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The Soccer (Football) 30 meter Sprint Test

You are here: Home / Featured Story / The Soccer (Football) 30 meter Sprint Test
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October 10, 2010 by Jimson Lee 7 Comments

Last Updated on December 1, 2014 by Jimson Lee

So you want to be a Soccer Player?  So you want to be a Football Player?

I’m sure if Bud Winter was alive, he would have written a book on this.

This article is a spin off on the series of 40 yard dash for American football where 40 Yard dash times are used in the combine.

In Soccer (or Football for the rest of the world), 30 meters is a popular testing distance.  We’re talking about SI… SI stands for System International, not Sports Illustrated (well, maybe except for the February edition).

 

What is a good time for 30 meters?

Of course, my answer is, it depends.

Age, sport specificity, Amateur vs. Professional, FAT vs. Hand times… all these are factors in determining what is a good 30 meter sprint time.

First, lets look at Professional Elite sprinters:

Mo Greene, NOT Usain Bolt, has the fastest 30 meter split ever recorded

Note that Usain Bolt does NOT have the fastest 30 meter split time, but rather Maurice Green.  Shocking?

It’s fair to say anything under 3.70 FAT time with no reaction time (i.e. using timing gates) is world class.  But we’re not world class sprinters, we’re soccer players.

Second, let’s look at some theory.

The following are national norms for 16 to 19 year olds from the reference Physical Education and the Study of Sport: Text with CD-ROM

30-meter-sprint-rating

A 4.0 hand time or faster from the runner’s first movement is considered excellent.  For Females, 4.5 is excellent.

[Tweet “Mo Greene, NOT Usain Bolt, has the fastest 30 meter split ever recorded 3.75 vs 3.78 sec”]

See also  Lee Evans to Sell Gold Medals from 1968 Protest at Mexico City Olympics

How accurate is this chart?  See the next study below.

This study is from the Performance characteristics of professional players aged 13 – 18 years old on Scientific-football.com…

sci-football-study

For clarification, the color coded chart is divided into 2 year age groups, 13&14, 15&16, and 17&18.  Note for the 17&18 year old group, times of 4.01 to 4.32 were recorded.

Another study from the Strong Correlation of Maximal Squat Strength with Sprint Performance and Vertical Jump Height in Elite Soccer Players (by U Wisløff, C Castagna, J Helgerud, R Jones, J Hoff) shows…

correlation-maximal-squat-strength-sprint

This range is from 3.6 to 4.4 seconds for 30 meters from 17 International male soccer players with an average age of 25.8 years old.

I am curious to find out where (or who) the two 3.6 times came from.  I wonder what they could run for 100 meters if they trained for the event?  A 3.6 hand time is equivalent to 3.84 FAT.

But the most important take home message from this study is leg speed and vertical jump are directly related to leg strength.  I can’t stress that enough.  So that means hitting the weight room and/or doing plyos.  Even as young as 14 or 15 years old, athletes should start a carefully monitored weight program focusing on technique in the early years.

Conclusion

So there you have it.  You now know what you need to do if you are considering a pro football career.. along with soccer skills!  Lace up your shoes (uh, I mean boots) and go out and do 2 or 3 trials of 30 meters and report back your times.  Have 2 timers if possible.

See also  How to Race the 400 meters – Run Your Own Race

On the next article, I’ll discuss ways of improving your leg speed (both linear speed and lateral speed) so you can slice up to half a second on your 30 meter time or your money back!  (Since this site is free, you have nothing to lose!)

Category iconFeatured Story,  Fitness Testing,  Soccer Tag iconBud Winter,  Soccer

About Jimson Lee

I am a Masters Athlete and Coach currently based in London UK. My other projects include the Bud Winter Foundation, writer for the IAAF New Studies in Athletics Journal (NSA) and a member of the Track & Field Writers of America.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Matthew Steel says

    October 10, 2010 at 3:16 pm

    Great article. Well-informed, well-researched. I’ve an article about my ideas for a no-cost game of soccer that will supplement the preceding article. Please scroll down till you find it here:

    http://www.weekendnotes.com/soccer-match-at-aberfeldie-oval/

    Reply
  2. eroszag says

    October 11, 2010 at 12:45 pm

    A 3.6 hand time does not equal 3.84 fat.Usually training hand times, first movement, are 0.45-0.50 slower than Fat., with a good timer( includes reaction time).
    Examples: my 10″45 sprinter, Pb training 3″43, Di gregorio, Italian 10″17 sprinter, can usually go under 3″30

    Reply
  3. Christopher Glaeser says

    May 13, 2011 at 5:04 pm

    The Freelap Timing System is an ideal solution for measuring the 30 meter sprint. It is accurate, fully automated, easy to set up, easy to use, and versatile. Freelap can measure fly-in sprints, splits, block starts, tempo runs, laps, football combine 40 yard dash, and agility drills. See http://www.freelaptrackandfield.com/101.html

    Best,
    Christopher Glaeser

    What you measure, you improve!

    Reply
  4. Roni says

    October 14, 2011 at 5:48 am

    Theo walcott ran the 30 meters in 3.6 seconds

    Reply
    • TJ says

      January 5, 2012 at 5:52 am

      I have an averegae score of 3.50 for 30m sprint is that good then?

      Reply
      • Jimson Lee says

        January 5, 2012 at 6:09 am

        @TJ:

        two updated articles on the 30m dash from Dec 2011:

        https://speedendurance.com/2011/12/16/30-meter-sprint-times-revisited/

        https://speedendurance.com/2011/12/12/calculating-100-meter-potential-from-30-meter-flys/

        Reply
  5. am5 says

    January 22, 2013 at 1:24 am

    I got 3.9 and I’m 15, 5ft 8in and 9st 2lb

    Reply

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