Forget Ronaldinho and Lionel Messi, Olympic football is all about the women. Man, women’s football has improved in recent years! This may sound very ignorant or misogynistic of me to say so but I was thrilled to see how the game had developed when watching the quarter-finals in Beijing. The Japan-China game in particular was full of superb skill, movement and agility. Japan’s Shinobu Ohno was fantastic, darting around the Chinese players on the way to inspiring her team to a shock 2-0 victory. The only major women’s football tournament I’ve seen before was the 2005 European Championships, so maybe the rest of the world are more advanced. However Germany are the world champions so this argument can only be taken so far. 

The semi-finals are mouth-watering ties. Japan led by Ohno will take on the always fancied USA. In the other semi-final skilful Brazil take on powerful Germany in a re-match of last year’s World Cup final, also held in China. The matches have genuinely been more entertaining than the men’s, with more space created by their agile steps and swerving speed. It was so refreshing to actually see players take opponents on with the ball at their feet. Out of the final four the winner could come from anywhere which makes it all the more exciting. I for one am now hooked and can’t wait to watch how the remaining games pan out.

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So where have these improvements come from, I wonder. Well perhaps unsurprisingly improved training techniques are to thank. There has been a huge commercial explosion in agility and speed improving programmes on both sides of the Atlantic, with companies such as SAQ (Speed, Agility and Quickness) and the Frappier Acceleration Program leading the way, training teams and coaches to improve all aspects of speed. Speed ladders, cones, low hurdles and even super-speed treadmills are all available. But do these programmes work? 

In a study on the use of SAQ techniques and their effects on female football players, three groups of matched players were put through different physical conditioning programmes over a 12-week period. Two groups did SAQ training, whilst the other (active group) carried out their regular sessions. All three interventions decreased the participants’ body mass index (BMI) (-3.7%) and body fat percentage (-1.7%). They also increased flexibility (+14.7%) and VO2max (a measure of aerobic power, +18.4%). However, the SAQ groups showed significantly greater benefits from their training programme than the active group on the sprint to fatigue test and crucially the 25m sprint and left and right side agility tests. This is where the specific agility has come from. Below are some examples of how ladder drills can improve agility.

Floor ladders are a key weapon in the agility and speed-conditioning armoury. They are designed to improve foot speed, foot/ground contact and all body coordination. Although they can be purchased commercially, they can be improvised by using tape or sticks. The latter should be flat, about 30cm long and the space between each should be about 35cm. The ladder should have 20 rungs.

Examples of ladder drills:

1. Run through with high knees, hitting every hole; 

2. Run through with low knees; 

3. Run through facing sideways, each foot in each hole– right and left; 

4. Run through with cross-steps hitting every other hole diagonally; 

5. Low hops hitting each hole on one side of ropes;

6. Double legs (feet together);

7. Sideways double legs (left foot first);

8. Sideways double legs (right foot first);

9. Single legs and sprint 10m at end;

10. Sideways left and sprint 10m;

11. Sideways right and sprint 10m. 

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