, right?  At this stage, I don't care if my kid is fast and strong (believe it or not) so long as she is learning correct techniques that will be there when she is older and she needs to focus on conditioning/strength.  What do you all think?

Agree, no resistence needed, quick feet, preferable with a ball, and agility patterns.

You might use some resistance bands to strengthen the adductor and abductor muscles to prevent injuries to the knees.

But just my opinion!

One other note to wrongsided--it is all about the $ to the people offering the services (I have an 04 btw) so just a caution on that.  Personally, if a coach or someone is telling you that your 05 DD NEEDS to work on being faster or running harder to catch up to her teammates or something like that, then I'd tell them to take a hike and take your DD to some soccer skill work instead or a coach that emphasizes that.   Not that I have a lot of experience but what I've seen in our short years of Academy is that sometimes the coaches and parents have the kids work on things that really are only an advantage to getting wins for the team (being faster, kicking longer & harder, for example) and not what will make our kids better soccer players individually down the road.

Edited: oops, I note you have an older player so you know all this already, LOL!