We have an athlete on our team who proves himself to be the fastest player on the field when we do team sprints, yet in games, he looks terribly slower than everyone else. Stats: 17 yrs old, 5’8, 170 lbs. BTW, the sport I coach is field lacrosse. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I think this kid can go far in the sport, but if scouts see him in games and think that he’s slow, it’ll hurt him. I think it could be a flexibility issue, but I’m not sure.
Does he start the game fast, then fatique as the game goes on? Is it a problem with change of direction? Are you doing team sprints on the same field you are playing games on?
A few things could be true: He might need more conditioning to keep his speed up the entire game. He may need to work on sport specific speed, agility, etc… Many times the guy with the best linear speed doesn’t look the best in game situations because of a lack of lateral speed. Also, could be the field you are running on, the fastest guy on the track is not always the fastest guy on grass.
Only thing else I can think of is he might have some timid issues. I know field lacrosse can be rough sometimes and he might be afraid of running all out and getting hit. This is a problem some track athletes have with playing football, they have speed but don’t like to take a hit. Or, as a guy once said, “some track guys have 10 flat speed, but 12 flat hands.”
I don’t know what else it could be, anyone else with ideas?
[QUOTE=schnig42]We have an athlete on our team who proves himself to be the fastest player on the field when we do team sprints, yet in games, he looks terribly slower than everyone else.
I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s just because he has forebrain problems… that’s always been my problem. try more game situation drills in practice (scrimmage, box lax, etc…)
thanks for the responses -
He looks very slow from the start of the game, so I don’t think it’s a conditioning issue. When he sprints during the game, he looks fast, but most of the running during the lacrosse game is hard jogging at around 85%. So to recap, he sprints extremely fast, but he jogs extremely slow. Any other suggestions for this promising athlete?
Tell him to jog faster/work harder! If he can’t jog the same speed as everyone else (the neccesary speed) yet he’s faster than them, then he is underconditioned.
Is he only “slow” when he is carrying the ball?
My thoughts from a different angle:
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Perhaps he may have lower skill levels (either real or percevied (sp) and needs to slow the game down to his level.
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His knowledge of the game limits his ability to react with his subconscious mind and play relaxed.
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His ability to understand his role, position or assignment.
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Fear of making a mistake, so he slows the game to an easier (slower) level.
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Consciously pacing himself for the whole game.
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Not a competitive person.
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Lazy
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With added attention (pressure) from scouts and coaches he may subconsciously not permit himself to be successful. May believe he does not deserve to be successful.
Don’t always assume it is conditioning!