Do you ever notice how some athletes make everything look so easy. A running back in football never seems to be off balance. A soccer player makes eight quick dribbling moves around 2-3 defenders never skipping a beat. A softball player fields a groundball spins and makes a perfect throw without every loosing control. If we are not pushing the limit on coordination training we might be selling our athletes short.

Have you seen great jugglers handle 5 to 6 balls while doing something else, like riding a unicycle? It is simply amazing. Then again I believe we can all accomplish this if we were properly taught and practiced- A LOT!

I often have parents and athletes ask me why I am doing certain exercises that really have no clear and direct connection to speed. I explain to them how the more body control and extremity to object control they have the greater overall athlete they can be. When I make them perform one exercise with there feet and legs and another with their hands and arms it directly improves their coordination ability. An example of this type of training would be having the athlete hold a 9 inch cone in their left (or non-dominant hand) face away from me and then quickly turn and catch a ball thrown in many different directions. I am forcing them to use many sensory controls. They have to quickly track the ball with their eyes while they are getting their body under control from a quick turn. They then have to accelerate in the direction the ball was thrown. Finally, they have to control the open end of the cone with their non-dominant hand and softly catch the ball in the cone. This is very challenging, but extremely beneficial to coordination development.

One of the first exercises I did with the girls youth basketball program last year was to introduce many different locomotor exercises. I made them skip in all directions. They had to perform movements backwards and sideways. At first they struggled, but then they achieved. Their abilities and confidence rose equally. When an athlete develops the ability to do things they also develop confidence in doing these very things, but greater than that, they develop they willingness to push themselves to try more difficult things. The reason is because they already have shown themselves they can accomplish challenging tasks if they try.

Here are some guidelines I have used when developing challenging coordination exercises:

Manipulate from unilateral to bilateral:

  1. Double arm and leg activities like jumping and catching with both hands.
  2. Double leg like hopping or leaping and catching with one hand.
  3. Single leg but catch with both hands
  4. Single leg and catch with one hand

Manipulate level changes with catching:

  1. Start standing tall on 2 legs and drop squat on 2 legs and catch a ball thrown to any side with 2 hands.
  2. Drop squat on 2 legs and catch a ball with one hand
  3. Start tall on one leg and drop to 1 leg and catch with two hands.
  4. Drop squat on 1 leg and catch a ball with one hand

The ball should be thrown at different levels so the athlete has to reach even though they are in a squat position. The ball also must be thrown while they athlete is dropping.

Manipulate body balance and righting the body:

  1. Prone or supine lying to quickly standing on one or two legs
  2. Same exercise as number 1 but add the arms being raised above the head or thrown to one side or the other.
  3. Forward, backward or side rolling and popping up to balance on one or two legs.
  4. Same exercises as in number 3 but now add various arm positions to challenge the body to counterbalance.

Manipulate locomotor skills to develop coordination:

  1. Run forward while quickly rotating arms sideways
  2. Same thing but run backwards
  3. Skip sideways while punching the arms alternately up and down like a shoulder press.
  4. Shuffle sideways raising the arms up and down in front of the body.

Obviously there are many exercises you can add. These may seem crazy and unorthodox but when you consider that athletes routinely get caught in random positions throughout a game or practice they become important.

If a baseball outfielder or football receiver has never practices performing a 180 degree turn while looking up and with the arms stretch overhead they will be like a fish out of water when it really matters. If a soccer player with her feet or tennis player with his racquet would have practiced getting up off the ground after reaching for the ball they would be better prepared. I see coordination as the ability of the athlete to manipulate their body in all planes, levels, and speeds. As well as manipulate their eyes and hands or eyes and feet to make contact or catch softly. Most important to be able to manipulate all possible movements and tasks so an effective result prevails.

As a kid, my friends and I use to make up some of the oddest games and challenges. Without even knowing it we were developing coordination skills that served us well as athletes.

I would love to hear some of the exercises you use to improve coordination in your athletes.