Is there a sport that demands more of its athletes than soccer? 90+ minutes of constant motion – breaking up and down
field, instantaneous changes in possession and direction, diving saves, agile dribbling, aggressive attacks and counterattacks,
powerful corner kicks and throw ins, and getting up for a chest trap or header. And all that can take place in the first five
minutes.
The SPARQ Boys' Soccer Protocol tests the level of your athleticism as it applies to the demands of soccer. Power, speed, acceleration and reaction are all accounted for. And – perhaps most importantly – agility, the ability and endurance, or your ability to recover, are revealed through this assessment. The following are the 2008 SPARQ Boys´ Soccer Testing Protocols. If you have any questions about the rating or protocols, post your question in the message boards.
The SPARQ Boys' Soccer Protocol tests the level of your athleticism as it applies to the demands of soccer. Power, speed, acceleration and reaction are all accounted for. And – perhaps most importantly – agility, the ability and endurance, or your ability to recover, are revealed through this assessment. The following are the 2008 SPARQ Boys´ Soccer Testing Protocols. If you have any questions about the rating or protocols, post your question in the message boards.
Vertical Jump: (Countermovement)
Explosive power. That zero-60 stuff they talk about in car commercials. The soccer athlete needs the first-step explosiveness of a high-performance sports car.The Vertical Jump tells a bigger story than just how high you jump. It combines your weight with your Vertical Jump height to reveal your lower-body Peak Power, which shows whether you have the ability to throw it into overdrive and beat your opponent to the ball, or if you're going to run out of gas.
20-Meter Sprint:
Speed is a difference-maker. Specifically, "off the mark" speed – that instant explosion of power that propels you out in front of your opponent so quickly, it's as if he was standing still. It'll get you on the proper end of through-balls. It'll help you recover after a loss of possession.The 20-Meter Sprint measures your linear speed. The test is simple - point A to point B - but the results tell quite a story. It's a distance close to the average off-the-ball run, but still long enough to discriminate the elite from the rest. The athlete who shows superior off the mark eed is the athlete who will get to the ball, gain and maintain possession and directly affect the outcome of the match.
Arrowhead Agility:
Agility is probably the key discriminator of playing ability. If you can't change direction at pace and remain under control, you'll spend a lot of time chasing the action. The game won't wait for you.The Arrowhead Agility test comes from several Top European Clubs and is an outstanding measure of athletic agility assessing change of direction, postural control and agility. Soccer athletes who have an edge in agility, have an edge in the game.
Yo Yo Intermittant Recovery Test (YIRT):
The YIRT. What? Hear us out on this.When you think of endurance for soccer, think recovery capacity.
A soccer game is made up of multiple bouts of high-intensity exercise punctuated by brief spells of recovery. The YIRT mimics the intermittent "start-stop-recover-start" nature of the game through a series of shuttles paced by audible cues.
The YIRT will reveal in no uncertain terms how quickly and consistently can your body recover from intense exercise. If you want to learn a bit about who has the heart and guts to stick it out, look no further.
The game is 90 minutes. Will you be on the ball when it counts?
