FULL BODY HARMONY- techno

sports science
Written By Dr Daryl Foy

Across the past 2 years or so we have delved into the sports science behind hockey-specific neuromuscular integration of speed, power, agility, peripheral vision, proprioception, and hand–eye coordination. Here, we now look to unify these faculties into an harmonic model with suggested training approaches to improve outcomes from each attribute alone and working together. 

These faculties aren’t siloed; they’re a lattice. Speed and agility ride on motor unit recruitment and rate coding; power emerges from elastic recoil and rapid force development; proprioception anchors joint stability; peripheral vision feeds rapid threat/opportunity mapping; hand–eye coordination stitches sensory input to precise motor output. In elite field hockey, the nervous system’s timing and fidelity decide whether force becomes fluid control or noisy error.

Physiology and Neuromuscular Links & Processes

Speed & Power

  • Motor unit recruitment

Speed and power depend on high-threshold motor units firing synchronously whilst agility depends on rapid reconfiguration of those units between cuts (directional changes). 

High‑threshold motor units are those that innervate fast‑twitch (Type II) fibers in large, force‑producing muscles such as the quadriceps, gluteals, hamstrings, and gastrocnemius. They are recruited only when high force or explosive intent is required. 

Reconfiguration refers to the nervous system’s ability to rapidly switch which motor units are firing, adjusting recruitment patterns to meet new directional demands. In our game when I refer to a cut I am referencing my biomechanical lexicon in framing a sharp change of direction — often lateral or diagonal — requiring rapid deceleration and re‑acceleration. In biomechanics, a cut is often at 30–90° angles. In hockey, cuts occur when evading defenders, transitioning from sprint to lateral movement, or reorienting during pressing.

  • Cuts demand eccentric braking (hamstrings, glutes), isometric stabilization (adductors, core), and concentric propulsion (quads, calves).

  • Effective cuts rely on motor unit reconfiguration to shift force production across muscle groups in milliseconds.

Examples of High‑Threshold Motor Units

These essential muscle groups are given inadequate focus in too many strength and conditioning programs for hockey. We seriously need to build our power from the ground up.

  • Quadriceps (vastus lateralis, rectus femoris)

Large motor units innervating hundreds of Type II fibers, critical for sprint acceleration and powerful pushes.

  • Gluteus maximus

High‑threshold units drive hip extension, essential for explosive stride length.

  • Hamstrings (biceps femoris)

Fast‑twitch recruitment supports rapid deceleration and re‑acceleration during cuts.

  • Gastrocnemius

Provides ankle plantarflexion power in sprinting and jumping.

  • Upper body (pectoralis major, triceps brachii)

Clearly these are involved in drag flicking and overhead passing, where explosive force is needed.

High‑threshold motor units typically innervate 300–500+ fibers per neuron, compared to low‑threshold units that may innervate only 10–180 fibers

How Motor Units Reconfigure

  • Neural switching

During agility tasks, the CNS (Central Nervous System) rapidly alters which motor units are active. For example, decelerating into a cut recruits hamstring and glute units eccentrically, then switches to quadriceps and calf units concentrically for re‑acceleration.

  • Rate coding modulation

The firing frequency of motor units changes dynamically — slowing to absorb force, then accelerating to produce explosive output.

  • Intermuscular coordination

Muscles around the hip, knee, and ankle reconfigure their recruitment patterns to maintain balance and redirect momentum.

This reconfiguration is what allows athletes to “stick” or “nail”  a cut without collapsing and then be able to explode out of it, without falling over.

A little more about rate coding (firing frequency); it modulates fine control and peak output, while inter-muscular coordination reduces co-contraction “noise.” (Clark, 2023; Núñez-Lisboa et al., 2023). 

The Stretch–Shorten Cycle (SSC)

Power arises when tendons and muscle fascicles store and release elastic energy quickly. Efficient SSC reduces amortization time and improves readiness for direction changes—agility becomes elastic, not muscularly labored. (Akbar et al., 2022).

What exactly is amortization time?

In the stretch–shorten cycle (SSC), muscles and tendons first undergo a rapid eccentric stretch (loading), then immediately switch to a concentric contraction (unloading).

