Tony Holler is a track and field coach and a football and basketball physical trainer. He works at Plainfield North High School. He is also a member of the Illinois Track & Field Hall of Fame and co-director of the Track Football Consortium with Chris Korfist. But above all, Tony Holler is known for being the author of the “Feed the Cats” training methodology. In this post you´ll learn the importance of training max velocity or top speed in football practice to achieve better performance during the game.

Most football coaches always say: “But football is never a straight-line sprint! Football is almost all acceleration! And game speed is only 12-18 mph, so why train at 23 mph?” Below you can read the answer (or rather, multiple answers) to this question:

• Faster athletes are better athletes.
• Getting faster is an alternative way to get “in shape”. Game speeds become easier and the fastest athletes are fastest when fatigued (speed reserve).
• Max velocity speed is global, the tide that lifts all boats. Improved speed leads to improved everything (acceleration, strength, quickness, jumping, throwing, agility, and maybe even cognitive skills).
• Repeat sprints and mindless conditioning detrain speed. Tired is the enemy, not the goal.
• Max velocity represents the most extreme form of human movement. Nothing comes close. High speeds challenge the central nervous system (CNS), raising the ceiling of all movement. The floor is raised too.
• The brain is a protective mother whose job is survival, not performance. Sprinting teaches the brain that it’s safe to “let it rip.”
• Every coach can name their top athlete. The description always includes “FAST”.
• Even though speed training must be the priority, it’s not the majority. The time spent each week at peak velocity will be in less than 30 seconds (but it’s the most important 30 seconds of the week!).
• Health. Sprint Based Football coaches are amazed that kids who push boundaries of speed on a consistent basis are nearly bulletproof. Other factors include a foundation of rest, recovery, and sleep, shorter practices, never burning the steak, and reflexive-performance-reset (RPR).
• And don’t forget the big cats (truck stick). Among the thirty 6’5″ 320-pound offensive tackles invited to the NFL combine, the 4.9 guys get drafted in the first round; the 5.4 guys don’t get drafted.

And, don’t ever show your ignorance by saying things like: “Sometimes fast guys suck at football”. No one has ever said that all you need is speed. Train it or detrain it.

Many football coaches also say: “You don’t lose because you aren’t fast enough. You lose because you can’t repeat it.” Some people want to believe that repeat sprint ability is more important than speed. They want to tell hundreds of Sprint Based Football coaches they are wrong.

People who focus their off-season training on improving strength and endurance have never witnessed the results of prioritizing speed.

• They don’t understand “prioritize” doesn’t mean “at the exclusion of everything else.”
• They don’t understand that effective football practices prepare players for the rigors of the game.
• They don’t understand that consistently-trained fast & explosive athletes are fit.
• They don’t understand that faster athletes are healthier athletes.
• They don’t understand capacity can be grown patiently on a foundation of speed and explosiveness.
• They don’t understand that you can’t maintain a speed you can’t achieve.

Coach Tony Holler wonders: “Why the NFL Combine doesn’t test 50 x 40?”

If you want to learn more about sprint based football, I recommend reading the article “Make Speed a Priority in Your Sport”.

Bibliographic references:

• Coach Tony Holler [@coachtonyholler]. (2026). “But 🏈 is never a straight-line sprint!” “🏈 is almost all acceleration!” [Carousel]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/DU81ychkfOI/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
• Coach Tony Holler [@coachtonyholler]. (2026). “You don’t lose because you aren’t fast enough. You lose because you can’t repeat it.” [Carousel]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/DVKTjtxDtsv/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==