Assessment and Needs Analysis

Abstract

To condition athletes effectively, training must reflect the conditions encountered in sport. To achieve this, programme designers must: (1) analyse the demands of the sport; (2) identify the individual characteristics of the athlete (strengths and weaknesses; training history); (3) tailor and prioritise training to allow each individual athlete to meet these specific demands.To effectively test an athlete's fitness, and therefore develop an appropriate training and rehabilitation regime, sports rehabilitators and strength and conditioning coaches must identify the essential components of the sport/activity in question. This 'needs analysis' requires the gathering of accurate, precise and reliable data, ideally from the published literature, combined with detailed observation of training and competition. Appropriate fitness tests can then be selected and conducted, with comparisons made to determine individual strengths and weaknesses that inform the implementation of appropriate training that focuses on the sport, the athlete and any identified injury risk. It is essential that the sports rehabilitator develop an applied awareness of such methods of assessing an athlete in order to complement their clinical assessments/skills when determining an athlete's readiness to return to sport. A more detailed understanding of the demands of the sports will also be invaluable in terms of implementing effective and evidence-based injury prevention programmes.The primary aim of this chapter is, therefore, to explore how to conduct an appropriate needs analysis. The chapter begins with an exploration of the different components required in order to undertake an effective needs analysis, including the metabolic and mechanical demands of the sport/activity. This leads the reader on to a section on fitness testing, which discusses the variety of testing modalities available, and includes some discussion of the validity and reliability of these methods. The chapter then provides two detailed summaries of needs analyses as examples (football and rugby league) of the process as a whole. Analysing the demands of sportTo analyse the specific demands of the sport, sports rehabilitators must consider the demands placed on the muscular, nervous, endocrine, cardiovascular, respiratory and skeletal systems. They must consider the length of the event; the type, speed and frequency of movement involved; the pattern of play and work-rest ratios; the nature of contact with other players or opponents; and the competition structure. They must consider the combined demands of both training and performance and the injury risk that arises in each. They must consider the nutritional and psychological demands of the sport, and the effect that these may have on performance, recovery and rehabilitation.

A Comparison of Graded Exercise Test and Two Different Field Tests to Evaluate the Cardiopulmonary Function in Elite Handball Athletes

“…Measurement of lactic acid concentrations immediately after three tests (GXT, 20-m shuttle run, and Yo-Yo IR1) showed a numerical difference, but no significant difference for each test type. The exercise volume of golden standard GXT and exercise volume of the two field tests used in this study are almost the same (Comfort & Matthews, 2010), and therefore, they had almost the same effect on the change in lactic acid concentration. As there was no significant difference in lactate concentration between tests, similar to that there was no significant difference in maximum oxygen intake, it is considered that it can be used to evaluate the aerobic exercise ability of elite handball athletes in the field.…”