Amortization time is the brief transition phase between eccentric and concentric — essentially the “pause” where elastic energy can either be stored and released, or dissipated as heat. If amortization is short, stored elastic energy is efficiently transferred into explosive movement. If it’s long, the energy leaks away, and the movement becomes slower and more muscularly demanding. Think of it like a spring: compress and release quickly, and you get plenty of bounce effect; hold too long, and the spring’s energy dissipates.

Why is amortization time important in hockey?

  • Direction changes (cuts)

When a player decelerates into a cut, hamstrings and glutes eccentrically load. A short amortization allows quads and calves to fire concentrically almost instantly, propelling the player into the new direction.Our training programs should look to what they can do to improve amortisation time.

  • Receiving and passing

Even in stick skills, amortization matters; a lot. A soft‑hand receive is essentially a controlled eccentric → concentric cycle in the forearm and wrist. Short amortization lets the player redirect the ball smoothly without bounce and error.

  • Overheads

During drag flicks or overheads, amortization time in the hip–knee–ankle chain determines whether the stored elastic energy converts into vertical lift or dissipates, forcing the player to effectively “muscle” the ball instead of slowly slinging it.

Proprioceptive framework

Joint position sense and reflex loops

Muscle spindles and Golgi tendon organs modulate stiffness and timing, enabling both high-velocity stability (speed) and micro-corrections (hand–eye). Age-related changes at the neuromuscular junction (NMJ) degrade this fidelity, increasing variability in force and steadiness; (Dobrowolny et al., 2021; Clark, 2023).

Muscle Spindles

These are sensory receptors embedded in skeletal muscle fibers. They work to detect changes in muscle length and the speed of stretch. During high‑velocity actions (sprints, cuts), spindles trigger reflexive contractions to prevent overstretching. They fine‑tune stiffness so the muscle can absorb force without collapsing.

  • In hockey, when you plant for a cut, spindles sense rapid lengthening in the hamstrings and trigger reflexive tension to stabilize the joint before you explode out.

Golgi Tendon Organs (GTOs)

These odd sounding structures act as sensory receptors located at the junction of muscle and tendon. A bit like a seismograph, they detect tension/force within the tendon. Upon detection they modulate resultant contraction force to prevent overload. They constantly work to provide feedback for micro‑corrections in grip and fine motor tasks.

  • In hand–eye coordination, GTOs in forearm flexors/extensors regulate grip tension when trapping or redirecting the ball, preventing “over‑squeeze” that would cause bounce.

How These Mechanisms Enable Speed and Hand–Eye Control

Spindles rapidly adjust stiffness so joints don’t collapse under eccentric loads (e.g., decelerating into a cut). Whilst GTOs prevent excessive force output that could destabilize the movement.

Together, they allow explosive acceleration with controlled braking. They also influence micro-corrections of hand-eye actions. Spindles detect subtle length changes in finger/wrist muscles during stick handling. GTOs sense tension shifts, adjusting grip pressure in milliseconds. This is why elite players can trap a ball softly or redirect it mid‑air with precision.

NMJ degradation and age

With age, synaptic transmission between motor neurons and muscle fibers becomes less reliable. Fewer acetylcholine receptors, structural fragmentation, and oxidative stress reduce fidelity of transmission and subsequent action cycles. This increases variability in force output — movements become less steady, more “shaky.”

Impact on spindles/GTOs

Your reflex loops slow down, reducing the ability to modulate stiffness quickly. Even micro‑corrections become less precise, affecting fine motor control (e.g., trapping, aerial receives).

Training implication

Neuromuscular drills (balance perturbations, reactive sprints, fine‑motor stick handling) help maintain spindle/GTO responsiveness and slow NMJ decline. 

Visual-perceptual integration

Peripheral vision and dorsal stream

The Dorsal “Where/How” Pathway

Our brains have two main visual streams:

Ventral (“what”)  this  identifies objects (ball, stick, opponent).

Dorsal (“where/how”) this  guides movement in space under time pressure.

