Coaching and Care of Athletes

TESTING THE ABILITY OF ATHLETES novice, and to the young schoolmaster who is charged with the preparation of a b'oys' team. They need not worry themselves unduly, because there are many excellent testing programmes available to decide how the athletes shall be graded according to their potential athletic ability. In choosing a testing programme the coach should have it in mind that the tests must be neither too complicated nor too difficult of administration. He should also remember that testing programmes fall naturally into two categories. The first covers the tests which measure the athlete's present condition, while the second should predict his probable future performances. Apart from the use of a standard battery of tests for the purpose of ascertaining the athlete's present condition and his probable future ability, there are specialized tests, such as the pulse-ratio test, which takes account of the ability of the heart to stand up to exercise. In this respect the comparison is made and the necessary inferences are drawn from the pulse-ratio taken ( r) in a normal sitting position and ( 2) after exercise has been under– gone. The ability ofthe heart to stand up to exercise is determined by djviding the pulse-rate for the two minutes immediately after exercise by the normal sitting pulse-rate for one minute. Of course, as the athlete comes into training, so his heart-rate quite naturally becomes slower. The test of the pulse-ratio is based on the fact that the athlete's heart-rate after exercise should return to normal in a. reasonable time. If it does not do so, then obviously there is lack of proper compensation; the better a man is trained the more quickly will his heart-rate return to normal. In this way the progress that the athlete is making in training can be clearly followed throughout the season. It will be obvious, of course, that the coach must find out the amount of standard exercise which the athlete must do to produce a required pulse-ratio, or the test cannot be properly carried out. He will arrive at this by making experiments and calculations. By using the pulse-ratio test the coach can, throughout the whole of the training season, follow the development of his charges and see how their physical efficiency is maintained. He will, of course, have to chart his tests, and repeat them probably at weekly inter– vals, or at such other times as he desires. If this is done it will become obvious to him that as his athletes come into training, so he must devise a greater amount of exercise for them if they are to produce the standard pulse-rate which he has set. 1 33