Player profiling
Identifying, capitalising on and building your team’s strengths
Player profiling is all about identifying the fitness and capabilities of players, before, during and after the season.
Why profile players?
Before pre-season training begins, developing a player profile for yourself or your players will help you:
- Identify strengths and weaknesses - to help guide training programmes
- Monitor development
- Guide return from illness or injury
How to profile players
There are two parts to a player profile.
1. A health and lifestyle questionnaire that covers:
- Personal information: name, age, address, emergency contacts
- Lifestyle habits: occupation, living arrangements, dietary habits, etc.
- Medical history: known conditions and severity, medications, previous injuries and treatment, family history of disease and family doctor details.
Don’t leave finding out this information until it’s too late.
2. The fitness check-up:
- The check-up content will vary depending upon the time, resources and expertise available to you
- Even some simple tests like those in the table below provide useful information and allow goals to be set and progress monitored.
| Height | Try to always measure at the same time of day |
| Weight | Try to always measure at the same time of day |
| Aerobic fitness | Yo Yo1 intermittent recovery test |
| Speed | 30-metre sprint2 |
| Agility | Illinois or T test |
| Leg power | Standing long jump or vertical jump |
| Balance | Stork test – timed single leg balance |
1The Yo Yo test is a football-specific endurance test (an intermittent version of the beep test) available from New Zealand Football
2Ideally, speed would also be measured over shorter distances than 30 metres but without electronic timing lights, this is unreliable.
When?
Ideally, you need to profile at the start and end of the pre-season, midway through the season and finally at season end.
For more information on fitness testing for football, including specific tests of agility, flexibility and muscle strength and endurance, contact Helen Tunstall on (09) 414 0174 or email helen.tunstall@nzfootball.co.nz.
The example forms below are designed for different groups of players. Choose the one that suits you best or design you own.
- Small whites (PDF 67K)
- Junior club (PDF 73K)
- Senior players (PDF 75K)
- Elite players (PDF 74K)
Fitness testing
The following tests are recommended for male and female players, aged 14 and over, at all levels of the game. You should obtain informed consent from each player and medical clearance, where appropriate, before testing.
1. Endurance tests
The Yo Yo Intermittent Recovery Test is great for monitoring aerobic fitness in sports like football, where the ability to perform intensive exercise after short recovery periods is important.
Like other ‘beep’ tests, the aim is to cover as many 2 x 20-metre intervals as possible, in the given time limits. However, in the Yo-Yo test, there is a 10-second rest between each interval and the running speed gets faster more quickly.
There are two levels to the test. Level 1 is generally used with youth and female players while the Level 2 test is used with senior males. The starting speed for Level 1 is 10 km/h; the starting speed for Level 2 is 13 km/h.
You can test large groups at the same time, the only requirements being some cones, a tape measure, a CD player and the test CD.
The course is set-up as shown below, with each player having their own 20-metre lane and a recovery cone to walk round after each 2 x 20-metre interval.
Rules:
- Players must walk/jog round the 5-metre recovery cone
- Players must ‘make the beeps’ and not set off before them. If 2 consecutive beeps are missed, the test is over and the final level at which the player is withdrawn is their score
- If a player gets past level 15, they should do the Level 2 test next time
- Use the recording sheet and conversion chart to mark off each 2 x 20-metre interval completed and to calculate the total distance covered.
Total distance covered on the Yo Yo Intermittent recovery test reflects the ability to complete more high intensity running during a game. The mean score for elite male players performing the Level 2 test is 1000 metres with a range of 600-1320 metres.
2. Speed tests
The large majority of sprints performed in football take 6 seconds or less to complete, over distances of only 10-30 metres. Without electronic timing lights, measurement of speed over these distances is unreliable.
Where timing lights are available, it is beneficial to measure time to 5, 10 and 20 metres, as well as 30 metres, to allow explosive speed, acceleration and overall running speed to be assessed.
Each player should perform two practice run-throughs at a warm-up rate before two trials of the 30-metre sprint are performed, with full recovery between. The start line should be 50 cm behind the first timing gate and both feet must be up to the line. No backwards movement is allowed at the start of the sprint.
