Gamespeed: Movement Training for Superior Sports Performance (Third Edition)

\x22Speed, that elusive, magical quality that lights up sport, has long been considered one of the most crucial elements of performance in so many athletic endeavors. But is this prominence fully warranted? While speed is without doubt important, there are many paradoxes that seem to question its dominant role: the slower player on paper getting to the ball faster than the payer with the standout 40, the player with average test scores who is somehow always in the right place at the right time, the player who always seems to be able to open up space despite very average testing scores―how is this happening? If speed alone were the deciding factor, these instances should never occur. So, is speed actually as important as we think?
Yes it is, but not speed as it is currently perceived and trained. Unlike in track, speed in sport is not an end in itself but, instead, is a means of achieving a sport\-related goal. So, it’s not speed in itself that is crucial but Gamespeed―the ability to use a wide range of speed and agility capacities to successfully navigate the challenges of the game.
On the other hand, individuals too often train speed without thinking of its context. As a result, they too often fail to ask a key question―are their current methods of perceiving, measuring, and training speed and agility fit for purpose, or do they inadvertently miss crucial opportunities by which to enhance practice?
So, how should Gamespeed be developed? Ironically, the anomalies and paradoxes of the theoretically slower player making the play ahead of the player who is faster on paper contain many of the clues as to how best to develop an athlete’s movement capacities.
Clearly, the current perception and understanding of speed and agility is incomplete, and a new lens is needed through which to examine and explain effective performance. This is what Gamespeed is about―an attempt to re\-examine speed and agility application in sport, to investigate the apparent paradoxes and to frame speed development in the context of its ultimate goal―superior sports performance. Featuring a revolutionary approach, Gamespeed gets at the heart of how speed and agility capacities actually impact upon performance, as well as breaks new ground in this quest. Its unique methods, such as reverse engineering, applying the OODA loop, using target classifications, constraints analysis, the concept of Gamespeed fitness, etc., allow a whole new perspective on how speed and agility can best be developed. As a result, a new approach to developing these capacities is needed.
The Gamespeed system is that new approach and is ultimately all about making the athlete a better on\-field\/on\-court player. Not only does it challenge some traditional thinking, it also questions some of the directions that are being taken with regard to speed training and details a new approach to training. It addresses movements and capacities that are rarely considered in traditional approaches, blending science with the knowledge gleaned from actual performance. Gamespeed provides athletes and coaches with a proven and flexible system that enhances an athlete’s capacity for effective movement in each and every game, whatever their competitive levels of play―ultimately raising the bar on performance possibilities.\x22