4) Athlete Screening, monitoring, evaluation and reporting

Screening Plan

Consists of movement analysis and is to take place in the third week of June, it is designed to evaluate the range of motion achievable at the major muscle groups and test balance and core stability. Screening will include a functional movement screen containing 7 test exercises:

• Deep Squat
• Hurdle Step
• In Line Lunge
• Shoulder Mobility
• Active Straight Leg Raise
• Trunk Stability Push Up
• Rotational Stability

Movement is scored from 3 (client performs movement correctly and comfortably) down to 0 (pain is associated with movement).

Evaluation Plan

The player will complete five strength tests to determine the load that should be applied in training. The testing method will be a 1 repetition maximum (1rm) lift in the five following exercises:

• Bench press
• Bent over row
• Seated shoulder press
• Lunge
• Back squat

Completing a 1rm in each exercise will give an absolute max lift that the training load can be calculated from. This is more effective than completing a set of sub maximal lifts and estimating the player’s maximum lifting load.

Other tests to be included will evaluate the key factors of football as identified in the needs analysis. Therefore evaluation of the players speed and agility will be conducted. The results will give baselines values to compare against after the training plan has been implemented to determine its effectiveness and reveal if the training goals have been met.

• Yo-yo test
• 5m sprint
• 30m sprint

Monitoring

The ability to monitor the athlete throughout the season, in particular before and after training plans, shows whether the player has made any progress in terms of their specific goals.  

Report

The following report outlines the results and discusses their consequences for the player after the completion of a 3 month training plan.

The training plan consisted of upper and lower body resistance training, maintenance of cardiovascular fitness and tactical/skilful training.

Results from evaluative tests:

Increased strength – from the post training tests the players 1rm on all 5 evaluation exercises increased. This has resulted in many positive physiological adaptions that will benefit the player. These adaptions include increased hypertrophy in the trained muscles, a greater cross sectional muscle area, increased shortening velocity of muscle fibres, greater number of muscle fibres which poses increased excitability and recruitment via the central nervous system.

Increased core stability, the abdominals and obliques that stabilise the body during weight training become stronger and more effective at controlling the body. This allows for greater agility in beating a defender and greater strength when shielding the ball form an opponent.

Maintained cardiovascular fitness, cardiac output will increase and beats per minute will reduce supplying muscles with the nutrients they require e.g. phosphates, creatine, and glycogen. Aiding recovery mechanisms during rest periods and a more efficient thermo-regulatory response while working.