Motivation, effective training, 360-degree scientific support, nutrition, tactical planning, and other aspects play a role in sporting success. India’s performance in the recently concluded Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022 where India won 61 medals, Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics where India won 7 medals including one precious gold medal in the Javelin throw, and an incredible 19 medals achievement in Paralympics, signifies India’s progress towards a leading country in sports. This is inevitable that this journey could not be possible without sports science support, proper training, and recovery management.
Physical fitness includes a wide range of skills and is defined as the capacity to perform physical activities. Being fit for one sport or activity does not automatically make someone fit for another because each one requires a unique set of skills. Fitness is typically broken down into distinct categories or components, each of which can be measured and developed separately.
Therefore, to cater to this modern era of a scientific approach to sports, 35 under-19 (U-19) junior football players of Chandannagore Sporting Association (affiliated as Sports District), Chandannagore, Hooghly, West Bengal were gone through the physiological evaluation on 10th December 2022 forenoon (7:30 am to 11 am) conducted by the Department of Sports Science & Yoga, RKMVERI, Belur.
Program Details:
In the beginning, the footballers were briefed about the purpose of fitness tests, various parameters that will be measured, and what they need to do during each test. They were also familiarized with the test protocols. The pre-test session was taken by Dr. Arnab Das, Assistant Professor, Department of Sports Science & Yoga, RKMVERI
Basic demographic details of the players were collected prior to beginning the tests. The physiological parameters measured were – height, weight, resting heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP), peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR), back strength, grip strength, leg muscles explosive power, agility, and maximum aerobic capacity (VO2max). The following tools and techniques were used to measure those parameters –
| Sl. No. | Parameter | Tools used | Conducted by |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Height | Anthropometric Rod | Niladri Choudhury |
| 2 | Weight | Digital Weighing Scale | |
| 3 | Resting pulse rate | Digital Sphygmomanometer | Mokaddam Hosain |
| 4 | Blood pressure | ||
| 5 | Peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) | Peak flow meter | Chayan Kundu, Gg Chandru |
| 6 | Agility by T-test | Cones, Stopwatch | Injamul Haque |
| 7 | Back-leg strength | Back Strength Dynamometer | Malay Kumar Hait, C Hari Vishnu, Tiyash Biswas |
| 8 | Grip strength | Hand Grip Dynamometer | |
| 9 | Leg explosive power by Vertical jump test | Measuring Tape | Debabrata Chatterjee, Sudesh Kumar |
| 10 | Aerobic capacity (VO2max) by YoYo test | Speaker, Cones, YoYo test audio, Stopwatch | Rangan Pan |
Pre-screening:
Resting pulse rate and blood pressure of the footballers were checked before beginning the battery of tests. Monitoring resting pulse is an effective method of assessing fitness level and assisting recovery, and in general, it is a very reliable indicator of cardiovascular health.
Body Composition Assessment
Body composition refers primarily to the distribution of muscles and fat portions in the body. Body sizes such as height, lengths and girths are also grouped under this component. It can affect an athlete’s potential for success in a given sport as it can influence an athlete’s speed, endurance, strength, power, agility, and physical appearance.
YoYo test for assessing VO2max
A YoYo intermittent recovery test (IR1) is a maximal aerobic endurance fitness test, which involves players shuttling between two cones that are set 20m apart on flat ground. At the start of the beep, the participant needs to run from one cone to the other before the second beep. After that, the participant needs to run and return to the starting cone before the third beep.
T-test for assessing agility
The T-test is a simple running test of agility, involving forward, lateral, and backward movements. The purpose is to test the running agility of team sport athletes using various turns and movements. Therefore the Agility T-test was conducted to assess the ability of the football players to change direction, including acceleration, deceleration, and lateral movement during preseason testing protocols.
Strength & power assessment
The isometric back-leg strength test is a measure of the strength of the muscles of the lower back and leg, which is important in maintaining the body’s core stability during exercise. A stronger hand grip strength is beneficial for sports such as lawn tennis, baseball, cricket and etc. because it can withstand more force when a ball hits the racket or bat. Leg muscles power is also important in football, which was measured through the vertical jump tests, as the players may need to take multiple high-intensity sprints, jump to head a ball and etc. Therefore the test data can help prevent injury, maintain posture, and improve athletic performance.
Lung function test
Peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) is the simple measure of the volume of air forcibly breathed out from the lungs in one fast exhalation. It is a good measure of ventilation adequacy as well as airflow blockage. Because ventilation efficacy is important in sports and performance, the football players also underwent a PEFR test as an indicator of their lung function.
Students learning
The students learned and experienced –
- how to conduct various field tests, set up the ground and various test stations, and the sequence of different tests to be done while maintaining the protocols from warm-up to recovery.
- how to communicate with athletes and coaches, explain the purpose of the tests, and clarify players’ doubts in the simplest manner.
- how to present themselves in front of the players.
- how to get the best performance out of the players by constantly encouraging and inspiring them.
- how to overcome real-time difficulties like –
- conducting the battery of tests in an organized manner and finishing the tests as fast as possible without affecting the test procedure,
- a few pieces of equipment may behave differently in the field compared to the well-controlled environment inside the labs. How to overcome these situations accordingly by improvising.
- overcoming the language barrier and communicating well with players, making them understand the do’s and don’ts during tests, and giving verbal encouragement.
Below are some photos from the camp
