| Putting the Quick in Your First Step! |
| by Alan Lambert |
| Whos Frappier? |
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| In the early 1980's an Exercise Physiologist from Kansas State University named John Frappier came back to the U.S. from Europe having studied speed and agility training programs of the former Soviet Union. He became convinced that there were external ways which athletes could train which would stimulate the body's muscles, neurophysiological, and skeletal systems to perform more quickly, powerfully, and with extended intensity. This acceleration program and their drills have become known in athletic development and training circles as "Frappier Drills". I will introduce you to a few today, but you probably don't realize that you have almost certainly done some of these already in your young basketball career. The most obvious one is what is coaches call "double line slides" where you execute a defensive slide across 3 parallel lines about 1 yard (or meter) apart as rapidly as you can in a given set of time. You count the number of times both feet cross a line as 1, for a measured period of time, say 30 secods or 1 minute. The more strength, acceleration, and balance you have the higher you score on this drill. In a very oversimplified way this is how most of the Frappier Drills work. These drills are designed to teach a player how to move their feet out from under their center of gravity, recover, and continue to move their feet while keeping their dynamic balance. Frappier believes that by combining Sprint Training, Resistance Cord Training, Strength Training, Plyometrics, and what they call the Super Treadmill (capable of tilting upward to 40 degrees and a maximum speed of 28 mph) that a player can gain a competitive edge in acceleration over other athletes. The breadth of his program's goes well beyond the scope of today's Playground Pointer. What I simply want to do is make you aware that foot quickness, acceleration and the recovery of your body's center of gravity after dynamic motion are all interrelated and to ignore them in your training unnecessarily puts a cap on your basketball playing ability. Frappier's program is not recommended for kids under the age of 9-10, and for all athlete's starting sprint training, resistance cord training, strength and Plyometrics program, proper supervision by trained and accredited personal is a must. |
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