The Effect of Agility, Plyometric, and Sprint Training on the Speed, Endurance and Power of High School Soccer Players

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of an agility, plyometric, and sprint training program on the speed, endurance, and power of high school soccer players. METHODS: Twenty-five soccer players between the ages of 15 and 17 with limited plyometric training experience were used in this study. Of the 25 subjects, 10 were females (40%) and 15 were males (60%). All 25 subjects participated in an agility, plyometric, sprint training program, which consisted of two training sessions twice a week for 4 weeks, and were about one hour in duration. Monday's training sessions consisted of sprint and plyometric training and Wednesday's sessions consisted of agility training and plyometric training. Tests for speed, endurance and power included the 40-yard sprint, 300-yard shuttle run, and vertical jump. All testing procedures were completed pre and post treatment on all subjects according to testing protocols recommended by the NSCA-CSCS Essentials text. RESULTS: A two-tailed t-test with a Bonferoni adjustment (p≤.015) was computed for the pre and post-test trials of the 40 yard sprint, 300 shuttle and the vertical jump. The post-test times for the 40 yard sprint (M = 5.48, SD = .35) were significantly lower than the pretest times (M = 5.79, SD = .50). The post-test times for the 300 shuttle were significant lower (M = 65.70, SD = 5.38) than the pretest times (M = 67.26, SD = 4.63). The post-test outputs for the vertical jump were significantly higher (M = 18.64, SD = 3.14) than the pretest outputs (M = 16.80, SD = 3.70). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study indicate that a two-day a week sprint, plyometric and agility training program over four weeks can have positive results on the speed, endurance and power of high school soccer players. PRACTICAL APLICATION: High school soccer coaches and trainers should consider implementing an agility, plyometric and sprint training program for the development of speed, endurance and power in their athletes, even if they have a limited amount of time for training outside of soccer practice.