November 2005

Mannequin Training:
Speed, Agility and Fitness
(With and without the ball.)

Greetings Coach!

Welcome to November's edition of "Mannequin Training", your monthly soccer training newsletter. This month we concentrate on Speed and Agility with a sprinkle of the "F" word, Fitness.

Todays top soccer players are quick, agile and well conditioned. Much time and effort goes into developing agility, speed and fitness so that our players and teams gain a competitive advantage at game time. Now you may use "The Soccer Wall TM" mannequins to enhance and improve your teams speed and conditioning in a more relaistic and match related setting.

Front Slalom

Using your Mannequins, create a slalom line with mannequin spacing from 1 to 3 yards. Players dart through, twisting and turning. Players are encouraged to use their arms to gain an advantage and prepare them for similar match like situations. Notice the short quick steps that the players are forced to take which developes quick feet.

Set up 2 slalom lines along side each other and have the players race a partner. Bring competition to your slalom line and watch the quality and effort escalate.

Backwards Slalom

Similar to the front slalom, now we ask our players to slalom backwards through the course. Players are forced to twist and turn their hips, back pedal and keep their head and shoulders moving while looking backwards. All great fundamentals of an alert and active player.

Backwards and side ways movements while scanning the field are common occurences during any soccer match.

Front Slalom with Ball

Add a ball and improve the effeciaency of your excercise. Now you are developing player coordination, agility and ball control dribbling skills. All in one excercise!

With life sized mannequins your players are in a realistic scenario and must polish their techniques accordingly. Once again, encourage the use of their arms to protect the ball and keep the opponent (Mannequin) away while dribbling.

Zig Zag Course

Angle your mannequins to create a Zig Zag course. Create a short and quick course for small step and quick feet training or space them wider for a side shuffle warm up. Set them up in a variety of ways to accomplish your specefic objective. Allow the players to attack them with or without the ball.

Contact Information
email: elder@thesoccerwall.com
phone: 1.877.757.9255
web: http://www.thesoccerwall.com