“The faster the better”, that’s what every guy wants to hear right? Through my business in developing player’s physical attributes I have noticed competitive sport is simply, at its core, all about speed and who can do something fastest.
A few quick clarifications:
• By speed I don’t just mean a straight line sprint. This includes such activities as changing direction, throwing a ball, taking a shot, blocking a pass, throwing a punch and accelerating.
• You will notice I say competitive sport and not just sport. Competitive sport implies a basic grasp of a sports fundamental skills. For instance catching and throwing in netball. Without these, the game falls apart and becomes somewhat unplayable and speed is irrelevant.
Okay, how about this for a premise: competitive sport fundamentally comes down to who can do the correct thing the fastest? Let’s take rugby for example. It is pretty widely agreed that the All Blacks are the best team in world. In their recent game against Wales, they were not using ridiculously complicated tactics.
They moved the ball with little or no handling errors, quickly. They did the correct thing fastest. Wales may have out thought them at the lineout once. However this would be easy to counter once you have seen it done. Everyone knows what New Zealand are going to do, but because of their speed, you cannot stop them!*
The same is true of all great teams. In football, Barcelona are not doing something new. They are passing and moving faster than any other team. They are not passing differently or moving differently. They are doing as all juniors are coached, but at a faster pace, correctly.
I think the value of speed is best illustrated from a coach’s point of view. A player turns up at training who may have little or no knowledge of the game. You warm them up and what’s the first thing you notice? ‘Wow she’s fast’, ‘He’s quick’, and ‘They turn fast’. Suddenly you can forgo their poor shot, positioning and defensive naivety because you have something to work with.
You have an attribute you can utilise. You can peg that defence back because their pace can expose people. They can amend for their defensive errors by their pure athleticism. What other coachable, physical attribute is so useful and applicable across all sport (don’t talk to me about golf, it ruins everything!)?
When you consider athletes that lack speed they are often described in terms of how they make up for it. “He was never the quickest player but” seems to suggest that speed was something fundamental that was lacking but they got around it. Think what that player would have been like if they had that shot, vision, understanding or positioning if it had been coupled with speed? You would have Messi, Nadal, Ali & Donald. Instead you are left with Carrick, Karlovi?, Valuev & Bopara.
This brings me to a problem with the idea that speed conquers all.
Those players who lack speed but are still among the best of the best. There are numerous examples but I’m going to take the Italian footballer Pirlo. He is an incredible player, two footed, great passer, great shot, wonderful movement and brings up all of the players around him. Plus as anyone who has seen him take a penalty straight down the middle will attest, he is cool under pressure.
However he is never described as ‘fast’ and his speed is never praised. How can this be? Well firstly he has a number of very fast players around him which free him up to exploit his numerous strengths. The main reason is that he is indeed quick. He hasn’t got lightning speed but his speed over the ground his good, his change of direction incredibly sharp and his speed from receiving the ball to passing is mind-blowing.
I would argue that at the highest level speed is a prerequisite. Look at tennis. The top four male players in the world are Federer, Rafa, Djokovic, and Murray – all of whom cover the ground incredibly quickly and are some of the most athletic guys on the tour. Speed doesn’t make you the best but it gives you a chance to sit at the top table. Pirlo is not the fastest player ever, but he has the speed that enables him to use his other talents.
Case in point is British sprinter Dwain Chambers. His whole sport and profession was built around straight line speed and acceleration. There was nothing more to it. When he was banned for drug taking he tried out for top American Football and Rugby League teams. Although he wasn’t successful in this, the fact that a professional sports team were prepared to give a trail to a complete rookie based on speed alone speaks volumes to how important speed is in sport.
I maintain that the vast majority of sport is based upon who can do the correct technique the fastest. There are exceptions (don’t mention golf), but these are exceptions and not the rule. I haven’t touched on mental attributes in this article and they are obviously important. But in terms of coachable physical attributes, I maintain speed conquers all, and anyone who doesn’t agree, is probably slow.
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