The Sam Portland Podcast

Does track sprint training actually improve speed in team sports? In this podcast, we discuss speed training for team sports, rugby speed training, American football speed training and why sprint speed doesn’t always transfer to games.

There’s a big difference between being fast in a straight line and being able to express that speed when it matters.

In this episode, I’m joined by William James, former NCAA Division I and professional American football player, now coaching at the NFL Academy.

We discuss why traditional sprint training doesn’t always prepare athletes for the demands of rugby and American football, and how coaches can bridge the gap between physical preparation and sporting performance.

We also explore William’s journey from Sweden to American college football, professional football in Europe and Canada, and eventually coaching the next generation of athletes.

WHAT WE DISCUSS

🏉 Why track sprint mechanics don’t always transfer to rugby and football

⚡ General, Specific, Special and Tactical speed

🏈 How to integrate speed development into team practices

📊 Why GPS data can reveal problems with speed preparation

💥 The difference between maximum sprint speed and repeatable game speed

🧠 Why speed training should develop decision-making and movement skills

🏋️ Why the weight room is only one part of athletic development

🎯 How great coaches connect physical preparation with sporting performance

We also share stories from playing rugby and American football, working with professional athletes, and the realities of coaching in high-performance environments.

Chapters

0:00 Why track speed training doesn't always transfer

1:05 General, Specific, Special and Tactical speed

1:49 Why rugby players need better speed preparation

3:12 Speed Age: Why trained athletes struggle to sprint

4:11 Maximum speed vs competitive speed

5:31 Integrating speed training into football practice

6:33 Why strength coaches and sport coaches must collaborate

7:47 Using GPS to understand sporting speed demands

8:48 The hamstring injury that exposed a preparation problem

10:21 Why traditional conditioning misses the point

12:16 Building repeatable high-speed performance

14:06 Playing American football after rugby

17:09 The physical differences between rugby and football

23:33 William James' journey from Sweden to NCAA football

28:32 Breaking into Division I American football

31:07 Professional football in Europe and Australia

32:33 The journey to the CFL

37:30 The physical standards of professional athletes

43:29 Why great coaches need physical empathy

44:29 From professional player to NFL Academy coach

49:43 The culture of American football strength training

51:44 Why coaching culture matters as much as programming

55:34 Why great coaching beats complicated programmes

58:28 Frameworks, systems and better coaching decisions

1:01:04 Integrating physical preparation into sport practice

1:03:06 Final thoughts and where to find William James

THE SPORTS SPEED SYSTEM

My approach to speed development is built around four levels:

GENERAL → SPECIFIC → SPECIAL → TACTICAL

The objective isn’t simply to make athletes faster over 10, 20 or 40 metres.

It’s to develop speed qualities that athletes can repeatedly express within their sport.

If you’re a strength and conditioning coach, rugby coach, football coach or performance coach looking to improve how you develop speed, this conversation will give you plenty to think about.

GET THE SPORTS SPEED SYSTEM

📘 The Sports Speed System book:

https://www.speedbysportland.com/sportsspeedsystembook?video=mcvVdnSpLY0

📘 Profile your speed with my free App: https://speedbysportland.com/speed-program-builder-page?video=mcvVdnSpLY0

⚡ Try the Sports Speed App:

https://sbs.programs.app/

🎓 Join Legacy Mastermind:

https://www.speedbysportland.com/legacy-mastermind-new

CONNECT WITH WILLIAM JAMES

Instagram: @williamjames91

Why doesn’t getting stronger always make athletes faster? And what are elite sprint coaches doing differently?

In this episode of the Sam Portland Podcast, I’m joined by Rolf Öhman, founder of 1080 technology and an internationally experienced performance coach, to explore sprint training, eccentric strength, tendon capacity and the principles behind developing truly fast athletes.

Drawing on decades of experience working with elite sprinters, jumpers and international athletes, Rolf shares lessons from Charlie Francis and Randy Huntington, explaining why improving strength doesn’t automatically translate into faster sprinting.

