Strength and Conditioning: Football

If you are a strength and conditioning coach or a sports coach who needs to motivate their athletes then I suggest using the technique I used today.  After running post weight training for the past three weeks I decided that the speed that they were running at meant their effort wasn't at the level that I wanted.  So to motivate the athletes I split them into three groups based on speed.  Each person within the group had to beat their time and if they didn't I marked them down on a sheet.  At the end of the 12 sprints every mark would mean that student had to re run until they beat their time.  I sort of took this from WVU strength and conditioning for football.  The times I used were relatively easy to hit and running them in 3 groups meant that they would have a lot of time to rest (maybe too much).  It was a great success at motivating their running.  One coach stood at each goal line each with a stop watch.  The coach at the same line would tell the runners to run and the other coach would hit the stop watch on movement.  Only two athletes missed their times and the one due to cramping.  After looking at the times I will in the future be moving each one down a second to increase the intensity.  This was done post weight training (the same as usual for a Wednesday with no pause)  Finally, the athlete that missed his time on 3 occasions learned a lot today about how tough he is and that he is holding back when we work out.  I also saw leadership exhibited by other players who ran the extra ones with him and cheered him on.  

12 Sprints for time.  

First groups time to beat:  15 seconds (skill position)

Second groups time to beat:  18 seconds (middle)

Third groups time to beat:  21 seconds (Lineman)