I am coach of a under 14 girls side. I have 2 girls that struggle with speed but their skills are great. It is almost that these players are in slow motion it is quite amazing. I am trying ladder work with some speed drills in dribbling and also skipping is their anything else i can try thanks.

You might consider sending them to a speed and agility program. Let the experts do thier job and you can focus on basketball. Good luck.

In reality, there is very little you can do to affect speed. It is an innate ability and their physical potential is largely controlled by their genetic makeup, as is reaction time. In addition, you are working with probably pre-pubescent players and you don't know how their potential is going to be affected by full onset puberty.

One of the things that can be done is the re-eduction of their running motion to try to have them perform more efficiently. It is really questionable as to whether that would be worth the time and expense that the process would take.

As a basketball coach, my experience is to work with it basketball wise. Time taken with agility ladders and different types of sprinting activities would be better used by teaching them to play. As they move more fully through puberty, weight work will become more important but not yet at this stage of their physical development.

Within your coaching, their are a couple things you can do. First, get them in better shape. Better physical conditioning will allow everything to improve. I am not a big running fan but more challenging basketball workouts will affect both their conditioning and their basketball skills. Secondly, within their basketball work, teach them to move in straight lines, long steps, aggressive dribbles and attacking mentality. This will allow them to be more assertive and aggressive which should lead them to be more efficient and decisive. The sum effect will be increased speed and quickness.

Re-training within speed and agility programs might improve some aspects but only marginally so. They cannot exceed their physical potential. It is questionable as to whether the time is worth the result. However, taking the same amount of time and working the same aspects inside their basketball work will improve all the aspects dramatically.

Thanks for the tips the players i have are quite slim and conditioned but no speed but i will increase some of the running drills slightly.

You have been given some great advice - I would only add this.... Basketball is more a game of quickness rather than out and out speed. It's not like you a running a 40 yard dash..... do some drills where they have to start quickly, stop and change direction.... things like shuffling between the free throw lane lines for 10-12 seconds - works on quickness and footwork.
We ran an X out drill ..start on the end line. dribble quickly to the free throw lane "L" and come back with the other hand and lay the ball up.... do the same thing going the other way... quickness, dribbling with the correct hand (outside) and lay ups off the proper foot using the correct hand.
Close out drills etc. All of these help to develop some quickness while working on fundamentals.
Don is correct on this........ Your goal is not to make them world class sprinters - its to teach them the game while improving on certain areas ( like quickness )

The longer I coached this game the more I realized just how valuable practice time was...... use it wisely. Have a good practice plan so you can cover the things these girls need so they may improve. Good luck.