Lee Taft on Multi-Directional Speed for Team Sports

Based on Episode 41 of the Just Fly Performance Podcast with Lee Taft, hosted by Joel Smith, recorded in 2017.

Multi-directional speed is not something most athletes are taught, it is something their childhood either built or skipped, according to movement specialist Lee Taft on Episode 41 of the Just Fly Performance Podcast. Taft argues that nearly every human is wired to run, cut, and react, but lateral movement only becomes fluid when athletes are exposed to varied play during the developmental windows that roughly span ages 5 to 12. Miss those windows, he says, and change of direction can be cleaned up later, but it will never reach its truest potential.

Key Takeaways

• Forward running is natural; lateral speed is built. Almost every athlete can sprint in a straight line without coaching, but controlling mass and momentum side to side has to be developed through years of varied play.
• Coach with guided discovery. Give one or two simple cues, then let the athlete feel the movement. Over-talking delays learning.
• The false step is not a flaw. The hips do not travel backward; the foot repositions behind them to launch the body in the chosen direction and to use the stretch-shortening cycle.
• Offense and defense need different footwork. On offense you plant one foot and go because you control the action; on defense you use a parallel split step because you must react in any direction.
• A locked, dorsiflexed ankle drives change of direction. Deceleration is never the goal; redirecting the body quickly is, and that depends on shin angle and a loaded ankle.

Most Movement Is Innate, but Lateral Speed Has to Be Built

Taft opened with a point that reframes how coaches see raw athletes: the nervous system already knows how to move. Running, jumping, and reacting are built in, not invented by strength coaches. What separates a fluid mover from an awkward one is exposure, especially to the lateral and reactive patterns that organized play forces on a young body.

“All humans are designed to be able to move. Their exposure to play, to organized sport, or to organized activities that force different patterns, that is what is going to determine how efficient and effective they move in those sports.”

He described the reflexive footwork of a game of tag as proof: “When I jab into the ground really quick to explode at you, or turn my hips really quick to get away from you, that is not a conscious thought. That is just a reaction or a reflex to whatever is happening in front of me.” The practical problem is timing. Taft pointed to critical, sensitive periods of development roughly between ages 5 and 12, and warned that an athlete who only ran in a straight line as a child, the cross-country kid who never played a court sport, struggles to control mass and momentum laterally as a teenager. The fix for those athletes is patient exposure, but he was blunt about the ceiling: “It will never be at its truest potential because they missed their windows when they were younger.” For coaches, the application is two-sided: protect varied play for young athletes, and for older ones, build the missing force-absorption and force-production patterns before chasing polish.

Guided Discovery: Make Athletes Earn the Coaching

Taft coaches by what he calls guided discovery: point the athlete in the right direction, then get out of the way. He compared it to teaching someone to ride a bike, where no one really teaches balance, the proprioceptive system figures it out once the rider is allowed to feel the mistakes.

“Athletes have to earn your right to coach them.”

By that he meant coaches should not hand an athlete eight or ten corrections at once. Make them earn each step, because the goal is unconscious competence, the stage where the movement runs without thought. “I don’t want my kid to think about, ‘Where should my foot be when I’m changing direction?’ Because by the time they’re thinking of that, they’re already beat.” The application for a practitioner is restraint: pick one or two simple cues that produce an immediate, felt response, then let repetition and the athlete’s own nervous system do the teaching.

When to Cue, and Why Effort Often Beats Technique

Asked how often to cue, Taft rejected any fixed number. If an athlete clearly misunderstood, he corrects immediately, and he assumes the miscommunication may be his own. If the athlete understands and is improving rep to rep, he lets it ride. Just as often, he coaches effort instead of mechanics.

“A lot of times technique gets cleaned up if the athlete just goes harder.”

His favorite way to draw out maximal effort without saying a word about form is a competition cue: “Sometimes I’ll stand out in front of them 12, 15 feet with a tennis ball and say, ‘Catch this ball before it bounces a second time.’ I get all the effort I want, and I didn’t say anything about technique.” For coaches who feel paid to say something every rep, the lesson is that encouragement and intent are coaching too, and that a hard, aggressive effort often makes the mechanics organize themselves.

The Cues That Backfire: The Lateral Shuffle Foot and the False Step

Some of the most common cues, Taft argued, fight the body. In a lateral shuffle, many coaches demand the lead foot point straight ahead. Taft does not coach the foot to turn out, but he knows it will, and forcing it straight makes the athlete fight rotational torque at the groin, knee, and ankle. Letting the heel touch and pull brings the big hamstrings and glutes into play, with the heel acting as the lever.

The false step draws the same misplaced correction. Coaches see an athlete appear to step backward before accelerating and try to remove it. Taft explained why that is a misread:

“If you actually watch it, the hips really never go backwards. It is just the foot repositions backwards of the hip to launch the body forward quickly.”