CHAPTERS

0:00 Rocky, resilience and lessons from coaching history
5:19 Why great coaches need to become great storytellers
8:01 Learning from the pioneers of strength and conditioning
14:10 My introduction to elite sprint coaching and James Smith
18:47 Rolf’s athletic career and the injuries that changed his approach
25:42 Meeting Charlie Francis and rethinking periodisation
27:34 The problem with unnecessary training volume
29:11 Performance technology: useful information or unnecessary noise?
34:49 Why university education doesn’t always prepare coaches
36:15 Stop building a base. Start building capacity.
38:21 Using performance indexes to guide speed development
39:32 Long-term athlete development and the principle of hurrying slowly
41:03 Understanding the force-velocity relationship
42:14 Lessons from Randy Huntington and Charlie Francis
44:58 The research that helped inspire 1080 technology
46:08 Why increasing strength doesn’t guarantee better elasticity
47:13 Eccentric strength and the demands of elite jumping
48:10 Why faster approach speeds can produce shorter jumps
49:16 The importance of eccentric loading and tissue behaviour
50:49 How to progress exercises across an athlete’s development
53:05 Why force application speed matters more than maximum strength
54:04 Applying these principles to rugby and field sports
58:15 Why tendons and muscles adapt at different rates
59:12 Charlie Francis and vertical integration
1:00:39 Tissue capacity and the development of elite sprint performance
1:03:48 What elite shot putters teach us about long-term adaptation
1:06:30 Developing extraordinary jumping ability
1:08:28 Isometric training, tendon adaptation and managing tendinopathy
1:09:49 Why elite coaches must continually experiment
1:10:14 Final thoughts and where to follow Rolf

IN THIS EPISODE

We explore some of the biggest challenges in strength and conditioning:

• Strength vs Speed: Why improving maximum strength doesn’t automatically improve sprint performance.
• Eccentric Strength: How the ability to absorb and rapidly express force influences sprinting, jumping and ground contact times.
• Tissue Capacity: Why muscles and tendons adapt differently, and what this means for long-term athlete development.
• Training Progression: Why introducing advanced methods too early can limit an athlete’s future development.
• Vertical Integration: How Charlie Francis organised training to develop multiple physical qualities simultaneously.
• Performance Technology: Why collecting more data doesn’t necessarily lead to better coaching decisions.

Rolf also shares fascinating stories from his athletic career, the development of 1080 technology and the coaching experiences that shaped his philosophy.

If you’re a strength and conditioning coach, speed specialist or performance coach looking to better understand how strength transfers to sporting performance, this is a conversation worth your time.

LINKS

Rolf Öhman — Instagram: @tailwindsquad

Sports Speed System Book:
https://www.speedbysportland.com/sportsspeedsystembook

The 3 Physical Qualities That Make Athletes Faster are force production, elasticity and sprint technique. In this Speed Training 101 lesson, I explain how each quality influences sprint speed and how coaches can identify what their athletes actually need.

Most coaches can tell you what their athletes did last week.

The drills.

The gym sessions.

The distances.

The sprint volume.

But ask exactly what physical quality made the athlete faster, and the answer often becomes much less clear.

Speed development isn’t random.

In Episode 4 of Speed Training 101, I break sprint performance down into three physical qualities:

1. Force

Not simply how strong the athlete is, but how quickly force can be produced during the very short ground contacts available in sprinting.

2. Elasticity

The ability to tolerate, manage and return force during ground contact without excessive deformation or energy loss.

3. Technique

The movement solution that emerges when the athlete has the physical qualities required to execute sprinting effectively.

Inside this video you’ll learn:

* Why maximum strength doesn’t automatically create sprint speed

* Why Rate of Force Development matters for acceleration

* How short sprint ground contacts change the strength requirements

* Why some powerful athletes leak force through the ankle and knee

* What ground contact compliance means

* How elasticity influences sprint mechanics

* Why coaches often try to fix technique too early

* How physical preparation improves technical execution

* Why athletes forget technical cues

* How Learn → Load → Execute develops sprint skill

* How to diagnose which speed quality your athlete actually needs

The goal isn’t to collect more drills.

The goal is to identify the limiter and train the quality that actually moves performance.

FREE FIELD SPEED TOOLKIT

Turn the concepts from Speed Training 101 into practical coaching decisions.

The Field Speed Toolkit includes a Speed Drill Audit Sheet, plug-and-play training week and the five Transfer Filters I use to help coaches connect training to speed.

https://speedbysportland.com/tool-kit?video=_qaX_Q45CFA

Chapters

0:00 The 3 qualities that actually develop speed

1:03 Why strength doesn’t automatically create speed

1:40 Force production vs Rate of Force Development

2:54 Why athletes lose force at ground contact

3:24 What elasticity actually means

4:56 How good athletes manage ground contact

6:37 Same force, completely different speed

7:19 Why coaches try to fix technique too early

8:26 Why technical coaching doesn’t always stick

9:18 Physical qualities before sprint technique

10:17 Learn Load Execute explained

10:50 Force, elasticity and technique

11:04 What actually makes athletes faster?

