(No) sport in a time of Covid: How to get the edge on your competitors

Competitive athletes all over South Africa have been stressing about not having two years of potential opportunities in their sport.

Social athletes don’t really mind too much whether they play or not, but athletes who have the passion, a burning fire from within, and the dedication to give it their all, feel let down, anxious and helpless that their future careers could be shattered if government doesn’t do something drastic.

I am going to lay it on thick, government doesn’t care one bit about your sport and your livelihood.

It is not seen as a real job, but rather as a place where Covid can potentially be spread.

If sport was seen in the same light as every average job like a factory, supermarket or office worker, you would have been allowed to train and develop your career.

Blame whoever you want; you are on your own and you need to do everything in your power to keep the edge.

You need to realise that professional clubs don’t have the opportunity to go scout local talent, they have to buy them overseas, so while everyone else is losing hope and not working on sports performance, step up and work twice as hard.

The question is HOW? 

Luckily, you are in good hands since myself and my company Advanced Sports Performance have been developing athletes for over 17 years and I can provide you with a game plan to put you in position for a good fighting chance.

Today we are going to chat about sports science testing, next week on sports performance and game-winning nutrition and the third week on mental toughness and recovery for athletic success.

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Everything starts with a sports science assessment with credible analysis, video and comparative analysis. You have a goal to play professionally the same way you have a goal to navigate the Amazon jungle to a destination. Both are equally difficult and opportunistic, but that has never stopped anyone from conquering their dreams.

In navigating the jungle, you can either do it yourself or you can get an expert guide to help you. The road will not be easier but with expert advice, you cut through the stuff that doesn’t matter and you focus on what is important for your goals.

Getting a proper assessment done by a professional will help you make better choices about your sporting future. Picture: iStock

Assessments provide just that, the understanding of your physical and mental capabilities in relation to what your sport and position expects of you. You can be the most talented athlete on the field but if you do not have the physical attributes, you will not succeed.

There are many sports science tests you can perform but it is important to categorise them into physical baseline tests, injury risk profiling tests, sports performance testing and sports-specific testing.

Base line Testing: this pertains to all your basic physical attributes or the bare minimum you need to function in your sport at an optimal, high performance or peak performance level. These tests would include anthropometrical data which include, but are not limited to, height, weight, sweat loss, body mass index, hydration etc.

Sports Performance: Sport is made up of various tasks that need to be performed. The higher the league, the more refined and explosive the human performance has to be. Let’s take field-based sports for example. In order to play football well from a sports performance view, you need speed, agility, acceleration, quickness, strength, explosive power, core strength, to name a few.

It is therefore imperative you test these against your sporting demands and position and to make sure you can handle the Formula-One car around the pitch.

Injury Risk Profiling Tests: Everyone is unique, and norms are well, just norms of the masses. If you hit those norms, you are less likely to have an injury or severity of injury based on research and science, but it doesn’t mean you have to hit them.

Tests include cybex testing for muscle imbalances, postural, hip and spinal alignment tests, recovery rate testing, functional movement-based testing and muscle fatigue testing.

We also add in video analysis and gait analysis but it’s more important for younger athletes since they are still largely mendable.

Sports Specific Tests: Tests that are designed to test your performance in relation to your sporting demands and not just the demands of physical performance but actually peak performance levels. It is important that sports specific tests are done with and without sporting equipment.

For example, with a ball and without a ball. The relationship between the two at a high level is part of the selection process. For example, you can be the fastest 100m sprinter on the planet, but can you sprint at those levels and control a ball with directional change. That is why sports- specific testing is so important.

Once you have all the data, this does not mean you are a pro’ or pro’ material, you still need your skills to dedicate to each day, religiously.

Testing allows you to see how close or far you are from your goals. Once you have the facts, you have clarity and an understanding of your strengths and weaknesses. You then can start working much harder at it and eventually getting them to a desired level where you start to impress.

Sean van Staden

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