The dorsal stream is what lets you see the ball coming in peripheral vision and instantly move your stick or body to intercept it without consciously thinking. The dorsal “where/how” pathway feeds spatial guidance under time pressure; eye dominance and neural anchoring can bias coordination and reaction timing—training that leverages dominance improves stabilization and movement efficiency, (Fichter & Korfist, 2024).

Eye Dominance and Neural Anchoring

Most people have one eye that provides slightly stronger input for spatial tasks. With neural anchoring, your brain “locks” movement coordination to that dominant eye’s input. This can bias reaction timing — e.g., if your dominant eye is right, you may react faster to plays on that side, but slower on the left unless trained.

Hockey Examples

  • Receiving a pass under pressure

The dorsal stream guides your stick to the ball’s path in milliseconds. If your dominant eye is aligned with the ball side, you stabilize faster; if not, you may delay and fumble.

  • Peripheral vision in pressing

You spot an attacker cutting across. Dorsal stream feeds “where/how” info to your legs for a quick cut.

  • Drag flick timing:

Dominant eye anchoring can make your release more consistent on one side. Training to balance dominance improves symmetry and provides more opportunities to convert.

Training Implications

  • Leverage dominance

Align drills to the dominant eye first (e.g., passes from that side), then progressively train the weaker side. With peripheral drill exercises lock onto  multi‑object tracking while moving forces trigger dorsal stream engagement.

  • Stabilization drills

Try carrying, eliminating and stick‑handling with an eye‑patch or occlusion glasses or even a partial hoody cover. This trains the non‑dominant eye, reducing bias and improving overall coordination.

Aging pressures and plasticity

Neural factors of decline

With aging, reductions in voluntary activation, motor unit remodeling, and NMJ integrity contribute to slower force development and less steady output. Yet physical activity mitigates declines in neuromuscular control (e.g., gait), showing trainability of these systems.
(Núñez-Lisboa et al., 2023; Clark, 2023; Dobrowolny et al., 2021; Núñez-Lisboa & Dewolf, 2025)

Voluntary activation

This is your brain’s ability to fully “switch on” muscles. With age, the signal from brain to  muscle gets weaker, so muscles don’t fire as strongly or as quickly. In terms of motor unit remodeling, motor units (comprising a nerve + the muscle fibers it controls) change with age. Some die off, others get re-wired, but the result is less precision and slower force production.

The neuromuscular junction (<NMJ>where nerve meets muscle) becomes less reliable. Messages get fuzzier, leading to shakier, less steady movements. The overall effect of this deprecation is that movements become slower, less explosive, and less stable.

BUT: Regular physical activity keeps these systems sharper. Training helps preserve nerve–muscle communication, improves steadiness, and slows decline. That’s why older athletes who stay active can still move with speed and control.

Training principles to improve and slow depreciation

Progressive neuromuscular training

Programs blending speed, agility, balance, and power improve multiple physical qualities simultaneously via neural and muscular adaptations, (Akbar et al., 2022).

High-velocity exposure 

Regular doses of sprinting, plyometrics, and change-of-direction drills maintain rate of force development and SSC efficiency—critical for retaining speed/power with age,  (Akbar et al., 2022). Regular doses of fast movement (sprints, jumps, quick cuts) keep your nervous system sharp and your muscles springy — especially important as you age.

  • Doing flying 20s, depth jumps, and reactive change-of-direction drills twice a week keeps your drag flick explosive and your defensive reorientation crisp.

  • Without this exposure, speed and power fade — even if strength stays.

Perceptual–motor coupling

Integrate visual tasks (peripheral tracking, eye-dominance anchoring) with movement to reinforce sensorimotor coherence and reaction economy, (Fichter & Korfist, 2024).Training your eyes and body together improves reaction speed and movement accuracy.

  • Bally carrying while tracking colored cones in peripheral vision & identifying these.

  • Passing drills where you identify visual cues before releasing the ball; players with bibs who receive playing different subsequent action roles thereby dictating which bib gets which pass.

Proprioceptive conditioning

Balance and joint-position training reduce error variance and stabilize high-speed actions; personalized proprioceptive work supports longevity of coordination, (Acceleration Australia, n.d.). This involves training your sense of joint position and balance to help reduce errors and improve control at high speed.