12:02 How often should athletes sprint?

The Sports Speed System Book

Learn the complete system for developing speed that transfers to team sport:

https://www.speedbysportland.com/sportsspeedsystembook?video=_qaX_Q45CFA

The Best Coach Education Platform There Is

https://speedbysportland.com/legacy-mastermind-7912?video=_qaX_Q45CFA

Sports Speed App — 7 Day Free Trial

https://sbs.programs.app/

Main Website

https://www.speedbysportland.com

Should every athlete sprint the same way? In this Speed Training 101 lesson, I explain why beginner, developing and advanced athletes need different speed training programmes, sprint intensities and progressions.Most coaches have a squad full of athletes with different bodies, training histories, physical qualities and levels of speed development.Yet every athlete completes:The same drills.The same sprint distances.The same intensities.The same weekly volume.Then coaches wonder why some athletes improve while others stay slow.The problem is not always the speed session.The problem is often the diagnosis.In Episode 3 of Speed Training 101, I explain how to classify athletes by their Speed Age and match the training stimulus to their actual stage of development.You will learn:* Why strong and powerful athletes can still be slow* How physical preparedness differs from motor potential* How to use strength, jumping and sprint metrics together* Why beginners do not need maximum intensity* How excessive intensity can blunt future development* Why developing athletes need sprint variation* How resisted sprints, flying runs and wicket drills fit into progression* Why advanced athletes need less volume and more precision* How fatigue eventually outpaces adaptation* Why one speed programme cannot serve an entire squad equally* How Speed Age creates clearer programming decisionsThe three stages covered are:Beginner athlete: structured exposure and movement learningDeveloping athlete: progressive loading through sprint variationAdvanced athlete: precise, high-quality intensity with carefully controlled volumeThe key lesson is simple:The training method may not be wrong. It may simply be wrong for that athlete at that stage.Chapters0:00 Why the same speed programme gets different results1:01 Physical preparedness vs motor potential1:30 Why strong athletes can still be slow3:06 How to assess strength transfer4:15 The beginner speed athlete7:55 The developing speed athlete9:50 Why sprint variation matters12:10 Speed development takes years12:51 The advanced speed athlete14:03 Fatigue vs adaptation14:40 Why advanced athletes need less volume16:04 Beginner vs developing vs advanced17:01 Speed Age explained17:26 What comes nextFree Field Speed ToolkitApply the Sports Speed System with your athletes and start making clearer speed-training decisions:https://speedbysportland.com/tool-kit?video=aLcYuY_ATK4The Sports Speed System BookLearn the complete framework for developing speed that transfers to team sports:https://www.speedbysportland.com/sportsspeedsystembook?video=aLcYuY_ATK4Main Websitehttps://www.speedbysportland.com

Why are some athletes faster than others? In this Speed Training 101 lesson, I explain how genetics, training age, sprint exposure and movement competency influence sprint speed and your ability to develop faster athletes.

Are fast athletes simply born fast?

Genetics absolutely influence speed. Fibre type, limb length, neurological characteristics and other inherited qualities can affect an athlete’s potential.

But genetics only help establish the ceiling.

The bigger coaching question is:

How close is the athlete to that ceiling?

In Episode 2 of Speed Training 101, I break down why athletes with years of strength and conditioning experience can still have enormous amounts of untapped speed potential.

You’ll learn:

Why genetics don’t fully explain sprint performance

The difference between Training Age and Speed Age

Why experienced athletes can still be speed-development beginners

How structured sprint exposure develops speed

Why strength needs to transfer into sprint performance

How movement competency affects speed development

Why maximum-effort sprinting isn’t always maximum development

How I use Learn → Load → Execute to develop sprint skill

I also share the example of a 35-year-old professional rugby player who achieved lifetime best sprint performances over 10m, 20m and maximum speed after we changed how his speed training was structured.

The lesson is simple:

Your athlete’s genetic ceiling might be fixed. Their proximity to it isn’t.

0:00 Are Some Athletes Just Born Faster?

0:59 Understanding Your Athlete's Speed Potential

2:00 Does Genetics Limit Sprint Speed?

2:18 Training Age vs Speed Age

3:29 What Is Speed Age?

4:46 Why Experienced Athletes Can Still Be Slow

5:13 How a 35-Year-Old Rugby Player Got Faster

5:51 How to Increase Sprint Training Exposure

6:25 What Does Proper Sprint Training Look Like?

