7 Best Rugby Training Hurdles For Speed That Build Explosive Power

You hear the coach yell it from the sidelines: "Explode off the line!" You see your child hesitate for a split second, and you know that fraction of a moment is the difference between breaking through a tackle and getting swamped. Building that explosive power isn’t just about running; it’s about training the body to fire with speed and force, and that’s where training hurdles come in. But with so many options, how do you choose the right tool to support your young athlete’s journey without buying gear they’ll outgrow or abandon in a month?

Assessing Your Player’s Explosive Power Needs

Before you even look at a product, let’s talk about your child. Is your 9-year-old just discovering their love for rugby, or is your 14-year-old training for a competitive travel team? The answer changes everything. The goal isn’t to buy the most professional equipment; it’s to buy the right equipment for their current developmental stage.

For younger players, typically ages 8-11, the focus should be on coordination, rhythm, and making training fun. Low, stable, and brightly colored hurdles are perfect. They build the foundational motor patterns for agility without the intimidation of higher obstacles. The key is building confidence.

As players move into the 11-14 age range, their bodies are changing, and they can handle more complex drills. This is the time to introduce adjustable-height hurdles. You can start low to perfect form and gradually increase the challenge as their strength and power develop. For the dedicated player aged 14 and up, you might consider more advanced systems that focus on reaction time, but for most, a durable, adjustable set is the wisest investment.

SKLZ 6X Hurdles: For Versatile Agility Training

You’ve seen these bright yellow hurdles at parks and on practice fields everywhere, and for good reason. The SKLZ 6X hurdles are the quintessential multi-purpose tool for a family with an aspiring athlete. Their key feature is their light weight and simple height adjustment, making them incredibly easy to set up, break down, and transport.

This versatility is their greatest strength. For a younger player, you can set them at the lowest 6-inch height for basic footwork drills. As your child grows in skill and stature, you can easily pop them up to the 12-inch height for more challenging plyometric jumps. Because they are lightweight, they tip over easily, which is actually a positive safety feature for athletes learning to push their limits. It means a misstep results in a knocked-over hurdle, not a painful fall.

Think of these as the perfect entry point for at-home training. They are useful not just for rugby, but for soccer, football, or any sport that requires quick feet. If you have multiple kids in different sports or you’re unsure how long the rugby passion will last, the SKLZ hurdles are a smart, flexible investment that will see plenty of use.

Pro-Tec Athletics Hurdles for Quick Footwork

Sometimes, it’s not about jumping high; it’s about moving your feet impossibly fast. That’s where smaller, fixed-height hurdles like those from Pro-Tec Athletics shine. These are often called "speed hurdles" or "banana hurdles," and they are specifically designed to train rapid stride frequency and quick ground contact.

Imagine your player trying to evade a defender in tight quarters. That requires short, choppy, powerful steps, not long, bounding leaps. Drills with these low-profile hurdles train exactly that neuromuscular pattern. They force the athlete to lift their knees and snap their feet back down with precision and speed, improving their acceleration over the first critical 5-10 meters.

These are an excellent supplement to taller hurdles, not necessarily a replacement. They are ideal for the 10-13 year old age group that is moving beyond basic coordination and starting to focus on the finer points of speed mechanics. Because they are small, durable, and stackable, they are also incredibly easy to store in a garage or toss in a gear bag for practice at the park.

FORZA Hurdles: Durable for Team Rugby Practice

Your child’s team has decided to pool resources, or maybe you’re the parent who always hosts backyard training sessions for a few teammates. In these situations, durability is king. You need equipment that can withstand being used by a dozen kids, stepped on, and thrown in and out of a car. The FORZA line of hurdles is built for exactly this kind of heavy use.

Often constructed from a single piece of shatterproof plastic, these hurdles have a simple, robust design that eliminates weak points like hinges or clips. They are designed to bounce back into shape even after being trampled. This makes them a go-to choice for clubs, schools, and serious young athletes who train frequently and intensely.

