Speed wins games. Whether your kid plays soccer, football, basketball, or track, being faster than the competition is one of the clearest advantages in youth sports. The good news: speed is a skill, and like any skill, it can be trained — no fancy gym required.
These six drills target the core mechanics of fast running — arm efficiency, leg drive, ground contact, and explosive power — and all of them can be done in your driveway, backyard, or a stretch of open floor. Coaches use these same movements in elite youth programs, but they scale perfectly for kids ages 8 and up.
Quick Answer
The fastest way for youth athletes to get faster at home is to practice sprint mechanics drills 2–3 times per week. Focus on six movements: A-Skips, High Knees, Wall Drills, Arm Swings, Pogos, and Power Skips. These build the neuromuscular patterns that translate directly to faster sprints — no equipment needed, 20–30 minutes per session.
The 6 Speed Drills (And How to Do Each One)
1. A-Skips — This is the gold standard of sprint mechanics drills. Skip forward with a rhythmic bounce, driving one knee up while staying on the ball of your foot and keeping your toes pulled up (dorsiflexed). Punch the raised foot back down like a piston. Add an exaggerated arm swing as you progress. Do 3 sets of 20 yards. A-Skips teach the transition phase of leg acceleration — the same motion that powers fast sprint cycles.
2. High Knees — Run in place or forward, driving each knee up to hip level with each step. Stay tall, keep your core tight, and pump your arms aggressively. Aim for quick, light ground contacts. Do 3 sets of 20 yards or 20 seconds. High knees reinforce knee lift and hip extension, two of the biggest mechanical factors in sprint speed.
3. Wall Drills — Lean against a wall at a 45-degree angle, hands flat on the surface, body in a straight line from head to heel. Start with one knee up and the other leg extended. On a signal, aggressively switch legs, keeping feet dorsiflexed and hips pressed forward. Do 3 sets of 10 switches per leg. This drill teaches the piston-like leg action and forward lean that drive power off the ground during acceleration.
4. Arm Swings — Sit or kneel and focus only on your arms. Hold them bent at 90 degrees and swing from the shoulder — hands moving from cheek level down to pocket level. Start slow, then increase speed. Do 3 sets of 20 seconds. Most young athletes run with sloppy arm mechanics; fixing that alone can meaningfully improve sprint speed because arm drive directly controls stride turnover rate.
5. Pogos — Bounce lightly on the balls of both feet with minimal knee bend, like a pogo stick. Keep your ankles stiff, body tall, and contacts short. Bounce forward, backward, and side-to-side. Do 3 sets of 20 contacts. Pogos train elastic strength and teach athletes to use the ground efficiently — fast sprinters spend less time on the ground per stride, and this drill builds exactly that quality.
6. Power Skips — Explosive, exaggerated skips with maximum knee drive and arm pump. Go for either height (drive straight up) or distance (drive forward aggressively). The movement should feel powerful and rhythmic. Do 3 sets of 20 yards. Power skips develop the force production and arm-leg coordination that carry over directly to sprint acceleration.
How to Structure a Home Speed Session
Keep sessions short and high-quality. Youth athletes should train speed when they’re fresh — not at the end of a long practice when fatigue degrades mechanics. Aim for 2–3 sessions per week, 20–30 minutes each. A simple session structure: 5 minutes of dynamic warm-up (walking lunges, leg swings, easy jog), then 4–6 drill sets from the list above, then 2–4 short sprints of 10–30 yards at full effort to apply what the drills just trained.
Rest matters more than most parents realize. Take 60–90 seconds between efforts so the nervous system recovers enough to produce quality movement. The goal is fast, precise reps — not grinding through tired reps with broken form. Speed training done sloppily teaches sloppiness. If mechanics fall apart, rest longer or end the session early.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Running on the heels is one of the most common problems in youth athletes. Fast runners land on the ball of the foot, not the heel. All six drills above build this habit — reinforce it every session. Heel striking bleeds energy and slows ground contact times, two things that directly limit top speed.
Ignoring the arms is another common mistake. Arm drive is not cosmetic — it controls stride rate. Many young athletes focus so much on their legs that their arms go limp or cross the body’s midline. The Arm Swings drill exists to fix this. Remind athletes to drive elbows back aggressively, not swing their hands across their chest.
Too much too soon is the third mistake. Speed training stresses the nervous system, not just muscles, and recovery takes longer than most people expect. Two to three quality sessions per week is plenty. Adding more volume without adequate rest doesn’t build speed faster — it builds fatigue and raises the injury risk for developing young bodies.
Explore more: Youth Training & Performance.
Youth athlete speed drills FAQs
At what age should kids start speed training?
Children as young as 6–8 can begin movement-based speed work through games, skipping, and basic coordination drills. Structured drills like the ones in this guide are appropriate starting around ages 8–10, with a focus on learning mechanics rather than maximum effort. The goal at younger ages is building motor patterns that will pay off as athletes mature.
Do you need equipment for youth speed training at home?
No. All six drills in this guide require zero equipment. A flat surface — a driveway, backyard, or hallway — is enough. Optional additions like cones (or water bottles as stand-ins) and an agility ladder can add variety, but they are not necessary for effective speed development.
How long does it take for a youth athlete to get noticeably faster?
Most athletes begin to show mechanical improvements within 2–4 weeks of consistent drilling. Measurable speed gains in timed sprints typically appear after 6–8 weeks of regular training at 2–3 sessions per week. Speed development is cumulative — the longer an athlete trains correct mechanics, the more it compounds across the season and from year to year.
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Photo: BugWarp / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.