Does anyone have any knowledge and/or sources that describe how countries who identify athletic potential at a young age go about such a process. For example, athletes in the former Soviet Union were identified at avery early age and directed into sport schools that would maximize their potential. What types of testing did they use to identify such factors as potential strength, speed, eye hand coordination, endurance, etc? How effective do you think these methods were / are today?
See CoolColJ’s post at the end of the “pulls” thread.
Yeah, I read that piece, which is partially what sparked the question. But surely there are other methods and indicators. Also, I wonder if there is any published information on these issues, or specifics. Thanks.
Check out Tom Mslynksi’s thesis paper on the Russian conjugate sequence system at www.elitfts.com under the elite fitness systems articles. The soviets wrote the book on assessing the physical traits in youths with respect to the acheivement of sports mastery.
James Smith
I have the same question though. At the high school I am at we test our kids before the season but I also teach PE so we test them several times during the year in our weights classes. The tests we use as of now are fly 30, vertical, 150 stand, stand 30, 5 alt. bounds and SLJ. In addition in the spring we do a couple throws as well. My question is, do these tests cover the range that should be covered, and if not, what tests would others suggest as ones that would be the best indicators for progression of training and/or talent Identification.
first of all,what exact event are you testing for.there are certain characteristics that a sprinter will have have even at an early age.whether its good vertical/SLJ or an excitable humour which can indicate an explosive cns and so on.
at an early age i was always very fast over short distances leading seniors to 40m when 15 but testing me over 150 was disasterious as my SE was bad but would improve with maturity,training and a proper training structure.
there are specific test out there to idenify whether its through weights or on the track but the key is to put all the results together and if the athlete is suitable for X event apply the results to the weakness’
Thats a great read.
Kc
Agreed. That was an awesome article (although I didn’t see anything specific on identifying athletic potential at an early age)!
You have a copy of that saved that you can post somewhere? The site seems to be down. I hope its just a temp problem. I’d like to see more on Russian training systems, especially with regards to Race Walking.
Here are a couple of tests that can be used to identify superior neural or fiber characteristics.
The Quick Hands Test
Find a padded surace that can be hit such as a boxing bag, football dummy, martial oarts or boxing focus gloves. Standing with your palms flat against the equipment and arms extended, step an inch or so closer so the length of your reach will emphasize speed and not your hitting force. Have someone time you for 20 seconds as you strike the object of the target with the palm of your hand as many times as you can. Focus on executing a firm and quick hit. The timer should count the number of strikes as well as tell you when to start and stop.
Excellent results:
Males
Jr HS 47
Sr HS 60
College 80
Females
Jr HS 33
Sr HS 42
College 57
Quick Feet Test
Place 20 two foot long sticks or a 20 rung stride rope on a grass or artifical turf field. Space sticks exactly 18 inches apart for a total distance of 10 yards. Athletes should run the 10 yards touching each foot down in between the sticks or markers. The timer starts the stopwatch when the athletes foot first touches the ground between the first and second stick, and stops the watch when contact is first made with the ground beyond th elast stick.
Excellent Results
Males
Jr HS 3.8 or faster
Sr. HS 3.3 or faster
College 2.8 or faster
Females
Jr HS 4.2 or faster
Sr HS 3.8 or faster
College 3.4 or faster
As for what is more important, the nervous system or muscle fiber type I’d say, based on my own experiences, muscle fiber type has little consequence although natural structure obviously does. The nervous system determines fiber expression. The trained eye can identify ideal structural characteristics for a given sport in youth at a young age. Characteristics of the nervous system are harder to identify but something that jumped out at me in “Training For Speed” is Charlie’s comment that sprinters will often have explosive tempers at an early age. This might indicate a heightened stress or adrenal response.
Just an observation but in sports that require a “cool-head” and fine skill, or the ability to stay physically relaxed in the heat of the moment and display fine motor skills, like basketball, I have noticed that often athletes with superior physical performance abilities (speed, jumping ability etc.) often struggle keeping their energy and adrenaline toned down enough to display the “skill” part of the sport optimally…the racehorse can’t be controlled and just wants to get out of the gates and run whereas the pleasure horse can be controlled easily but doesn’t run half as fast.