Agility, the ability to change direction while in motion, is a very important quality for many athletes, especially those in team and dual sports. To make such changes, you must have the ability to stop movement in one direction and initiate movement in another direction as quickly as possible.
Such changes are known as cutting actions and are the key to quickness. Very often they require very strong lateral or front and lateral movement while running forward for at least one to two steps. At times it is also necessary to reverse directions as for example forwards and backwards or side to side.
Most drills that are commonly used to improve agility require lifting the knees up high or making very short changes in direction with the feet. For example, ladder drills are very popular in which you must touchdown in each segment of a ladder which lies on the floor or higher ladders in which you must step over the rope and touch down in between.
Or, the agility drill may require lifting the leg (more specifically the knee) in order to step over a cone or hurdle as quickly as possible. Sometimes the drill may involve raising the knees to waist level in an alternating manner as quickly as possible.
Such drills, however, do not imitate or come close to duplicating what occurs in true cutting actions. The main reason for this is that they do not involve cutting actions. You may be excellent at performing the drills but if you do not have the ability to execute a correct cutting action the drill will be a little value.
As a result, the common hurdle, cone and ladder drills do not appreciably improve the athlete’s quickness. The athlete may develop faster feet, but not the ability to change direction very sharply and powerfully. Understand that agility involves fast legs not fast feet.
For more information on cutting actions and agility in general see Explosive Basketball Training. It has two chapters devoted to these topics that cover the technique of cutting and specialized strength and explosive exercises that duplicate what occurs in a cutting action. Most of this information is also available in Women’s Soccer: Using Science to Improve Speed.