Testing is Training and Training is Testing

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.