Fengjingye
Posts 641
|
A key part to any good training program is to know the current status of an athlete with regards to their strengths and weaknesses. How fast is the athlete now! How agile is the athlete! What is their reaction time like? Are they fast only over a short distance or do they possess speed-endurance! Does the lack of good flexibility inhibit their ability to become faster? The only way to answer these questions is to perform some pre-season testing. Many coaches perform some form of pre-season testing yet many do not know which tests to choose and which are specific to the fitness component that they are trying to test. Choose tests that are specific to the movements in your sport. This requires performing a needs analysis and understanding the exact requirements for your sport. Benefits of Testing Include: Identifying the current status of the athlete with regards to speed. It gives you an idea of where you stand in comparison to fellow athletes in your sport. When you conduct testing it will allow the athlete to see where they stand in relation to other athletes. They can also use these tests to motivate them in training to improve and strive to beat their test score the next time testing comes around. Testing helps you to set goals for yourself. You may not be as fast as your opponent but you can certainly decrease the difference gap. Speed is recognised as one of the most important factors for success when training athletes. Once you know your current speed status then you can set goals for yourself on what times you will aim to get. Testing also allows you to see if you are fast in certain areas but not in others. Eg. Do you have linear speed but are slow when it comes to speed with multi-directional changes? Are you fast once you get going but lose time due to being slow off the mark? As already mentioned there are many often neglected factors that determine how fast an athlete is. Testing gives you specific times and results for a test that are measurable and allows you to set goals for improving on theses times. When you beat a previous time for a certain test then you know that you have become a faster athlete. Tests for Speed include the sprint test over 10 metres jordan retro 4 mens canada , sprint test over 20 metres, fan drill (used for the ITN Test), suicide sprints (speed - endurance, wave run speed and agility test and the 3 line speed and agility test. Tests for Agility include the agility box run test, 5 ball pick-up, 4 cone sprint air jordan 4 retro canada , "T" agility test and the bowtie drill.
|