A couple notes on the testing itself, and how I went about evaluating the results. Testing never really takes place in a vacuum (at least for me). Weather conditions outside along with the surfaces we work on can have a significant impact on the results we get back. The track we worked on was really nice, but tracks and gym floors are not going to create apples to apples results. Also, it was insanely cold! So a few of the tests I did “grade on a curve” and make adjustments based on the girls’ other results and my testing history.

The two tests I did adjust results for were the jumping tests, with the temps and the surface being the primary factors. I wanted to be able to make comparisons to my prior testing results, which have largely taken place in gymnasiums on bouncier surfaces (with controlled temps).

I decided to not make any adjustments with their scoring on the Max Velocity and Pro Agility Tests because even with the surfaces and weather conditions I felt like we could make some good comparisons. On the max velocity test, I have an indoor runway that I have recorded a ton of times on… all of my athletes time slower on that runway than they do out on the track (I actually keep separate data)… which I think makes it a good body of numbers to compare to what your girls did out on the track in colder conditions). As for pro agility, we do most of our testing on an indoor (short) turf runway - but athletes cannot wear cleats on that runway. So whereas the girls had the cold to deal with last week, they had an advantage over my other athletes because of the footwear/traction.

With this test, we’re looking for how well an athlete’s muscles and tendons can stretch and snap back to their original shape… this impacts just about everything an athlete does - jumping, changing directions, sprinting, etc. I like to think of it as “functional athleticism”… athletes who test well typically use their athleticism efficiently and have a reduced rate of injury. Typically speaking, court athletes excel in this area because they are constantly training it… jumping, changing directions, etc. Field athletes, especially football players, can be a bit more of a mixed bag, but the girls did excellent on this test. All of them scored a 2.3 and higher (their flight time was 2.3 times higher than their contact time) and they were all in the top 40% of all the female athletes I have tested. Leilyn, Lillian , Bell, Meg, and Kyra were each in the top 15%.

From what I have gathered, your athletes do a ton of footwork drills, and I think this serves them well in this area. Especially with no previous exposure to this drill, I would say that your top girls are not only skilled, but gifted at it.

Again with this test, I am keeping in mind that your were cleated up, which assisted in their ability to change direction, but even with that, I think it is apparent that they did extremely well (there is overlap with this test and the Elasticity Test).

Your top 9 athletes scored in roughly the top 3rd of all female athletes that I have tested, and again your top 5 tested in the top 15%, with Kyra and Alea being in the top 3%. Kyra is right there for the fastest pro agility I’ve ever timed a female athlete on.

Again, the nature of your sport and the footwork involved sets your girls up well to test here, but even factoring that in I think they did extremely well, especially your top tier of athletes.

We used the flying 10m on the track to assess the girls max velocity (top end speed). The conditions weren’t ideal, but as mentioned above, my indoor runway data is a good basis for comparison.

Based on the testing, this is probably the area where the team has the greatest area for growth. Kyra was in the top third, and Maya, Leilyn, & Bell were all in the top half, but the remaining girls all tested in the bottom 50%.

Having said that, the overall caliber of athlete on this team suggests to me that there is very likely untapped potential here, and working on their max speed would probably result in a significant return in terms of results. I’ve got more thoughts and some suggestions included in my overall analysis below.

The Explosion component was evaluated with the Counter-Movement Jump / Vertical Leap Test, which again was graded on a curve because of the temps and surface.

The girls did relatively well on this test. Meg was especially impressive hitting on a jump that puts her in the top 5% of female athletes I have tested. Another half dozen of your girls were in or near the top third.

Having said that, I believe this is another area (along with max velocity) that I would target for growth. I have more thoughts on this in the overall analysis (right below).

An overview of all the assessments we completed paints a picture: Your girls are agile, elastic, coordinated, and quick. However, in order for them to become more well-rounded athletes (and, I would argue, healthier athletes), I would prescribe things that are going to stretch them when it comes to the max end of their abilities. Sprint fast, jump high/far, and bounce. The nice thing is, they don’t need to do an enormous amount of volume when it comes to these areas - in fact, we actually don’t want a ton of volume.

Athletes can both make huge gains and do a lot to make themselves sturdier athletes by investing a little bit of time each week… Incorporating the below (either in practice or on the athletes’ own time) would go a long way towards making the girls faster, more explosive, and less susceptible to soft-tissue injuries like hamstring pulls, etc.:

Two timed 40 yard sprints a week. The timing equipment I carry around provides more precision, but old-school 40 yard dashes will do the trick. If you time and track them, it promotes maximum effort. For an athlete to stretch their speed and get faster, they need to practice hitting their top speed. We time our football team every Monday before practice throughout the entire season… for 50-60 guys it takes 25-30 minutes. If you guys kicked off your first practice of the week like this, you could probably time all your girls in 15ish minutes.

Plyometric Training. Boxes are nice, but you don’t have to have them. And once again, 15-20 minutes a week would get the job done in-season. I do have some videos below of box work, but there are also videos of exercises that can pretty much be done anywhere: leaping, hopping, and bouncing. I also have a video below (the very last video) of an isolation exercise that addresses Eric’s concerns about ankle sprains. We do it because it promotes spring & bounce, but also builds strength and prevents injury. These are all exercises that you can mix up, do variations on, and that really only require a few reps to do the job.

I’d like to finish by commenting on the culture of your club as an outsider… your girls were all polite and welcoming, and they gave fantastic effort on these tests. They were extremely fun to work with. And I can tell that their effort and attitude is modeled by their leadership. You guys have a great thing going!

If you’d like any further explanation, videos, or anything else at all that could be helpful, don’t hesitate to let me know. I am happy to help however I can!