Sprinting in Football
Football is widely recognised as a sport of endurance and frequent high intensity actions. Throughout the years, its increasingly fast-paced nature has made sprinting the decisive factor in both attacking and defending actions. Understanding the physiology and biomechanics of sprinting is critical in order to optimize sprint training and ultimately, decrease the risk of injury.
Sprinting consists of two main components: acceleration and top speed. Acceleration is defined as the first 5-10 metres where the player increases velocity at a rapid pace. Top speed is the phase where the player reaches maximal velocity which usually requires 20-30 metres to achieve so. Effective acceleration is defined by the ability to produce high force against the ground in a forward direction, engaging muscles and joints such as the quads and glutes for a powerful hip extension and the hamstrings as key knee flexors. At top speed however, hamstrings work eccentrically thus experiencing full elongation increasing considerably the risk of injury.
Due to these differences, training and testing for sprinting ability will also be broken down into the two phases although the principles are similar. It is key to understand the mechanics of the movement and drills which develop each phase.
On the one hand, training acceleration involves correct body lean forward, shorter, faster strides and forceful arm drive. These actions will produce a faster acceleration by maximising initial propulsion as well as maintaining balance and increasing momentum. Acceleration phase can be trained through agility drills (short bursts which may also involve change of direction). Maximal velocity training involves correct posture to optimize stride length and efficiency, an explosive ground contact (elastic push minimizing energy loss) and adequate hamstring activation, key in maintaining that speed. Speed can be developed through isolated drills or within small sided games engaging large spaces and few players.
This sprint exposure can be achieved through single, isolated running exercises or part of a session designed according to the weekly microcycle (and mesocycle) that the club has determined. With a one match day over the weekend, sprinting is typically trained earlier in the week for the players to have recovered from the match and avoiding fatigue carryover for the next. Strength training in the gym targeting posterior chain, will also improve sprint power as well as explosive exercises like plyometrics.
On the other hand, testing sprinting ability involves a 30m run while placing speed timing gates at 5m, 10m, 20m points. Each checkpoint provides insight on initial acceleration (lower body strength) , acceleration phase (efficiency in producing speed) and the transition to maximal velocity phase (indicating sprint endurance and speed maintenance). These factors can be analysed and trained depending on the weakness, whether this is in sprint mechanics, acceleration or top-speed development.
Including sprint training is vital within football development. By exposing the hamstrings to carefully targeted and regular eccentric loading, it reduces the risk of hamstring injuries enabling the muscles to withstand the high forces involved. Adequate sprint training reinforces efficient movement patterns improving neuromuscular coordination further decreasing injury risk. Furthermore, as football demands frequent sprinting with short recovery times, developing repeated sprint ability is key as this allows players to maintain explosive efforts throughout the full match.
Well-structured sprint exposure throughout the microcycle, can decrease injury risk and develop a footballer’s athletic performance. Within NYSA and its weekly load monitoring, players achieve sprint distance training through targeted drills according to positional demands (fullbacks or wide players generally develop higher repeated sprint ability) and the exposure they each already get with their respective teams’ training. In coordination with P3RFORM, players further develop their sprinting ability through their personalised gym workouts.