I have now started my internship with Bristol Rovers Academy players (9-16 year olds). Before Christmas we had a meeting with the other sports science staff where we decided how to organise a test day for the 15 and 16 year old players. We were lucky to have several member or staff and interns available to help out which meant that we were able to run all the tests we wanted on one day (within 2.5 hours to be precise). Time is always a big concern in most clubs as you don’t want to take up to much of the players training time, hence why we decided to try and get it all done in one day.
Why do we test players?
Because it helps us identify physical abilities and areas of improvement. It is also a good way of setting goals and targets for players.
Fotball is a complex game with several physiological requirements. The requirents will depend on the player's position, but in general fotballers need to have a combination of aerobic/anaerobic endurance, speed, agility, balance, coordination, strength and power. After you have choosen the tests you want to use, you need to organise the tests in the "right" or most logical order. This means that you always do the non fatigue tests such as anthropmetry (height and weight) first and finish with the most fatiguing tests such as for example the Bleep Test. The main reason for doing this is to avoid fatigue to optimise each test result.
• We started with non fatigue tests first such as height, weight and flexibility tests
• We then did a functional movement screen consisting of overhead squat, back squat, single leg squat, and 80cm hop on one leg that (We filmed all these movements)
• We then did 10 and 30 metre sprints (walk in start with time gates)
• The next was countermovement jumps and squat jumps on a forceplate
• We then did a pro agility test through time gates
• Before we finished off with the lovely Bleep Test (Believe me I have suffered through this test numerous times when playing football and handball and know it can be a killer, so well done boys!)
Considering this was quite a lot to get through with two squads in the time we had available I think it was a really good experience. I have been involved with this kind of testing before, but not with this many players at the same time. It was really interesting and I found it useful as we had to be very structured as we didn't have many seconds to waste. Looking forward to get started with the coaching and get to know the players now.
Have a good weekend everyone!