  • Simple tasks like single-leg balances when receiving and small L-R-L drags and eyes-closed stance changes.

Comprehensive training programs by faculty

I must emphasise this is a generic template; you must tailor to individual capabilities, time and resource availability as well as its place in a periodised program and the influence of any pre-existing conditions or constraints. Training that blends speed, agility, balance, and power in one program improves multiple systems at once — your nerves and muscles adapt together.

  • Typically, our  weekly plan includes sprint drills, cone agility patterns, single-leg balance work, and loaded jumps. The goal overall is to make you accelerate faster, cut sharper, stay upright during 3D dribbles, and hit harder — all from one integrated system.

Speed

Goal

Maximize neural drive, intermuscular sequencing, and stride elasticity.

Weekly structure

2 speed sessions + 1 acceleration micro-dose.

  • Drills

    • Acceleration sprints

      • 6–8× 20–30 m, full recovery, focus on shin angle and projection.

    • Max velocity strides

      • 6–8× 30–50 m with flying 20 m; wicket runs to groove posture.

    • Contrast priming:

    • 3× heavy sled push (10–15 m) → 2× free sprint (20 m).

Power

Goal

Elevate rate of force development and SSC economy. Neuromuscular training improves power via neural coordination and muscle–tendon mechanics, (Akbar et al., 2022).

Weekly structure

2 sessions (non-consecutive).

  • Drills:

    • Loaded jumps

      • Trap-bar jumps 4×3 at sub-max loads; focus on bar speed.

    • Plyometric series

      • Depth jumps 3×5; bounds 3×30 m; med-ball chest and scoop throws 4×5.

    • Olympic derivatives

    • Clean pulls 5×3, fast concentric.

Agility

Goal

 Rapid reorientation with minimal time-to-stabilize.

Weekly structure

2 sessions; integrate perceptual cues.

  • Drills:

    • COD ladder + cone patterns

      • 6–8 patterns (e.g., 5–10–5) with decel mechanics and hip projection.

    • Reactive agility

      • Light/audio cue direction changes 10–15 min; small-sided chaos games.

    • T- and Y-drills

    • 4× each, focusing on shin angles and trunk discipline.

Peripheral vision

Goal

Eye dominance and neural anchoring influence stabilization and coordination; training sensory processing enhances performance, (Fichter & Korfist, 2024).

We want to expand usable turf options and stabilize movement via dominance-aware anchoring.

Weekly structure

10–15 minutes integrated in team sessions, 2–3×/week.

  • Drills

    • Gaze anchoring with dominance

      • Dominant-eye alignment tasks; lateral target identification while maintaining body orientation.

    • Peripheral tracking

      • Multi-object tracking while executing COD; colored cone recognition biases.

    • Head–eye dissociation

    • Maintain head-neutral while eyes scan; integrate stick-handling.

Proprioception

Goal

Joint-position accuracy, reflexive stiffness modulation.

Weekly structure

2 focused blocks; micro-doses in warm-ups.

  • Drills:

    • Single-leg balance + perturbations

    • 3×60 s per leg on unstable surfaces; external taps or bands.

    • Closed-chain joint mapping

      • Cossack squats, lateral lunges emphasizing ankle/knee tracking.

    • Eyes-closed stance changes

      • Progress from bilateral to split-stance to single-leg.

Hand–eye coordination

Goal Sensorimotor coupling under speed.

Weekly structure

2 sessions; layer with stick drills.

  • Drills

    • Ball reaction grids

      • Randomized bounce patterns; stick trapping on the move.

    • Dual-task passing

      • Slide passes while identifying peripheral cues; escalate speed/complexity.

    • Aerial receive–redirect

    • Controlled tosses, soft-hand receives with immediate pass to target.


BIBLIOGRAPHY



Dr Daryl Foy

Ph D Health Science, Masters Human Movement, B.Info Tech & B.Ed(PE). ISSA Certified Elite Trainer. Co-Founder VOITTO

Next

KNEE-jerk