Testing – A Perspective

It is important to remember that testing is the highest form of training stress outside of the actual Competition. Testing is important to determine the individual athlete’s athletic qualities relative to the demands of their position/event and the sport. I am not interested in comparing an athlete against some arbitrary norms, but I am interested in intra individual comparison, comparing them against themselves. We must be careful not to draw too many conclusions from a one off series of tests. Only after several tests are conducted periodically throughout the training year can an in depth profile of each athlete be determined. In most instances the test will indicate deficiencies that were already identified through observation of training and game performance. They will serve to further highlight those deficiencies and provide direction to address those deficiencies in training. The tests give specific numbers to compare for improvement and motivation, but remember the ultimate test is the competition itself.