Walk the hips open
Why it works
Three positions cover the three joints a youth player loses first: a knee hug for the hip flexor, a lunge with a turn for the hip and the spine together, and a heel plant with the toe up for the hamstring. Walking them beats holding them, because a held stretch before sprinting makes a leg slower rather than safer.
Run it
4 MINTen yards out and ten yards back, which is roughly four of each position per leg. Four minutes. It goes first in the period, before anything at speed, and it is the one part that never gets cut for time.
Say this
“Stand all the way up between knees.”
The balance on one leg at the top is half the value, and it is the half everybody skips.
“Back knee towards the grass, not the chest towards the floor.”
A lunge opens the hip of the trailing leg, and folding forward moves the work into the lower back.
“Toe up, knee soft, hands past the foot.”
A pulled-up toe is what puts the stretch in the hamstring instead of in the calf.
Good looks like
- Every player stands fully upright between knee hugs rather than shuffling.
- On the lunge the back knee is low and the chest is still up.
- Toes are visibly pulled up on the scoop and knees are not locked.
- Nobody is breathing hard at the end of it.
The mistakes
Hopping forward in a crouch. Make them hold the tall position for one count before the next step.
Say: “Stand all the way up between knees.”
Leaning over the front thigh. Put their hands up over their head on the lunge and the chest comes back up on its own.
Say: “Back knee towards the grass, not the chest towards the floor.”
Locking the knee straight and bouncing. Bend it slightly and reach a little shorter.
Say: “Toe up, knee soft, hands past the foot.”
Knee hugs only, over five yards, holding a coach's hand or a partner's shoulder if they wobble. Add the lunge in a few weeks and the scoop after that.
Add a reach overhead on every knee hug and hold each position for two counts, then finish with two straight-leg marches over the same ten yards.