6:52 The Sprint Development Hierarchy

8:27 Why Strength Doesn't Always Transfer to Speed

9:14 Movement Competency and Sprint Performance

10:15 Why Maximum Speed Can Limit Learning

10:53 How Athletes Actually Learn Sprint Technique

11:40 The Learn, Load, Execute Framework

12:22 Why Some Athletes Are Faster Than Others

13:15 Should Every Athlete Sprint the Same Way?

⸻

FREE FIELD SPEED TOOLKIT

Get the tools and frameworks to start applying the Sports Speed System with your athletes:

https://speedbysportland.com/tool-kit?video=kBsjt6KZkok

THE SPORTS SPEED SYSTEM

Learn my complete approach to developing speed that transfers to team sport:

https://www.speedbysportland.com/sportsspeedsystembook?video=kBsjt6KZkok

WATCH SPEED TRAINING 101

Start from Episode 1 and work through the complete series:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMoh2cFJ0Ztk

What actually makes athletes faster? In this Speed Training 101 lesson, I break down the five key qualities that influence sprint speed and how coaches can develop faster team sport athletes.

Most coaches know their athletes need to get faster.

The problem is that “run faster” isn’t a coaching strategy.

In Episode 1 of Speed Training 101, I break down speed into five key areas that coaches can actually assess, train and develop:

* Strength

* Technique

* Elasticity

* Coordination

* Speed exposure

You’ll learn why getting stronger eventually produces diminishing returns, why sprint technique is often overcoached, how sprinting develops elastic qualities, why maximum-effort sprinting isn’t always the answer, and why most athletes may be getting far less genuine speed exposure than coaches realise.

The goal of this series is simple: to make speed training for team sport athletes easier to understand, coach and programme.

0:00 What Actually Makes Athletes Faster?

0:29 What Speed Really Is

1:38 How Strength Influences Sprint Speed

2:14 When Strength Stops Making You Faster

3:23 How Strong Does an Athlete Need to Be?

4:51 The Problem With Sprint Technique Coaching

5:52 Simple Sprint Technique for Team Sports

7:12 How Elasticity Makes Athletes Faster

8:31 Why Sprinting Develops More Than Speed

9:55 Why Maximum Effort Isn't Always Better

11:01 The Three Sprint Intensity Bands

13:23 How Much Speed Training Do Athletes Need?

14:53 Why Sprint Volume Can Be Misleading

15:23 The Step Load Method

16:25 The 5 Qualities That Develop Speed

17:12 Why Are Some Athletes Faster Than Others?

FREE FIELD SPEED TOOLKIT

Get the tools and frameworks to help you apply the Sports Speed System with your athletes:

https://speedbysportland.com/tool-kit...

THE SPORTS SPEED SYSTEM

Learn my complete system for developing speed that transfers to team sport:

https://www.speedbysportland.com/spor...

I’m Sam Portland, author of The Sports Speed System. This channel is dedicated to helping strength and conditioning coaches understand speed development, sprint training and performance for team sport athletes.

Why Your Conditioning Is Ruining Your Speed | Conditioning for Rugby, Football and Team Sports. If your conditioning program is making athletes slower, reducing acceleration, and hurting sprint performance, this video explains why conditioning and speed training often conflict in rugby, football, and team sports.Most coaches think:More fatigue = more fitness.But that’s often the exact reason athletes lose speed.Inside this video you’ll learn:• Why conditioning can reduce sprint performance• What speed reserve really means• Why athletes get fitter but slower• How conditioning competes with speed development• Why fatigue is not adaptation• The difference between speed-supporting and speed-stealing conditioning• How to improve repeat sprint ability without sacrificing speedMany athletes don’t have a conditioning problem.They have a speed problem.And if your conditioning model is reducing acceleration, max speed, and explosiveness, you may be creating the very problem you’re trying to solve.0:00 Why conditioning makes athletes slower0:15 The field sport conditioning problem0:51 Free Tempo Decision Engine1:36 The biggest lie in conditioning1:54 Why fitter athletes became slower2:17 Speed supporting vs speed stealing3:03 What conditioning is really teaching3:17 Understanding speed reserve3:35 Why athletes redline during games3:50 The real conditioning problem4:07 What to do instead4:14 Next video previewDownload the Tempo Decision Engine Here : https://www.speedbysportland.com/tempo-decision-engine-page?video=GzLckCDjEHUGrab The Full Tempo System: https://www.speedbysportland.com/tempo-system-lander-page?video=GzLckCDjEHUBuy My Book: https://www.speedbysportland.com/sportsspeedsystembook?video=GzLckCDjEHU