That repositioning buys an immediate force-application angle, the stretch-shortening cycle, and instant alignment toward the target direction. Coaching it out strips those advantages. The application is to stop policing the foot and start watching the hips: if the hips go where the athlete intends and the movement is quick and clean, the footwork is doing its job.

Offense vs Defense Footwork, and the Ankle That Makes It Work

Taft tied the episode together with linking skills, the small sub-skills that connect two larger movements. A receiver running a ten-yard out plants one foot to redirect, because the offensive player already knows what he is going to do. A tennis player who has just served drops into a parallel split step, because the moment the serve leaves the racket he becomes a defender who must react in any direction.

“Defense is very similar across the board from one sport to the next, but offense is usually going to be based on sticking one foot in the ground to go in another direction.”

Underneath all of it is the ankle. Taft wants a locked, dorsiflexed ankle with the shin driven forward and the whole foot on the ground for sensory feedback, not an open ankle perched on the ball of the foot, which invites a rolled ankle and wastes the stretch reflex. His framing is worth posting in a weight room: “Deceleration is never the goal. Change of direction is the goal.” To build those qualities he leans on lateral ice-skater bounds, short reactive jumps off a four to six inch box landing in dorsiflexion, and the slide board, which is nearly impossible to perform unless the athlete holds a dorsiflexed position. For force behind it all, he picked two lifts: a deadlift, single leg or double, for total-body force production, and an Olympic hang pull from the power position for fast, instantaneous drive.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the false step, and is it bad for speed?

The false step, sometimes called a plyo step, is the quick repositioning of the back foot before an athlete accelerates, and it is not a flaw. Lee Taft explained that the hips do not actually travel backward during a false step; only the foot repositions behind the hips so it can drive the body forward or on an angle. That repositioning gives the athlete an immediate force-application angle, engages the stretch-shortening cycle, and aligns the body toward the intended direction. Coaches who try to eliminate the false step usually remove a natural advantage the nervous system built in. The better approach is to watch where the hips travel rather than policing the feet.

How often should a coach cue an athlete?

There is no fixed number, according to Taft. Correct immediately when an athlete clearly misunderstood the task, since the breakdown may be a communication failure on the coach’s part. When the athlete understands the skill and is improving from rep to rep, let it ride rather than interrupting. Taft often coaches effort and attitude instead of mechanics, because a harder, more aggressive effort tends to clean up technique on its own. When he does give a technical cue, he limits it to one or two things the athlete can feel externally, so the movement does not become a thinking exercise.

Why should you not coach the lead foot straight in a lateral shuffle?

Forcing the lead foot to point straight ahead in a lateral shuffle makes the athlete fight rotational forces, which Taft warned can stress the groin, knee, and ankle. He does not coach the foot to turn out, but he knows it will, and he lets it, because allowing the heel to touch and pull recruits the larger hamstrings and glutes and uses the heel as an efficient lever. The nervous system, he said, has already worked out a safer and more powerful solution than a straight foot. Coaches are usually better off allowing the natural foot position than enforcing a right angle that looks tidy but works against the body.

Can a strength coach train sport speed without coaching the sport?

Mostly yes. Taft estimated that a knowledgeable speed coach can handle roughly 90 to 95 percent of the work without playing or coaching the specific sport, because reactive movement, clean angles, and force application transfer across sports. The remaining margin comes from the sport’s minutiae and its language. He described learning to say “pitch” instead of “field” with soccer players, which earned their respect and made his speed instruction land better. Knowing the sport does not change how arm and leg action produce movement, but it improves communication and helps the coach understand small, sport-specific constraints.

What drills build the ankle dorsiflexion needed for change of direction?

Taft favors a few simple tools. Lateral ice-skater bounds train side-to-side force production and absorption. Short reactive jumps off a four to six inch box, landing in a full dorsiflexed position and springing quickly rather than jumping high, teach the lower leg to load and return fast. The slide board is his constraint of choice, because an athlete cannot perform it in a plantarflexed position, so it forces them to stay dorsiflexed and push through the whole foot. The common thread is a locked ankle and a forward shin angle, which Taft considers the foundation of quick, safe change of direction.

About Lee Taft

Lee Taft is widely regarded as one of the top athletic movement specialists in the world, with roughly 30 years coaching speed and multi-directional movement. He has taught his methods to performance coaches and fitness professionals across many team sports, and he brings a physical education and sport-coaching background alongside his strength and conditioning work. Learn more at leetaft.com. .

About the Host

Joel Smith is the host of the Just Fly Performance Podcast and the founder of Just Fly Sports, where he writes and speaks on speed, power, and athletic development from a track and strength and conditioning background.

Listen to the Full Episode

Listen to the complete conversation with Lee Taft on Episode 41 of the Just Fly Performance Podcast.