Agility

What is Agility?

Agility is maneuverability, the ability of the body to change direction and to stop and start quickly and accurately while the body remains in balance.

Agility is a collective term for terms such as mobility, dexterity, swiftness, skill, dexterity, technique, timing and flexibility. The coupling power plays an important role in this.

Movement education (gymnastics) and outdoor games are of great importance for the development of agility. If agility is well developed, someone can efficiently and explosively perform a number of (complex) movements one after the other, but the more complex the task becomes, the more this is at the expense of the forward speed.

In a basketball game players do nothing but make moves like forward, backward, run, sprint, zigzag, slalom and change direction. Practicing these movements can help players to improve speed and agility and, more importantly, be faster than the defender.

The optimal “window of trainability” or sensitive period: 6, 7 and 8 years for girls and boys.

Running economy

Agility also includes efficient motor skills of running, this is called running economy. The development of this running economy is linked to the sport, you are a runner (cyclical sport) or a game athlete (acyclical sport). A game athlete also has to deal with other elements such as opponents, material (ball) etc. The proper development of the running economy also prevents overloading and injuries.

Jumping on the trampoline

Jumping up on a big trampoline is a form of agility, flexibility and stability that appeals to all Coordinative abilities:

• Balance, adjustment and rhythm
• Jump and land through feet, hands, knees, buttocks, back or stomach
• Proper posture for jumping and landing is important

Example drills

• Diving and rolling over each other on the ground in 2 or 3 tiers
• Jumping or crawling
• Skill jobs or relay races run, crawl, crawl, hop, fall, roll, etc.

Bare feet

For children, it is important to develop feet and ankles properly. This can be done by moving barefoot, this creates more stimuli (underground) and you are more aware of how feet are put down. This also applies to countries, for example.

Provide good development for exercises on different surfaces (mats or hard flat surface).

Exercising barefoot or with socks is good for the development of the spatial orientation capacity around 12, 13 and 14 years for boys and girls.

The hips make it possible to work well with the feet. This can be well developed with exercises such as hopscotches, jump rope, dot drills, tread ladders, hoops, car tires, but also sports like korfball or badminton.

Tips for drills