Speed Training for Team Sports starts by understanding Speed Age. In this video, I explain why athletes should NOT all sprint the same way and how to build better speed training programs using the Sports Speed System.Most coaches progress strength training correctly…But when sprint training starts:Everyone gets the same sledsEveryone runs fastEveryone gets the same drillsAnd eventually progress stalls.Inside this video you’ll learn:• What Speed Age is and why it matters• Learning to Sprint vs Training to Sprint• How to assess sprint readiness• Why team sport athletes need different speed programs• How to progress speed training safely• How to reduce injury risk in speed development• How the Sports Speed System structures sprint progressionsThe Sports Speed System uses four Speed Age levels:Learning to SprintTraining to SprintSprinting to CompeteSprinting to WinThis helps coaches build speed training programs that maximise sprint gains while improving long-term athlete development.0:00 Why athletes should NOT sprint the same way0:42 Free Field Speed Toolkit1:04 Why sprinting all athletes the same fails1:52 Introducing Speed Age2:43 Learning to Sprint4:26 Training to Sprint6:52 Sprinting to Compete9:18 Sprinting to Win11:41 Building better speed programs12:28 Drill Stacking teaser⸻LinksFREE Field Speed Toolkithttps://speedbysportland.com/tool-kit?video=9oPFVIwt-F0The Sports Speed System Bookhttps://www.speedbysportland.com/sportsspeedsystembook?video=9oPFVIwt-F0Train With ME - Sports Speed App – 7 Day Trialhttps://sbs.programs.app/

Dean Faithful went from playing football around the world to becoming a professional American football kicker in his mid-30s.

In this episode, we talk about his journey from soccer to American football, learning to kick during lockdown, getting a scholarship in the US, being drafted into the CFL, and hitting a game-winning kick in front of 35,000 fans.

We also get into the mindset behind late-career reinvention, transferable skills, kicking mechanics, resilience, self-employment, and why getting really good at your craft still matters more than chasing shortcuts.

0:00 Life in Colorado, the UK, and starting over

18:00 How Dean accidentally became an American football kicker

22:30 Learning to kick from YouTube during lockdown

28:00 Losing his scholarship and rebuilding through Twitter

33:00 The difference between kicking a soccer ball and American football

39:00 Why live kicking changes everything

45:00 Athleticism, size, strength, and the kicker stereotype

52:00 Building Game Day Kicking

57:00 Getting drafted into the CFL

1:05:00 The game-winning kick against Calgary

1:13:00 Life after Canada and building the next chapter

1:20:00 Coaching kickers and doing things the right way

Dean Faithful:

Instagram: @dean.faithful

Website: gamedaykicking.com

Email: [email protected]

This off-season, many rugby players make common errors in their preparation. This video addresses why typical off-season programs fail, often relying on general fitness instead of targeted rugby speed and speed and power development. We break down the critical mistakes and offer solutions to help you run faster where it counts, ensuring effective rugby strength training and conditioning for the upcoming season.Most players think they are working hard in the off-season…But they come back the same speed, same power, same player.0:00 Why most rugby off-seasons fail0:35 Mistake 1: Training to “get fit”1:50 Why fatigue kills speed and power2:20 Mistake 2: Not sprinting enough3:25 Why sprint training prevents injuries4:05 Mistake 3: Getting strong without getting faster5:15 Why strength does not transfer to speed6:00 Mistake 4: Skipping power and elastic work7:05 Why athletes break down after the gym7:40 Mistake 5: The wrong type of conditioning8:50 How to build rugby-specific fitness9:35 Mistake 6: No change of direction or contact10:40 Why players get injured returning to training11:15 Mistake 7: Random training with no system12:05 Why structure creates results12:40 The real goal of the off-seasonIn this video you will learn:• The biggest rugby off-season training mistakes• How to improve speed training for rugby• Why sprint training should be year-round• How to build power and avoid injuries• How to structure your off-season properlyIf you want to run faster, get more powerful and actually improve next season, you need to train for speed — not just fatigue.⸻🔗 Links👉 Full Rugby Off-Season Program (App Access)https://sbs.programs.app/Field Speed Toolkithttps://speedbysportland.com/tool-kit?video=HM95Gnh4J2wThe Sports Speed System Bookhttps://www.speedbysportland.com/sportsspeedsystembook?video=HM95Gnh4J2wMain Websitehttps://www.speedbysportland.com