SPEED AGILITY AND QUICKNESS For Basketball

For the start let`s define training targets starting with; speed It is the maximal velocity that can be reached by part or all of the body.It has to do with moving your limbs, including legs and arms, in such a way that you can move as fast as possible within a straight line.

Next we define Agility - It is the ability to rapidly change the bodys momentum from one direction to another. This requires either acceleration in any direction from dead stop or deceleration in the direction one is traveling and acceleration in a new direction. In addition to the ability to accelerate, agility requires a certain degree of flexibility, which aids in going over, under, and around obstacles.Agility it is not something you can get through building your lower body alone. Instead, you need to have a powerful and well-defined core.

3) Quicknessrefers to rapid responses to your overall bodily awareness in other words instant reflexive reactions. Next I want to bring to your attention importance of proper execution that is mOVEMENT TECHNIQUE.Why it important in short Proper movement technique while executing speed, agility and quickness drills allows thebody and limbs to achieve biomechanically advantageous positions for optimal force production,thereby increasing speed of movement.

Reaction TimeAs basketball players we need to react to stimulation fast. So many things happening every second on the floor and our ability to react properly is determined by our senses such as: seeing, hearing, feeling, equilibrium, defensive or offensive system comprehension, ability to predict next probable move by defense of offense, etc. Our ability to react effectively and quickly in many ways, is determined by our concentration and awareness with are parts of the mental training.After our senses collected information if will takes time to our brain to proceed and make right decision that is send the electronic signal telling our body what to do.Take a look very simple data that shows average reaction times.190 milliseconds (0.19 seconds) The amount of time it takes a college-aged person to react a visual stimulus140 - 160 milliseconds (0.16 seconds) The amount of time it takes a college-aged person to react to a sound stimulus0 - late 20s The ages during which simple reaction time shortens (get faster)Late 20s 50s & 60s The ages during which simple reaction time slowly increases (gets slower)My intention to keep it simple as always end up in utter failure and as opposed to simple article getting more and more complex I see it like a side effect of my desire to dig deeper in details sharing my thoughts alone the way. So here it is now let define two kinds of reaction.Simple reaction and Complex reaction.Simple reaction (hearing a command) and a single response (running)Simple reacting is used when we know or planning what we want to do and are just waiting for the stimulation. In other words athlete become proactive.For instance athlete attacking left foot of defensive player with fake crossover, glance and shoulder shake expecting defender to react the way offense want him/her to act in order to enforce defensive openings. Complexreaction - choice reaction (hearing the sound ofthe ball or voice of teammate calling to you or visually collecting data). Complex reacting is used when athlete dont know the kind of stimulation to expect and athlete dont know the kind of response he/she needs to deal within situation.For instance dose help defender coming or not, dose offensive player goes right or left or he/she simply pull the trigger and shoot at once etc. Especially on defensive end of the flour most of the time players react on something that already happened and cannot play guess game to the same extend as offensive player could.Improving Complex choice reaction timeComplex reactions can be improved by correctness of athlete initial position and further response to the situation with proper technique and correct counter respond.Improvement in that could be achieved through game like simulation (drilling).Another aspect of complex reacting time improvement is you have guessed right experience. Through drilling our body and mind learns to distinguish and filter incoming data. Let us glance at a simple example. Assuming athlete received pass on top of the key , right after he/she got the ball multiple choose decision making surfaced up now athlete faced with multiple choose and time ticking (lets narrow our pool of many choices to only 2. First is to shoot right away and second is to wait for it for some time). Triggers one of many could be position of defensive player hands that will be a trigger to shoot or not. I would not go in vast triggers pool I guess one above would suffice understanding.Question why we as a coaches see this over and over again when players make wrong decision? That is for you to answer if you still cannot figure it out please read this article again. Experience is invaluable for reaction time improvement it helps simplify the complex choice for athlete.Importance of improving reaction timeIt is far more important, to the end result (for succeeding in what we want to achieve), to react correctly rather than just to react. What we should do is determined in thetheory of the specific martial artFor instance it is faster to move the head or the hand than it is to move the whole body; it is faster to turn our hip than it is to bend our back.Going back to the night club scenario it would be faster to raise the hand to block than to move the whole body out of the way. On the other hand it would be safer to move out of the strike than to block it, because the bottle might be broken and cut us, or just hit the arm and break the bone, or break on it and have pieces of glass flying toward our eyes.ConclusionsReaction time and speed is definitely something worth improving, but even more so it is important to respond in the correct manner. However as we showed here it can also be improved separately by:Improving awareness levels and concentration capabilities in different situations; part of our mental training Narrowing down the number of responses for any stimulation. Focusing attention when training on performing the correct response and not only a good execution, (asking ourselves not whether or not what we did succeeded, but rather whether or not it was the best possible answer for that situation). Training sparring and simulations to gain and improve experience

of Alberta found that Olympic sprinters closest to the starters pistol reacted more quickly than those farther away.

