Sprinting Form For GAA Players – Part 2

Seeing as the last article was well received I have decided to delve a little bit deeper into this topic.

In the last article I mentioned wickets, what are they? Again, I'm not an athletics coach so of course there will be a dumbing down of some of the drills those guys use on a daily basis. GAA players are not track athletes however and we must also acknowledge that fact.

Wickets in my context are essentially mini hurdles stepped out gradually (as your stride increases) to mimic the sprinting action. I have found them brilliant for one thing, making my athletes actually lift their knees (leg action). If they don't lift their knees they clip the wickets, simple.

I have discussed before how some sprinting drills elicit "giggles" and can be a tough sell for athletes who just want to play games, but I've had none of that with wickets.

Let's have a look at some real world examples;

In the first video, you can see hesitancy, etc, GOOD, this is my players learning and adapting to demands placed on them. It is worth noting that this was (I think) the first day of this team using them.

Later on the coaching journey. It starts to look a bit smoother, of course in a group setting you'll always get players with different levels and that's fine too.

So what may this mean for the busy coach?

Keep it really simple, do a good warm-up, at the end of the warm-up do some of this stuff for 2-3 minutes. Coach what you are comfortable with, but the hurdle sort of coaches a lot for you.

Let me know how you get on....

Coach Hare