While this drill is technically not what I consider a true speed and agility drill, it does have certain applications which can be used to develop physical attributes related to speed and agility work and therefore, I place it in the periphery of my recommended drills.
Rolling target practice is basically a throwing game where the coach will roll a ball along the ground in front of an athlete or group of athletes who are between 5-10 meters away with the goal of the athlete(s) hitting the ball with another ball. I prefer to use a rubber playground ball for my rolling targets and I like my athletes to throw tennis balls when making their shots.
The most specific attribute that rolling target practice develops is hand-eye coordination but timing and reaction speed can also be emphasized. I have found that baseball players really seem to enjoy this drill as it has some sport-specific applications which they can utilize.
ROLLING TARGET PRACTICE
Set-Up and Performance:
1. Line your athletes up and space them about 1 meter (roughly 3 feet) apart.
2. To save time, give each athlete several tennis balls so they can make multiple throws without having to recover the ball after each throw. Likewise, the coach should have several playground balls to roll so that s/he doesn’t have to recover the ball after each roll.
3. The coach needs to be at least 5 meters away from the group but no more than 15 meters (the athletes’ age and ability should dictate how far away the coach should stand).
4. Roll the ball on a course parallel to the line of athletes and instruct them to make their throws as soon as the ball begins to roll.
5. Emphasize accuracy, timing and reaction speed.
6. Once all the athletes’ balls have been expended, have them go collect the balls and line up on the opposite side so that the drill can be quickly repeated-use cones to mark the spots where you want your athletes to stand if necessary.
To emphasize accuracy and timing, instead of rolling the ball along the ground, toss it upward and outward so that it will bounce several times before rolling to a stop. Performed in this manner, it becomes more difficult to time the ball’s movement. To emphasize reaction speed, stand behind your athletes and roll the ball past them and instruct your athletes to throw as soon as they see the ball coming past them. To emphasize balance and kinesthetic awareness, have the athlete perform a forward roll prior to their throw-this will challenge their accuracy while somewhat disoriented from recovering from the roll. Finally, some athletes can use a sport-specific application for this drill by substituting a sports ball for the tennis ball (football players can use a football and baseball players can use a baseball).
I have found that this drill has an additional advantage over other speed and agility drills; it is not that physically demanding. Therefore, placing this drill after an intense series of running or jumping drills will allow the athletes’ energy systems to recover from the previous drill so that they are somewhat fresh for the next set of intense drills. This is especially applicable to younger and/or less conditioned athletes.
Matt is an ACE certified personal trainer and NESTA certified speed, agility & quickness specialist.
