This book excerpt from Developing Agility and Quickness describes the windows of opportunity in youth athletes to time progressions in speed and agility training with their biological and chronological development.
While analyzing the speed requirements of different sports may, at first, seem to be a massive challenge, asking a few key questions can make the task much simpler.
In this video from the NSCA's 2014 National Conference, Bret Contreras discusses how moving horizontally - quick breaks and agility drills vs. hopping - can result in explosive acceleration and speed.
Acceleration is the rate of change in velocity, so this phase of sprinting is critical for changing directions as rapidly and efficiently as possible. Optimal technique for linear sprinting in the acceleration phase involves four factors that maximize stride length and frequency.
Deceleration in court and field sports, such as football and soccer, is an important component of speed and agility. This book excerpt looks at how to train for effective deceleration.