Speed and agility training for young footballers in Enfield

For parents exploring speed and agility training young footballers Enfield, here's what our Pitch Ready coaches suggest.

Speed in youth football is 80% first-step quickness and 20% top-end pace, and that changes what training should look like. Below is how we structure speed and agility sessions for children across Enfield, Grange Park and Bush Hill Park.

Before age 12: coordination, not pounding

For under-12s, we do almost no straight-line running work. We use ladders, cone weaves, mirroring games and short sprints of 5–10 metres. The nervous system is the thing being trained at this age — muscle strength comes later.

The first-step drill every young player should own

From a stationary stance, one foot forward: on 'go', drive the back foot into the ground and explode 3 metres forward. 6 reps each foot. This is the single most transferable drill to matches.

Change of direction: the 5-10-5

Three cones, five metres apart in a line. Start at the middle cone, sprint to one end, back through the middle, to the other end. Time it. Under-11s aim for under 7 seconds, under-14s under 6.

Reactive agility

Cone-only agility drills only take a child so far. Real defenders react to the ball, not to a rehearsed pattern. We add a coach's shout or a ball roll to force the child to react rather than remember.

What we don't do

We don't do laps, we don't do 'burpees till they drop', and we don't do heavy weights. All three are common in team sessions and none of them help a 10-year-old get to the ball first.

Local: where we deliver these sessions

Speed and agility sessions run in gardens across Enfield (EN1 and EN2), Southgate, Winchmore Hill, Oakwood, Cockfosters and Grange Park. If the garden is too small, we use a nearby park.