3. Power tests
Lower body power is crucial for jumping and sprinting ability. The ability to jump off left, right and both feet together is important. There are various methods of measuring vertical jump performance. A Vertek or Yardstick is a useful tool to use but a piece of chalk and a wall can also be used.
Players perform two trials under all three conditions (left leg, right leg, both feet). Standing reach is subtracted from jumping reach to determine jump height. The table below shows norm data for the two-footed jump.
| Vertical Jump | Average | Good | Excellent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Male Players | 32 to 37cm | 37 to 45cm | >45cm |
| Female Players | 26 to 32cm | 32 to 39cm | >39cm |
Upper body power is also important in football, particularly for goal keepers and for execution of the throw-in. A medicine ball throw-in for distance is a simple test to measure this aspect of fitness.
4. Agility tests
Agility is important in football because players aren’t required to just run in straight lines. They need to be able to change direction without losing speed.
The two tests described below can reveal how agile a player is. Both can be performed with or without a ball and as before, the use of timing lights is recommended but not essential.
Illinois Agility Test
Player lies on their front, with head over start line (50 cm behind first timing gate) and hands by their shoulders. Two trials of the marked course (see below) are performed, with full recovery between. Best time counts.
- Test is set up with 4 cones forming the agility area (10-metres long x 5-metres wide).
- A cone at point A marks the start and cones at B and C are the turning points. A cone at D marks the finish.
- Four cones are also positioned down the centre of the course, 3.3 metres apart.
T Test
Three cones are set 5 metres apart on a straight line. A 4th cone is placed 10 metres from the middle cone so that the cones for a T.
- Player starts at the base of the T, runs to the middle cone, touches it, side steps 5 metres to the right cone, touches it, side steps 10 metres to the left cone, touches it, side steps 5 metres back to the middle, touches the cone and then runs 10 metres backwards and touches the cone at the base of the T to finish.
- The table below shows typical scores for male and female players.
| T test | Average | Good | Excellent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Male Players | 10.5 to 11.5s | 9.5 to 10.5s | <9.5s |
| Female Players | 11.5 to 12.5s | 10.5 to 11.5s | <10.5s |
5. Muscle strength and endurance tests
Both muscle strength (ability to generate a large force) and muscle endurance (ability to generate a force repeatedly) are important in football.
Muscle strength is most commonly measured in the gym using standard weight measures.
A 3 Repetition Maximum (3RM) test identifies the maximum load (in kilograms) a player can lift for 3 repetitions. Any loaded strength exercise can be used, such as a Back Squat, Front Squat, or Bench Press, but it must be stressed that maximal lifting is hazardous, and only experienced weight trainers should conduct testing of this type.
Procedure
- Player attempts to lift the barbell to determine their 3RM by trial and error
- After each attempt, the load should be increased or decreased by 2.5 - 5kg, depending on the outcome of the attempt.
- At least three minutes rest should be allowed between attempts.
Muscle endurance can be assessed using simple tests of how many of a certain exercise can be performed in 1 minute, or how long a position can be held for.
For example:
1. Push-ups in 1 minute (upper body muscular endurance)
- Player performs as many push-ups as possible within 1 minute, without stopping.
- Arms must be fully extended in the up position and bent to 90 degrees in the down position (upper arm parallel to the ground).
- Female players may perform modified push-ups (knees on floor)
2. Sit-ups in 1 minute (abdominal muscle endurance)
- Player lies on their back with their feet flat on the floor and heels 12 to 18 inches from buttocks – a spotter holds feet.
- Fingers should be intertwined, with hands around back of the neck, not the head, to avoid stress on the neck – chin should be kept close to chest during the test.
- If possible, a second spotter sits behind the athlete with a hand on the ground, palm down, at the shoulder blades.
- Player must curl up, touch elbows to knees and return to touch the spotter’s hand, as many times as possible in 1 minute.
3. Timed prone hold
- The prone hold (bridge / plank / ab hover) position, shown below, is held for as long as possible
- The clock is stopped if the straight line position is lost, the player’s back starts to arch, or they adjust their position
