428: Lee Taft on Breaking Barriers in Team and Individual Speed Development

Today’s episode features Lee Taft, a leading expert in sport speed development. Lee has accumulated wisdom, not just in sports performance, but also in physical education, and sport coaching.  Lee has been a multi-time guest on the podcast and is a regular consultant and mentor to many professionals in the field. We regularly consider building speed and athletic movement on the individual level, but there is often a gap when it comes to determining how to use that speed in context of other players, decision-making capabilities, and in the game itself. Lee is not only a leader in building individual speed components, but he also zooms out to engage athletes on those levels of basketball skill through his sport coaching expertise. In today’s episode, Lee emphasizes the importance of speed and movement for team coordination, focusing on burst training, fast breaks, and press situations. He gets into partner competitions and multiplane movement drills while honing decision-making exercises to improve overall performance. He also discusses creating environments that encourage aggressive play and empowering athletes to take risks with the removal of external judgment. Finally, we cover practical tools like sprint workouts, partner drills, and resistance bands to help build athletic skills and confidence. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio and athleticdevelopmentgames.com. TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30-day trial of the TeamBuildr software. For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com