It is often said that Pakistani athletes are naturally gifted, talented and skilled, with occasional glittering performances internationally, but if we look at their overall performances over the last three decades, there has been a consistent decline in their performances, especially in team events.
First of all, let’s admit that physical fitness and sports are not a priority in our country. Every time I discuss this issue with professional athletes in our country, I notice a consistent lack of interest in the issue.
The introduction of gyms has led to some improvement in overall fitness standards, but the focus is still on general fitness and not on the fitness that is a prerequisite for modern athletes to take part in competitive sports.
The situation becomes even more complicated when top management is not up to date with the latest fitness trends and does not apply the latest fitness tests to ensure transparency in the selection and training process of professional athletes and teams. Such ignorance is suicidal, as it gives opportunities to players who are not physically fit to occupy key positions in teams and national teams and subsequently fail to perform in competitions.
In modern sports, testing of athletes is essential to their targeted development. These tests generally fall into three categories. First, tests that target some aspect of health-related fitness components. Second, tests that target skill-related fitness, and third, sport-specific tests.
Coaches must choose the tests that are most important to their athletes’ performance and the metrics that are most valuable to their training goals. Ideally, they will choose the tests that represent the gold standard of metrics. This requires appropriate selection of equipment, testing methodology, and testing staff.
A very important aspect is the competence of the testing staff: tests must be performed by qualified staff, unlike in our environment where the biomechanics lab has not been operational for years due to lack of qualified staff.
Health-related fitness tests are part of an athlete’s test battery, which includes body composition and anthropometry, strength and muscular endurance, aerobic endurance, flexibility and posture.
Body composition and anthropometric assessments are standard practice for coaches and athletes. Valuable information regarding body fat percentage, fat distribution, lean body mass (LBM), limb and segment lengths and proportions, body shape, and circumference can be gained through body composition assessments.
For example, increasing LBM contributes to improved strength and power and potentially speed and agility depending on the added mass, while reducing body fat helps improve muscular and aerobic endurance, speed, mobility, and agility.
This proves that assessing and improving body composition can significantly improve athletic performance, especially for aerobic endurance athletes and those requiring a high strength-to-mass ratio.
Another important test is the waist measurement. This test gives useful information about changes in muscle size and body composition. It is a simple test that does not require any special equipment. Hold the tape measure taut horizontally and, with minimal clothing, read the waist circumference to the nearest half a centimeter.
Measurements and changes of chest, shoulders, abdomen, thighs, calves, waist, hips, upper body and forearms are recorded.
Professional athletes are also required to undergo dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, commonly known as DXA. DXA testing is considered the gold standard for body composition.
DXA can generate relevant information on fat mass (in grams), lean tissue, and bone mineral content and density for the whole body and specific regions such as the head, torso, and limbs.
Prior to the advent of BXA, underwater weighing was long considered the gold standard for body composition analysis, and Archimedes’ principle was applied to body density.
Assessment of subcutaneous fat is also widely used to estimate body fat percentage.Air displacement plethysmography (ADP), which measures body volume through changes in air pressure in a closed two-compartment chamber, and bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) are also used to determine body composition.
Sports scientists and coaches also use somatotyping to classify athletes into different body type using anthropometric and optical measurements. Each body type is given a rating and athletes are placed into one of 13 categories including balanced intermediate, intermediate-visceral, intermediate-visceral and visceral intermediate.
Athlete strength and endurance are of major concern to coaches and strength trainers. The gold standard for dynamic strength testing is the one repetition maximum, or 1RM. This is the most weight that can be lifted at a given speed once using free weights or machines for a particular exercise. Partial curl ups, sit ups, push ups, pull ups, dips, squats, handstands and burpees are also part of the tests that assess an athlete’s endurance.
The assessment of aerobic endurance or capacity is important because it determines the lactate threshold and other important variables of an athlete. This test directly measures or estimates VO2 max or VO2 peak. More tests are being developed to assess the most important aerobic capacity of an athlete.
Our coaches and trainers who are unfamiliar with these advanced tests or looking for shortcuts can use specific field tests that involve fixed-length running assessments within a specified time, or a combination of fixed distances and progressively reduced times, such as a 1.5-mile (2.4 km) run, a 12-minute walk/run, a multi-stage 22-yard or 20-meter shuttle run commonly known as the PACER or Beep Test, the Yo-Yo Test, or a 30-15 Intermittent Fitness Test.
To briefly explain for the reader, there are no shortcuts or alternatives to fitness in modern sport: if an athlete suffers an injury or performs substandard in the face of stress or intense competition, it is not simply due to a lack of skill or exposure, but also to the physical and mental fitness differences between competing athletes, and the scientific development and preparation of the athlete by coaches and trainers taking into account the latest testing techniques available.
A careful assessment of cricket, field hockey and squash players reveals that many skilled players struggle under pressure against physically superior teams and individuals. Unfortunately, fitness and its objective assessment and preparation are not our priority.
It is time to demand and expect the highest level of physical preparation from our athletes. Physically unfit athletes should not be part of the team because they are not only a burden and extra baggage but also create discouragement amongst the young and up and coming athletes.
Chance, hope and good luck are empty words that hold little value in today’s sport, where performance is tangible, measurable and entirely predictable.
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