You can work on speed and that will help, no doubt about it. It won't make a slow kid fast, a little less slow yes. The best players are the quickest and fastest players. Stick skills can be practiced, but at the end of the day a fast kid with a great stick will always beat out a big slower kid with a great stick. I took my son to high school, college and MLL games last year. I'm just shocked how fast these kids were.