Weekly Letter

The Effects of Running Track on Athleticism

This article is just a quick comparison of the two sports, and how they can be both beneficial and detrimental to the athletic development of young soccer players. This article illustrates my perspective from both personal and professional experience as a multi-sport athlete and as a coach/trainer of multi-sport athletes. I am writing this because I believe there are misconceptions floating around our clientele and the clubs and schools we represent, and I wanted to voice my opinion.

From Personal Experience…

I ran track because there was no other organized way for me to “stay in shape” during the spring. I also liked the “laid back” atmosphere, and the warm spring sunshine, after a long fall and winter in the intense, pressure packed training of football and basketball. I was also fast enough to have a shot at a state title each year, which made it seem even more beneficial. But, I was doing it primarily to “stay in shape” for the sport that was eventually going to pay for my college…football.

“If the reasoning behind your decision to leave your athletic development program and come into club practice more tired than you should be is based on the assumption that you are going this to ‘stay in shape,' you are greatly mistaken.”

To add to insult to injury, the lack of a serious strength training regiment over the course of the winter and spring had left me weaker than my teammates from Texas and Florida who had been training intensely for 9 months. In my first colligate game; I suffered a season ending knee injury, because I didn't have the lateral explosiveness to avoid a collision and the “speed of the game” (which is different than “pure speed,” like track) had caught up to me.

…To Professional Experience.

Now that I own an athletic development/training business and have thousands of young athletes improving in our program each year, I try to educate the select few on the reality of this decision. If you are a great middle distance runner, or you absolutely love the high jump, or you have a shot at going somewhere with your talent…then by all means, do track! But, if the reasoning behind your decision to leave your athletic development program and come into club practice more tired than you should be is based on the assumption that you are doing this to “stay in shape”, you are greatly mistaken.

Each year we take soccer girls and have them as strong and fast as ever in the summer, and then they run cross country in the fall. When they come back in the winter we spend 2 or 3 months getting them back to being as fast as they were last summer! Each spring I have volleyball players that think that they will go out for track and do the high jump, or sprints to better develop their verticals and speed, and each year when they return they have shin splints, tendonitis, and their vertical has dropped.

So, What Does Track Do For The Multi-Sport Athlete?

The sport of Track and Field is just like any other sport. It has its own variables, its own type of conditioning, and its own effect on the body. If you are looking to “stay in shape” for a particular sport (soccer for instance) you need to participate in sports that complement your primary sport. For instance basketball and soccer complement each other quite well in terms of conditioning, agility, athletic coordination, etc. Track and soccer however are on opposite ends of the spectrum. Track athletes prepare for a single burst of linear speed or power followed by long periods of rest, where as soccer is a game of continued bursts of lateral, linear and vertical power or acceleration over a long period of time where you seldom get adequately recovered. So one could say track athletes train for maximum speed or power, while soccer athletes train for power endurance, agility and acceleration. To take this one step further volleyball, basketball and soccer are sports that require reaction, power development, quick acceleration, and an attempt to control the chaotic speed of the game. Track is anything but chaotic, and with the exception of reacting to the sound of the gun, there is no reacting to a situation. Track is stereotyped movement, rehearsed situations and precisely timed and measured steps of smooth acceleration. Does that sound like good training for basketball? Good training for soccer?

Track has its advantages. It teaches good top end speed mechanics (running form). It conditions you to run at a higher speed for longer periods of time. And man, it's just nice to get out on that warm track surface in the nice spring day after a long winter. But don't be misled, track may be all of these things but it is NOT a way to improve your play on the field or court.

Scott Moody
Founder and CEO
Centers for Athletic Performance, Inc. (CAP)