The above statement has been used by countless coaches,
however I think it applies extremely well with the children I work with at
Bloxham School.
With limited time available, putting aside a day/afternoon
or even a couple of hours towards testing can be very difficult. Therefore, every
exercise, each rep is an opportunity to evaluate. This term for example I find
myself working alongside Boys Hockey and Girls Netball; we have used a very
simple but yet comprehensive 5 exercise screening tool. This provides me and
the coaching team vital information regarding potential injury risks, muscles
imbalances and areas of strength and weaknesses.
The exercises are:
Overhead Squat (with a wooden dowel)
Wall Angels
Single leg balance and reach: Left and Right measurement
Single leg squat: Left and Right measurement
Press up
Each exercise is performed 5 times and is scored out of 5 using
a marking criteria.
Figure
1: A good example of an overhead squat, although to score maximum marks we
would like hamstrings to be parallel with the floor
Figure
2: A poor overhead squat with the ear not staying in line with the ankle bone.
This could be due to hamstring tightness/lower back flexibility and poor
strength.
Both sets of results were extremely varied; with the boys
hockey ranging from 26/35 to 7/35. Common results from the boys came in the
form of over reliance on one side, poor lower back control and very tight lower
limb flexibility.
The range was very similar within the girls Netball squad;
poor upper body strength, weak knee control and poor strength/control of the
hips was commonplace within this group of girls.
Now with a foundation to work on, and a structured programme
in place, future assessments can be taken place throughout the training
calendar so to indicate any positive/negative changes from the original
screening.
