Certificate in Speed Training for Cricket

Description

This certificate covers the importance of speed and agility in Cricket. It looks at the various methods that can be used to make players quicker off the mark and faster on the ball.

• Certificate introduction – 4 PDF documents
• Resource notes
• A total of 26 lectures in PDF format, available to download and print
• 3 multiple-choice activities

GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO SPEED TRAINING
This certificate course content covers speed and agility training for your chosen sport. The overall aim is to enhance the coach’s ability to understand speed, the various elements of speed, how to improve and d

evelop faster reacting and faster moving athletes and sports players as well as understanding the best ways to integrate speed in the complete strength and conditioning programme.

This course  starts by looking at the history of organised sport – the ancient Olympics Games and how from the outset the sprint event was the principle feature of sport at the time. From ancient Greece, we move on to look at the history of the 100m which is accepted as the event which produces the world’s fastest human being. This study involves a close examination of the development of sprinting and as well as an assessment of training methods for speed over the years as well as looking at the emergence of the Afro-Caribbean athlete.

Cricket as with other field and court sports should be regarded as a “speed and skill sport” and while we know that there is a need for endurance training of some dimension in order that players are conditioned to last a game of high intensity the main emphasis should be on developing the speed potential of the players.

In order to understand the requirement of speed to the game, the course looks at the physical fitness elements of speed. Speed is seen as an overall name for many specific elements. Many, if not all of them, are so important on the cricket performance arena. It is imperative to our study to present a range of important speed elements and evaluate their importance to the athletes and sports player. It is also vital that we also examine how the coach can train and develop each elements of this crucial component, speed. In simple terms we can divide speed into two main areas – speed and agility. However while this can hold up to scrutiny, it is far too simplistic an approach. This will be made much clearer as the course unfolds.

One of the most important aspects of coaching speed is the realisation that an incorrect approach to training certain other components of fitness interferes with the promotion of speed. Flexibility, a much desired trait in sportsmen and women, if introduced at the wrong time in a training session can negate the speed training.

Stamina, another important component for the athlete and sports player, can reduce the benefits of speed work if the wrong approach to stamina training is applied. This certificate aims to upgrade your knowledge on the theory and practice of speed and agility training in general and specifically as it applies to your own sport – cricket. We will also offer some suggestions for training sessions which will help you understand the type of speed and agility sessions you can use with the players and teams under your direction. Unfortunately most of our suggestions are without the use of the ball and this is a deliberate decision taken by us, as we feel that the student coach must understand the suggestions we are making and use them to design his or her own sports specific drills using the underlining theory. However, we have added some ball drills which are generic in nature to set the thinking process in motion – many of these come from association football and we set the target of adjustment and re-design to one and all.

Finally we need to encourage all student coaches to look at the part of strength and stability has on speed development for field and court sports and for cricket in particular. Stability refers to the ability of the player to move about the field or court while in full control of limbs and body. It is the functional competence we need to develop to stabilise movement. The ability to move freely and with fluidity is so important in the area of speed. Stability must be seen as the foundation of strength and power development – the precursors to speed – and the quality that makes players more stabile, agile, faster and leads them to be better at repeating movement and sports specific skill at the highest level possible thorough the duration of a game.