01 Apr Psychomotor testing of players

April Coaching Newsletter – 2016

Psychomotor testing of players

Testing players for Speed and Coordination

A coach will always ask themselves the question, how good are my players?

In today’s practice, too much assessment of the player is primarily due to the subjective observations from the coach. Subjective observations are where assessment of the player is influenced by the feeling or opinion of the coach. When evaluating an objective test, the personal opinion of the coach is not a factor.

As a result, more and more attention has to be given to objective methods, through the use of psychomotor tests, in measuring the ability of soccer players. One of the qualities of a situational psychomotor testing program is that the player’s, squad’s, coach’s and club’s progress can be monitored. This objective method should be an addition to the subjective technical-tactical analysis of the player.

Speed

Speed plays a major role in the success of the soccer player. It is the ability to perform a movement quickly or to see how fast a movement is performed. In today’s modern game, speed is an essential part of performance. When we talk about speed, we are talking about two components: cognitive (mental) and motor (psychomotor) speed.
In today’s modern game, speed is an essential part of performance. One cannot imagine today’s elite soccer player without excellent starting speed, reaction speed, change of direction speed, running speed, ball control speed, speed in releasing the ball and speed in problem solving or situational intelligence in the game. But at the same time it is of no use to have excellent psychomotor speed and poor technique, there has to be a balance.

Test – 1 – 20 Metre Sprint (speed)
Description – The player stands stationary behind the start line, facing the finish line, waiting for the hand signal to start the sprint. The player sprints from the starting line through and past the 20 metre finish line. The time starts the moment the player moves forward and stops when the player passes over the 20 metre finish line.

Coordination

To be successful today’s footballers need to master an extremely wide variety of coordinated movements with or without the ball.
Coordination can be defined as the ability of the body to produce a precise movement or series of movements based on information received from the body’s sense organs.
In other words effectively using the neuromuscular system to produce a smooth and efficient movement.

Test – 5 – Dribbling the Ball Around the Semi Circle (coordination)
Description – The ball is placed anywhere on the starting line, which is 2 metres wide.

The player dribbles the ball around the semi circle radius of 9.15 metres and around a post, which is 2 metres from the semi circle edge, and back to the start. The time starts the moment the ball is kicked forward and dribbled over and back around the semi circle. The time stops when the player, with the ball, passes back over the starting line.

In my ebook, Winning Through Planning and Testing, I explain in detail the use of 10 psychomotor tests that can be used to select and control the progress of players in a systematic controlled youth development program from 9 to 18 year olds.

Over decades of testing I have found that elite players representing their region, state or nation are all scoring marks above 85 percent in these psychomotor tests. The combination of speed and coordination that enable the player to move quickly and easily is called agility.

You might like to try the following two psychomotor test examples for boys 9 years (speed) and girls 11 years (coordination), and see how your players rate.

PERCENT TABLES BY AGE AND SEX