It’s the offseason, but it’s no time to rest.

High school spring and summer practice will be here before you know it.

If you are not working to improve your skills, you’ll be on the sidelines watching someone who is.

Here are a few things you can do to catch the coach’s eye for all the right reasons when camp rolls around. The equipment required is minimal. Better still, it’s all affordable, easily stored and highly portable.

Foot speed and agility

You can never be too quick or agile, no matter what position you play. The best running backs have great footwork, and so do most of the best offensive tackles, linebackers, and defensive backs.

Improving your footwork during the offseason is a great way to elevate your game. Here are a few speed and agility drills to help make it happen.

• Ladder drills. Ladder training has proliferated recently and with good reason: It works. There are endless variations but all work on making your feet faster and your footwork more accurate.
• Sprints. There’s nothing like running sprints to make you faster, except maybe running them on a slight hill or a parachute. It’s not all about running to improve speed. Biomechanics is one often-neglected aspect of sprint training that can really pay off. How are you running? Are your movements efficient? It is often worth it to work a few sessions with a speed coach to make sure you’re movements are biomechanically efficient: Run up on the balls of your feet; don’t let your feet trail behind you after they leave the ground at the end of your step; and instantly retract your toes and snap your heels up under your butt.
• Single step mini-hurdle drills. Mini-hurdle drills are fantastic to help running form and foot speed. Set up 10 mini-hurdles (about six inches) equally spaced three feet apart. Do both 1 touch and 2 touch drills, meaning you ether touch one foot or both feet between each hurdle but don’t mix. Go through all 10 doing a couple sets each way. Do them as fast as possible while maintaining good form, including your arm pump. Done sideways, mini-hurdle drills develop the lateral speed so coveted by defensive backs and linebackers. When going laterally, let both feet touch in between each hurdle. Do 10 hurdles facing each way and repeat.

Balance

Staying upright when others are trying to knock you down lets you deliver power more effectively.

Even if you weren’t blessed with excellent balance, you can improve it. These exercises will do it.

• BOSU ball hanging arm dumbbell squats. The BOSU ball looks more like a medieval torture device than something that’s going to make you a starting outside linebacker next season, but it works. This is more effective performed with one leg at a time, but start with using both legs until you get the hang of it. An advantage of using the single leg style is twofold. It does a better job developing balance and keeps your dominant leg from doing more than its share of the work.
• One leg bent over dumbbell row. This one not only helps your balance but improves core strength and builds back, bicep and forearm muscles as well.
  • Grab a dumbbell in one hand.
  • Lift the opposite foot slightly off the ground and bend forward until your upper body is parallel with the ground, and the dumbbell is now hanging from your arm.
  • Extend your off leg straight behind you as you bend forward.
  • While balancing on one leg, pull the dumbbell up to your side, and lower it slowly back down until your arm is fully extended.
  • Repeat for 10 reps, then switch sides and repeat.

There’s nothing wrong with hitting the weight room or running the miles this offseason. As the old saying goes though, power is nothing without control, so improving your balance and footwork may just be the missing ingredient that will elevate your game.

Good luck during the upcoming season, and remember, there’s no escaping the grind. Your competition’s out there getting ready.

Steve Faber is a freelance writer and content strategist who’s been marketing online since a stint with a high profile e-commerce start up during the first Internet boom. His firm, Most Pixels Marketing, works with organizations to create content and formulate effective content strategies to get noticed, engage customers and drive sales. His son just finished playing his fifth football season this fall and is looking forward to high school ball next year. Catch him at http://www.mostpixels.com.