SAQ (Speed, Agility, Quickness)
When you attend training sessions or pre-match warm ups at Chesterfield Centre of Excellence you will see something you might not have seen before. When you see the strange movements of players doing their warm up exercises and the use of ladders and hurdles you might think, what has this got to do with football and what will my child learn from this? The following explanation will hopefully make things clearer.
The form of training briefly described above is known as S.A.Q® (Speed, Agility, Quickness) and has been around for a few years. Most premiership clubs now use the SAQ® method of training and at the grassroots level it is becoming more popular.
The SAQ® company have developed a system of training aimed at putting your body through a progression of exercises and instructions to, amongst other things, develop motor ability, balance and co-ordination and ultimately, complete control of body movements. This type of training can be developed for most sports enabling players to develop, for example, explosive acceleration, lightning response and the correct reactions specific to that sport. If players improve these skills these exercises help to reduce injuries by ensure the body is moving correctly for their sport.
Traditional training methods, such as running around the pitch two or three times (to warm the body up) then standing still to stretch muscles, do nothing at all from a training point of view, other than cool the body down. Muscles are not injured or pulled by standing still so why stand still to stretch? Warm ups (the stretching of muscles part prior to training) is done on the move and is known as Dynamic Flex". This helps keep the body, heart and blood at an increased temperature, in turn, helping to increase the elasticity of muscular tissues, along with increasing mental alertness - all of which are needed in a game situation.
The ladders and hurdles used in the SAQ® training method help to develop and improve correct running forward, backwards and sideways, along with developing fast feet and quick reactions for game situations. From this apparatus, training develops on to using resistance equipment, helping to develop and fire the muscle fibres needed in a game situation. After football drills training ends with a cool down similar to the warm up.
If you have any questions relating to SAQ training please feel free to ask our SAQ® licensed coach who will be more than pleased help.
Chesterfield Girls Centre of Excellence is sponsored by