While they may come in fixed heights, buying a set of 6-inch, 9-inch, and 12-inch hurdles provides all the progression a developing team needs. This is the "buy it once, buy it right" option for a group setting. It ensures training time isn’t wasted on broken equipment and provides a consistent, reliable tool for every practice.

Champion Sports Hurdles for Height Progression

One of the biggest challenges for parents is buying gear that grows with their child. The Champion Sports adjustable hurdles directly address this problem. Their simple design allows you to change the height from 6 inches up to 12 inches, covering the key training zones for a wide range of ages and skill levels.

This progression is critical for long-term development. A 10-year-old can start at the lowest setting to master the rhythm of a drill without fear. As they become a more powerful 13-year-old, you can raise the height to increase the plyometric challenge, building more explosive power in their hamstrings and glutes. This adaptability means a single set of hurdles can remain a valuable training tool for years.

Investing in a set like this makes sense when your child has shown a consistent commitment to their sport. It acknowledges their growth and provides a clear, physical way for them to see their progress. When they can comfortably clear hurdles at a height that used to be a major challenge, it’s a powerful confidence booster.

Quickplay Pro Hurdles for Uninterrupted Drills

There’s nothing that stalls a practice drill faster than constantly having to stop and reset tipped-over hurdles. For a child who is still building confidence, tripping can be frustrating and even discouraging. The Quickplay Pro Hurdles are designed with a clever "bounce-back" feature that keeps the training flow going.

When a player clips one of these hurdles, the weighted base keeps it upright while the top portion simply folds down and pops back into place. This small innovation makes a huge difference in the quality of a practice session. It allows the athlete to focus on their technique and aggression without the mental hesitation of worrying about a fall. The drill continues, the rhythm is maintained, and more repetitions get done.

This design is particularly valuable for younger athletes or those working on new, complex footwork patterns. It removes the penalty for a small mistake, encouraging them to push their speed and agility. For a parent, it means less time spent resetting equipment and more time offering encouragement from the sideline.

GHB Pro Agility Set for Home Power Training

Sometimes you want more than just hurdles. You want to create a complete training environment in your own backyard. The GHB Pro Agility Set is a perfect example of an all-in-one kit that provides fantastic value for a family looking to support a self-motivated athlete.

These sets typically include a half-dozen adjustable hurdles, an agility ladder, and a series of disc cones. This combination allows you to create countless drill variations. You can work on linear speed with the ladder, explosive leaping with the hurdles, and change-of-direction with the cones, all in one session. It’s a mini performance-training center in a bag.

This is an ideal choice for the 11-14 year old who is starting to take their training seriously and wants to do extra work outside of team practice. It gives them the tools to take ownership of their development. For parents, it’s a cost-effective way to provide a wide range of training stimuli without having to research and purchase three or four separate pieces of equipment.

BlazePod Hurdle Kit for Reactive Agility Work

For the highly competitive teenage athlete, training moves beyond just physical repetition. It becomes about improving the connection between the brain and the body. The BlazePod Hurdle Kit is a high-tech tool designed for exactly this purpose, training what’s known as "reactive agility."

This system combines physical hurdles with smart, light-up pods that serve as visual cues. The athlete doesn’t just jump over the hurdle; they react to which pod lights up, forcing them to make a game-speed decision and move in a specific direction. This mimics the unpredictable nature of a real match, where a player must instantly read the situation and explode towards a gap or an opponent.

Let’s be clear: this is not a starting point. This is an investment for a dedicated, high-performance player (typically 15+) who has already mastered the fundamental mechanics of speed and power. If your teen is on a premier team and looking for that extra edge in their decision-making and reaction time, a system like BlazePod introduces a cognitive challenge that standard hurdles simply cannot match.

Ultimately, the best hurdles aren’t the most expensive or the most technologically advanced. They are the ones that match your child’s specific needs right now. Focus on their stage of development, their level of commitment, and what will make training both effective and enjoyable. Supporting their athletic journey is a marathon, not a sprint, and choosing the right gear is simply about providing the next right step for them to take.