The ITK Congress in Mainz is Germany's most important congress for football coaches and performance practitioners. Each year, it brings together leading coaches, sports scientists, performance analysts, and experts from across the country to exchange knowledge, discuss the latest developments in football, and explore innovative approaches to player development.
As Head of Tanner Speed Academy, Carsten Effertz was invited to speak at this prestigious event, delivering his workshop "From Potential to Performance: Developing Speed in Football with Purpose."
From Potential to Performance: Developing Speed in Football with Purpose
The workshop centred around two fundamental questions that are becoming increasingly important in modern football:
- Can speed be trained systematically in football?
- Can future top performers be identified before they become stars?
The response was overwhelming. Both workshops were completely booked out, with around 35 coaches participating in each session. Even more rewarding was the exceptional level of engagement throughout the workshops.
Coaches worked actively in small groups, analysing real-world data, discussing solutions, and sharing experiences from their own performance environments. The positive feedback afterwards confirmed one thing: speed development has become one of the hottest topics in modern football.
Learning from the World's Best
Rather than discussing theory alone, the workshop focused on practical examples from elite football.
Using current performance data from the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the USA, participants analysed how some of the world's best players perform during matches. Case studies, including players such as Kylian Mbappé and Cristiano Ronaldo, demonstrated how speed influences match-winning actions in very different ways.
Working with real World Cup statistics, the groups explored questions such as:
- How can speed potential be identified objectively?
- Which physical qualities separate elite players?
- How can testing data influence coaching decisions?
- What can clubs learn from the world's best performers?
The combination of real performance data and collaborative analysis created lively discussions and practical insights that coaches could immediately transfer to their own teams.
Tanner Speed at the ITK Coaching Conference in Mainz (Photo: BDFL.de)
From Testing to Performance
At Tanner Speed Academy, speed development follows a structured, evidence-based process:
- Identify speed potential through objective testing and movement analysis.
- Analyse sprint mechanics to uncover technical strengths and limiting factors.
- Build individual training programmes based on each player's profile.
- Monitor progress through regular re-testing and data-driven adjustments.
- Apply performance data in scouting, helping clubs identify players with high athletic potential beyond traditional observation.
This systematic approach transforms speed training from guesswork into a measurable, long-term player development process.
A Great Exchange of Ideas
One of the highlights of the workshops was the exchange between coaches from different clubs and performance environments. Sharing experiences, challenging ideas, and working together on practical case studies demonstrated exactly why education events like the ITK Congress are so valuable for the continued development of the game.
Carsten Effertz would like to thank BDFL, Christoph Pinke, and every coach who participated so actively. Their curiosity, discussions, and enthusiasm made both workshops an outstanding experience.
The future of football belongs to clubs that combine coaching expertise with objective performance data—and speed development will continue to play a decisive role in that journey.
From potential to performance—that is exactly what Tanner Speed Academy is all about.
