Recommended Drills and relays for JUST RUN

An extremely important part of the JUST RUN program are the recommended drills and relays for children. These drills have been used by elite coaches with experience in coaching world class athletes well as all other levels of runners, from children to adults. The drill packages have been developed to best prepare young legs and bodies for running. They are fun to do and improve agility, balance, coordination, strength, and conditioning, and are the perfect complement to JUST RUNNING for school age children.

In the Download Forms section of this website is a one page summary of the recommended Drills. Here is an explanation of each one.

It is best to form teams of 4 or 5 children who line up behind each other to do these drills. You can tell them to just run easy or you can tell them to run fast and compete against each other as in a relay. We suggest doing them slowly and non-competitively to start until they understand all the drills. If you do them as a relay try to evenly balance the teams so they finish close to each other each time.

Important note: The drills are preferably done using soccer balls that are LOW ON AIR and FLAT on one side. This way they do not roll away and if someone steps on a ball they are not as likely to injure themselves with a possible twist of the ankle. Also if the surface is not exactly flat they don't roll away.

We find that children also love using stuffed animals to go around and go over as well as soccer balls and this adds variety and fun to the drills.

These drills are best done on Grass rather than cement or a hard surface.

Drill 1: Place several soccer balls - one for each group of children you have - 30 yards away from the line of children. Each child runs to the ball and around it then back to the group - tags the next person - who then does the same run until all on the team are completed. Variations should be done by having them first run around the ball from the left, then from the right side of the ball. Do this typically 4 times - twice from the left, twice from the right.

Drill 2: Same around the ball drill - except each child has to start from a kneeling position. First the child kneels on the right knee, than on the left.. Again do 4 times through the children. Twice on the left knee and twice on the right knee.

Drill 3: Same around the ball drill - except each child has to start from a laying prone position with their head facing the balls. They must turn over and then start running. Variation - roll right and roll left.

Drill 4: Same around the ball drill - except they run an entire circle around the ball before returning. Again do this around the ball from the right and from the left.

The next 4 drills are done with lines of children running over and around a line of soccer balls. The preferred number of balls is 10 to 15. 15 is harder. You might start with 6 and work up to 15 over a period of several weeks.

Drill 5: The balls should be less than 3 feet apart. Children run over the balls by stepping over them in a running motion and quick feet and legs. When they finish they go back to the end of the line and start again. Repeat 4 times.

Drill 6: The balls should be about 5 feet apart. Children hop over the balls by bounding with their legs together. Moving the arms together helps with momentum as well. When they finish they go back to the end of the line and start again. Repeat 4 times.

Drill 7: The balls should be about 5 feet apart. Children swerve through and around the balls from right to left and alternately from left to right. When they finish they go back to the end of the line and start again. Repeat 4 times.

Drill 8: The balls should be about 5 feet apart. Children bound over the balls with alternating legs - like running. You will find they quickly learn they have to hop on each leg to make it over all the balls. When they finish they go back to the end of the line and start again. Repeat 4 times.

Alternatives: These same drills can be done in other alternative ways - by doing push ups between drills, sit ups, jumping jacks, etc. Also you can have them run around a field or track or any distance between drills if you want to add some regular running between drills.

We have also found that setting a row of balls out about 30 yards, and a second set at 60 yards and having the children do activities around each set or jumping each set before coming back and tagging the next person is also an excellent approach for longer running.

On ALL these drills it is important that there is not too much rest time between running and activity for each child. We want them to be running and not just standing and cheering for other runners. You should promote each child cheering for other children as they do the drills and relays as well. This promotes spirit and cooperation.