I had a discussion with someone the other day who knew I was a speed coach.  He said to me, “I think the most valuable tool for an athlete is speed.  If you don’t have it, you’re not going to get very far.”  Of course, I immediately agreed with him, but then I really started to think about it and he might be right.  You go through the list of sports and the use of speed is important in 90% of them.  

Now, obviously there are going to be certain positions in certain sports that speed isn’t necessarily that important, but in most that isn’t the case.  In fact, because money plays such a big part of sports at any level, speed is taken into consideration when trying to predict how good an athlete will be.  Fair or unfair, if you don’t run a certain time in a specific drill, it’s going to be that much harder to impress a coach that you can get the job done.

It also doesn’t just have to be speed that an athlete is physically generating to move.  We are really impressed by the flame thrower who pitches 100+mph rather than the pitcher who is painting the corners.  Such as R.A. Dickey a knuckleballer who won the Cy Young.  You respect what he does and it is amazing to watch him make the hitters look foolish up at the plate.  But, don’t you get a rush when you see Aroldis Chapman coming out to the mound to close the ninth, fanning all three batters with his heat?!

I talked with the racquetball director the other day when he was telling me about a racquetball tournament at our club.  I asked him what was the biggest difference between the pros and the good players we see at our club.  Without hesitation he said the speed of the ball.  It is so much faster and that takes the biggest adjustment.

Tom Brady is a notoriously slow runner.  His speed isn’t physical, but mental.  He takes a subtle step into the pocket to buy him a second or more time.  Then, he’s able to process what’s happening very quickly and make the correct read.  For most quarterbacks, the ability to process quickly and effectively will determine their success.  For the new breed, like RG3 who do have fast running speed, that makes them all the more deadly.

Let’s go through some of the more popular sports and illustrate how important speed is:

  • Track and Field – This was obvious and I wanted to get this out of the way first, but all the running events are all based on the premise of who is the fastest.  We really dig the 100M because that is just raw explosion.  Everybody wants to see that race.  They don’t huddle around the TV to see the 1500m run winner.
  • Football – They have combines now at both high school and the collegiate level.  Mainly they are money generators, but that is a topic for another day.  The 40 yard dash is probably the most important event at these combines.  Right or wrong, football coaches feel that the 40 really shows evidence of an athlete’s speed.  College scholarships have been handed to athletes right there and then when they run a fast 40.
  • Baseball – If you are a high school pitcher and can throw a certain mph fastball, you can almost write your ticket to a college or the minor leagues at the bare minimum.  Speed on the basepaths and in the field is a premium asset for a baseball player.  It puts pressure on the opposing defense and improves your defense.
  • Basketball – Quickness is a little more valuable here, but speed with your movements and getting up and down the court can get you cheap buckets.  Lebron James is 6′ 8″ 255 and probably is one of the fastest dribbling the ball from one end to the other.  His speed also helps him get back on defense quickly.  How many times have you seen him hustle back to block a shot for what seemed like an easy lay-up.
  • Soccer – Your dribbling skills can really make up for your lack of speed, but if you are great with the ball and have speed, you are darn near unstoppable.
  • Tennis – The top players in the game right now not only have pretty powerful serves, but they are so quick on the court.  You can’t get anything past them.  You need to be on your “A” game the entire game to beat some of these fast players who have remarkable skill and that is tough to do.

I could continue on, but you get the point.  I’m not saying you can’t continue to progress up each level in your sport if you aren’t fast, but the odds are against you.  My brother participated in a combine back in the 90’s for the Pittsburgh Pirates.  There were tons of people there.  The first thing they had them do was run a 60 and if they couldn’t get it in a certain time, they were asked to leave.  They had the remaining people throw from centerfield to home 5 times and take 5 swings at the plate and that was it.  Speed kills.

Being able to optimize your potential at speed is imperative no matter how fast you are.  Don’t wait until to see if your speed can be improved, even if you are having some success now as an athlete.  By the time you realize that your competition is as fast as you if not faster, then it might be too late and your dream you have for your sport will not materialize.  Chris Johnson is always working on fine-tuning his speed and he ran a 4.24 in the 40 yard dash at the NFL Combine.  That by the way was the fastest time ever at the combine when he ran it.  If he can work on his speed, so can you.