Designing Agility Training Programs for Female Youth Players

Growth and maturation must be considered when designing agility-based training programs. Research suggests that during the prepubertal phase of an athlete’s maturation, the majority of the training focus should be on fundamental movements, with a small percentage of training spent on change of direction and reactive agility (Lloyd et al., 2013). As the athlete progresses into circa peak height velocity (PHV), there is a greater emphasis on change of direction training in closed drills to ensure the athletes can appropriately change direction, especially with the rapid growth of limbs during this phase (Lloyd et al., 2013). Finally, once the athlete enters the post-pubertal phase, the main focus of training should be on reactive agility training focusing on both the change of direction and perceptual components of agility (Lloyd et al., 2013).

Change of direction drills generally consist of pre-planned (closed) movements such as 45°, 90°, and 180° cuts marked out with cones, where the player is instructed which direction to turn. Coaches can slow down the speed of the movement in a controlled, planned manner to make sure the athlete executes the change of direction correctly, following the key cues below:

1. On approach, decelerate by dropping your height and chopping your steps
2. Push off your opposite foot to the direction of travel (i.e. if turning left, push off your right foot)
3. Ensure the foot is in a neutral position/slightly pointing in the direction of travel
4. Ensure the chest is pointing in the direction of travel.

Once the player has become proficient with pre-planned change of direction movements, external stimulus such as coaches’ instruction can be introduced, where the player has to react to the instruction of the coach, i.e. turn left, turn right.