Phil McElhinney / flickrAccording to the study,the louder the noise (within reason), the shorter the reaction time. The difference in reaction time was measured in hundredths of seconds, but at the elite level hundredths of seconds can mean the difference between winning and losing, fame and relative obscurity, and first place money versus lower payouts.More on this research. Simple reaction time refers to a single stimulus (hearing a starting pistol) and a single response (running). Choice reaction time means reacting to more than one stimulus (in baseball, hearing the sound ofthe bat hitting the ball and visually gauging the speed and path of the ball after it is hit).Reaction time itself is an inherent ability, but overall response time involves a variety of factors, including practice, experience, anticipation, strength and coordination. Each athlete has a built-in, limited time range to react, but within those boundaries is plenty of room for improvement.The process loop is very important for reaction time, saysMark Verstegen, Founder of Athletes Performance and Core Performance. We have to be sure the athlete can take the stimuluswhether it is verbal, visual, tactile or in some other formand turn it into a response. A person can have great reaction time, but it doesnt help if his or her body cant do anything about the stimulus. You have to be able to take advantage of the process. That means being in the right body position (with all the right angles) to take advantage of the situation.Reaction Time ResearchHundreds of studies have been conducted over the past century, and each one reveals a little more about reaction time and sports performance. Here are some examples: French exercise scientists found that reaction time was progressively quicker as race length shortened from 400 meters to 60 meters. They also discovered that decreased, or shortened, reaction time was not observable in less experienced sprinters (18-19 years old). They observed that sprinters in 60-meter and 100-meter events tended to anticipate the starters gun, while those in longer races were content to respond to the sound of the shot. At the University of Alabama at Birmingham, sports scientists performed vision screening tests on 213 minor league baseball players, then matched test results with hitting ability. Age and race did not affect hitting performance, but an association was found between visual reaction time andbatting skills. No association was found in fielding skills, although it could be assumed that catchers and third basemen need to have quicker response time than pitchers and outfielders to play well at their positions. Japanese researchers tested 22 baseball players, 22 tennis players and 38 non-athletes. There were no differences in simple reaction time between the two groups of athletes, but baseball players scored better on the GO/NOGO test, which involves pressing a button or not pressing a button as a result of a stimulus. The GO/NOGO reaction time of higher skill baseball players was significantly shorter than that of less skilled players. Professional baseball players had the shortest reaction time of all groups. The research team concluded that practice can improve GO/NOGO reaction time, but not simple reaction time. A study conducted at the University of Illinois found that highly-skilled tennis players used visual skills to react to balls hit by their opponents, something they were not able to do as effectively on balls projected by a machine. Based on a review of reaction time research, the authors of an article inPerceptual Motor Skillsconcluded that reaction time must be considered a skill dependent upon experience and learning.Coaching KeysThere is plenty of evidence thatstrength training, aerobic and anaerobic development and sports skills should be practiced in a manner that simulates game or event conditions as much as possible. Movements that are practiced in game-like situations are the ones most likely to be used in competition.Those non-specific, look-good, why-am-I-doing-these drills that still take up valuable practice time in every sport should be questionedthink quickness drills in football in which players, on command, rapidly move their hands from head to knees to shoulders to other parts of the body. While impressive looking, which positions require those patterns of movement?Examples of sport-specific drills include the following: Wave drills and one-on-one drills inbasketball Rapid fire volley drills intennis Footballdrills in which linemen drop to the ground, then return to a starting position Starting drills inswimmingand track Digging, sprawling, rolling, recovering, and blocking drills involleyball One-on-one defensive drills and short-range goal-defending drills inhockeyandsoccer Face-off drills inhockey Smash-return drills in badmintonThere is still a place in the training routine for less-than-sport-specific activities. Explains Verstegen, If a football player doesnt have basic motor abilities, he wont pick them up just playing football. For example, if a running back just does position work, it wont necessarily improve his speed, quickness, cutting ability or acceleration. Thats why we try to find exactly the right activity at Athletes Performance and Core Performance to develop those skills.Take-Away MessagesThere are several take-home messages for coaches, athletes and parents of athletes regarding reaction time.1. Although there are inherent limitations to reaction time, each athlete can improveshortenresponse time and offset some of the limitations that still exist through experience and anticipation.2. Allow enough time to develop motor skills (running, stopping, changing directions, jumping and throwing, for example), as well asstrength,speed,flexibilityandendurancethat are needed to play a sport.3. Incorporate your improved reaction time, enhanced motor skills and better overall fitness into sport-specific training and competitive situations.Jim Brown, Ph.D. has written 14 books on health, medicine, and sports. His articles have appeared in theWashington Post,New York Post,Sports Illustrated for WomenandBetter Homes & Gardens. He also writes for the Duke School of Medicine, UCLA School of Medicine, Cleveland Clinic and Steadman-Hawkins Research Foundation.

Tags:ReactionReferences1. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology2. Mark Verstegen, Founder, Athletes Performance and Core Performance3. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise4. Perceptual Motor Skills5. Robert J. Kosinski, Clemson University6. Tennis: Steps to Success