Hello everyone! In this discussion I am going to focus on court speed for both basketball and volleyball, and provide ways for you to improve at it. Speed is one of the most important aspects in both sports, and may even be the most important aspect to one's game in my opinion. Player's with speed in both volleyball and basketball are those who will be able to excel in the sport and will stand out to all those watching. Of course there are more aspects of each sport that athletes will need to be a standout player, but having good court speed and acceleration is a great place to start.
First we will start off with basketball...
Basketball Court Speed and How to Improve it
In basketball, being the first player up and down on each end of the court can make a huge difference in the game. It can even be the difference between losing or winning a game. Some of the most successful players in basketball are known to have the most speed, explosiveness and quickness that the game has ever seen such as Steve Nash, Kyrie Irving or Allen Iverson.
The first step in working on one's speed is to work on your strength. Your strength is the key to being able to gain the speed and quickness you will need. Working on the right strength is important. Do not try to become a body builder, but rather work to improve the strength that will improve your running speed.
Speed is generated from mostly the legs, so start by working to gain muscle strength in your legs. This can include any exercise that involves your calves, hamstrings and quads. Some exercises that would be helpful in strengthening these muscles on your legs include:
- leg curls
- leg extensions
- calf raises
- squats
- high knees
- box jumps
Upper body strength can also help in improving one's speed because with proper arm movement and flow while running it will make you move quicker. Some upper body exercises that will be helpful in improving your upper body strength consist of:
- barbell bench press
- dumbbell bench press
- shoulder raises
- bicep curls
- tricep curls
- seated rows
- tricep extensions
Abdominal strength and core strength are very crucial to improving one's acceleration, speed and strength that will be needed to enhance your overall game. Any type of abdominal workout would be of assistance when aiming to enhance your speed. Some of the best abdominal and core workouts I find most beneficial are:
- normal crunches
- Russian twists with a medicine ball
- oblique exercises
- back extensions
- toe touches
- planks
With all of these exercises put to work, any basketball athlete will be able to develop the proper strength to build the speed needed for the sport.
Acceleration and quickness are other attributes that are essential to the game of basketball. With speed comes both acceleration and quickness. Acceleration is how quickly one can increase their speed/velocity. Basketball is a sport that requires many different types of speeds, which is why proper acceleration is needed. Being able to catch up to a player on a fast break while your on defense is elite, or speeding past your defender and moving different directions to lose him/her is also elite.
The exercises and workouts mentioned above will also be beneficial to improving acceleration since speed comes with acceleration. Remaining lower to the ground when running, and not being too upright, will allow one's acceleration to begin. The swinging of ones arms while sprinting is needed for consistent acceleration and will assist you in changing directions and also decelerating, or slowing down one's velocity/speed.
While on the topic of deceleration, let's get more into it!
Deceleration in basketball is way more important in the sport than most would think. Being able to slow yourself down when on the way for a break away layup will allow the player to align themselves up and have more control on the shot than they would have if they stayed sprinting and never slowed down.
Deceleration is also needed when defending opponents, since most opponents will be using deceleration themselves to put up good shots and also trying to lose their defenders. When looking to put up a good shot after dribbling the ball and running around, proper deceleration will allow you to get yourself set in the right shooting position to have a better chance to make a shot.
Now let's get into court speed in volleyball, and how to become a quicker player in the sport.
Volleyball Court Speed and How to Improve it
The many exercises that I explained would be of assistance for improving court speed and quickness for basketball above would also be necessary for volleyball, when looking to be more quick in the sport. One type of speed in volleyball that is more prevalent in this sport than basketball is reaction speed. Being good at changing direction and changing one's speed is knowing when to do it. Being able to anticipate one's opponents move that way you can change your direction, in as little time as possible, will make a volleyball player more advanced than others.
Anticipation and reaction speed are also used when reacting to teammates. A spiker (attacker) will be able to get a better spike on the ball and position himself/herself better if they can read who their setter is going to send the ball to. It takes time to become good with reaction speed, but the key for doing so is to always be in the right position for each type of circumstance throughout the game.
Simple exercises that require the player to quickly sprint from different positions in a small period of time will be effective for improving one's speed and getting faster reflexes in the sport.
One simple drill for doing so consists of you and a teammate/coach facing one another on opposite sides of the net. Your teammate will give you various hand signals pointing to which direction to sprint (while changing direction). The partner should change his/her directional signals about every 4 seconds.
Another drill which will improve a volleyball players quickness is a simple square drill made up of four cones in each corner. The cones should be spread out about 20 feet apart each.
- From the first cone (bottom left) to the second (top left) the athlete will sprint
- For the second cone (top left still) to the third (top right) the person will shuffle and do a complete circle around the cone
- Next, backpedal towards the bottom right cone
- From the bottom right cone the player will shuffle back to the starting spot
Once you become more advanced at these drills, you can make it a bit more difficult and start using a volleyball for each cone location.
I hope this information was helpful and you take it into consideration for your own game!
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