To: academy@saintsfc.co.uk
Hi my names Nathan Stacey from Chesterfield, Derbyshire. Im currently on a btec level 3 sporting development course based around football. I was wondering if you could give me any information on how Southampton F.C went about fitness testing players and the methods used to do so. Any information will be great. Thanks Nathan Stacey
Reply
Hi Nathan,
I was forwarded an email you sent to Derek Old and hopefully I can answer your question. With the U18 squad we do the below tests:
· V02max and lactate profile – this is done at the start and end of preseason to see how ‘fit’ the players are aerobically or how long they can take in and use oxygen while exercising. V02max gives us the maximal (max) amount (V = volume) of oxygen (02) they can take in indicating areas such as maximum HR and stroke volume (SV) while blood lactate parameters tells us when they switch from aerobic to anaerobic (threshold is the first smaller increase with turn point being the second and more dramatic) or when they start to produce waste products which induce fatigue (interesting lactate doesn’t cause fatigue it just increases with it –hydrogen ions and inorganic phosphate are the cause – that should impress your teacher). · We test lower limb power through a squat jump (this gives an indication of starting strength), countermovement jump or CMJ (a bit like the SJ but they can go down and up making it more explosive and using the stretch shorten cycle – think of stretching and pinging an elastic band) and a countermovement jump with arms (which is similar to the previous but there is just a little bit more skill involved – upper and lower body and it’s a little more game specific/realistic i.e. they often use their arms to jump). · For speed we do a 5m (acceleration, linked to SJ), 10m, 20m (getting towards top speed, linked to CMJ) and a 20m flying start where they have a 10m build up to reach 100% and have to maintain this for a further 20m (I guess you could say this is more speed endurance, although the distance might need to be a bit longer and again it is more realistic because how many times do footballers start a sprint from standing? They are always moving!).
For agility we do an arrow head test
· (look on the Nike SparQ website) although it could be argued that this is more of a change of direction test because the path is pre-prescribed and there is no real stimuli – this would be a nice one in your assignment to consider advantages and disadvantages.
Currently that is our testing procedure, we do the V02max as mentioned above pre and post preseason to see if what we’ve done has worked, we also do the field (although we do ours in a dome on a 3G pitch so the surface, temperature, wind resistance etc. is the same each time) based (sprints, jumps and agility) pre and post preseason, before Christmas and at the end of the season. In addition to this we do an eight site body composition assessment at the start and end of preseason and follow this up with ‘at risk players’ i.e. those who are high or have bad eating habits as and when.
I hope this answers your questions,
Mark
Mark Armitage Academy Strength and Conditioning Coach (U18)
Hi my names Nathan Stacey from Chesterfield, Derbyshire. Im currently on a btec level 3 sporting development course based around football. I was wondering if you could give me any information on how Southampton F.C went about fitness testing players and the methods used to do so. Any information will be great. Thanks Nathan Stacey
Reply
Hi Nathan,
I was forwarded an email you sent to Derek Old and hopefully I can answer your question. With the U18 squad we do the below tests:
· V02max and lactate profile – this is done at the start and end of preseason to see how ‘fit’ the players are aerobically or how long they can take in and use oxygen while exercising. V02max gives us the maximal (max) amount (V = volume) of oxygen (02) they can take in indicating areas such as maximum HR and stroke volume (SV) while blood lactate parameters tells us when they switch from aerobic to anaerobic (threshold is the first smaller increase with turn point being the second and more dramatic) or when they start to produce waste products which induce fatigue (interesting lactate doesn’t cause fatigue it just increases with it –hydrogen ions and inorganic phosphate are the cause – that should impress your teacher). · We test lower limb power through a squat jump (this gives an indication of starting strength), countermovement jump or CMJ (a bit like the SJ but they can go down and up making it more explosive and using the stretch shorten cycle – think of stretching and pinging an elastic band) and a countermovement jump with arms (which is similar to the previous but there is just a little bit more skill involved – upper and lower body and it’s a little more game specific/realistic i.e. they often use their arms to jump). · For speed we do a 5m (acceleration, linked to SJ), 10m, 20m (getting towards top speed, linked to CMJ) and a 20m flying start where they have a 10m build up to reach 100% and have to maintain this for a further 20m (I guess you could say this is more speed endurance, although the distance might need to be a bit longer and again it is more realistic because how many times do footballers start a sprint from standing? They are always moving!).
For agility we do an arrow head test
· (look on the Nike SparQ website) although it could be argued that this is more of a change of direction test because the path is pre-prescribed and there is no real stimuli – this would be a nice one in your assignment to consider advantages and disadvantages.
Currently that is our testing procedure, we do the V02max as mentioned above pre and post preseason to see if what we’ve done has worked, we also do the field (although we do ours in a dome on a 3G pitch so the surface, temperature, wind resistance etc. is the same each time) based (sprints, jumps and agility) pre and post preseason, before Christmas and at the end of the season. In addition to this we do an eight site body composition assessment at the start and end of preseason and follow this up with ‘at risk players’ i.e. those who are high or have bad eating habits as and when.
I hope this answers your questions,
Mark
Mark Armitage Academy Strength and Conditioning Coach (U18)
