Lately I have been doing line drills as a pop-out module of the plyos workout, mostly because in summer we did them in the parking lot and now that we're stuck inside for winter we don't have enough room for them. I got the practice space a few times over break, and actually it was way better doing these around the track than up and down the parking lot. I also taught these to Derby Lite, and they did great.
Throughout, navel to spine and tailbone down!
Fast feet forward, jump sideways
1. Line up behind turn four. One at a time, run forward and jump sideways and diagonally forward at every ten foot line. Run and jump like this halfway around the track. At the apex, sprint hard home and stop abruptly at turn three.
For these, you are doing split right and split left jumps just like for sigmas. One leg is your spring leg, and the other leg is your fly leg. Your spring leg is where you're jumping from, and your fly leg is where you're jumping to.
So if you're running forward and jumping sideways to the outside, you stop on and spring from your inside leg to your outside leg and then spring back from your outside leg to your inside leg. If you're jumping sideways to the inside, you stop on and spring from your outside leg to your inside leg and then spring back from your inside leg to your outside leg.
2. Okay now, practice this with bodies. Line up with a body on every ten foot line. From the back, run up behind each body and jump sideways and then in front of her.
3. Now practice faking or changing your mind. Run up behind each blocker and jump sideways and then to the other side behind her, and then in front of her.
4. And now, with blocking. Each blocker can block once to the inside or outside. If a blocker opens up a space in front of you, jump forward for the love of god. If a blocker closes a space in front of you, jump to the other side behind her and then in front of her.
Fast feet sideways, jump forward
1. Line up behind turn four. One at a time, run sideways along a ten foot line and take two jumps forward. Run and jump like this halfway around the track and at the apex, sprint hard home and stop abruptly at turn three.
If you're running sideways and jumping forward as if to get by a blocker, ideally you want your fly leg to be the leg that's next to the blocker. So if you're passing on the outside, you fly with the inside leg and spring off the outside leg. If you're passing on the inside, you fly with the outside leg and spring off the inside leg.
I assure you, you will not be thinking all this in play. You want to practice enough for this to be instinct, and do whatever works in play.
2. Practice this with bodies. Line up in pairs with two bodies on every ten foot line, about six inches apart. From the back, run up and jump forward between the bodies.
3. Now practice with visual obstacles. Pairs lightly cross arms and put hands on each other's knees, visually closing the space between them. No multiplayer blocks! From the back, run up and jump forward between the bodies and bust through those arms.
4. And now the pair will try to keep you out. For this you don't jump so much, but you transfer your weight in the same fashion. You wedge that fly leg in there, and transfer your weight from your spring leg to open the space up.
Fast feet forward, jump forward
1. Line up behind turn four. One at a time, run forward along the inside line and take two jumps forward at every ten foot line. Run and jump like this all the way around the track, as close as you can to the inside line without stepping out of bounds.
When you're jumping the inside line, you are actually jumping between the line and a blocker just off the line. So you want your fly leg to be your outside leg and spring off your inside leg.
2. Now practice this with bodies. Line up single file again with a body on every ten foot line, about six inches away from the inside line. From the back, run up and jump forward along the inside line and don't step out of bounds.
3. And now that blocker will try to keep you out, same as above. Wedge that fly leg in there, and transfer your weight from your spring leg to open the space up.
