By Scott Willis, Strength and conditioning coach to the Kentucky Wildcats, 2006 SEC Women’s Soccer Tournament Champions

If you don’t have the necessary level of endurance, you can only play hard for a short time before fatigue sets in; and once you’re fatigued, you cannot be explosive. If you don’t have the necessary level of speed—regardless of your endurance—you won’t be able to run down balls or make plays to defend. Basically, if you don’t posses a combination of both, you’ll be in trouble on the field.

One drill we do to work speed and endurance together is a 200-yard shuttle. We do it in increments of 25 yards, so the players go down and back four times. We do 3 sets of 3 reps back to back, with only a 200-yard jog between each set to keep them constantly moving. This is how the game of soccer is played, so that’s how we train.