Agility is one of the important factors for sports.

Just 3 minutes

I want to introduce 3 minutes agility drills with a backward run. This is easy and even young kids can do it every day because it’s short. We can also do this before every soccer training or warm-up.

Train various muscles

Running backward uses different muscles and nerves than running forwards. So I want to add a backward run to use various muscles. This is good for keeping a balance for fighting with an opponent and simply increasing running speed & agility.

Training time

It’s a total of 3 minutes which is 1-minute x 3 drills.
1 drill is 45 sec for training drill and 15 sec for recovery and move to the next drill.

1. Forward run + Backward run

1. Run forward to 1st marker
2. Run backward to start point
3. Rund forward to 2nd marker
4. Run backward to start point
5. repeat to 1.

This is a simple drill but hard to run back and forth for 45 sec. We can use more markers to adust the running distance.

2. Forward dribble + Backward dribble

1. Forward dribble to the last marker
2. Backward dribble to start point.

Forward dribble is easy but backward dribble may be difficult. We can start with a slow but small step dribble and then increase dribble speed. If you get used to the dribble then try to head up to scan the field during a dribble. I think it takes some time to get used to it. This backward dribble stimulates our unused muscles and nerves. And it’s good for agility!

This is also a simple drill but different variations.

We can start with inside & inside dribble.
So we touch the ball with the inside of the right foot and then the inside of the left foot.

Another variation is inside & outside dribble.
We touch the ball with the inside of the left foot and then the outside of the left foot. We use the left foot and change to the right foot for next time.

And the more difficult step is outside & outside & inside dribble.
We touch the ball with the outside of the right foot and then the outside of the right foot and the inside of the left foot.

If you don’t have a ball, there is no problem. Just do forward steps and backward steps without a ball.

3. T-shape run

1. Run forward to the center marker
2. Side run to the left marker
3. Side run to the right marker
4. Side run to the center marker
5. Run backward to start point

This is side “Run”, not side “Step”. So we need to move the shoulder blades to kick the ground strongly.

If you do this 3-minute agility drill a few times a week, your agility dramatically improve!