Goalkeeping-bok

202 Goalkeeping | 9. Tests
The objective of training is to improve performance. The
more information we have, the better we can adapt
(customise) training to allow the goalkeeper to progress
effectively. We can discover the goalkeeper’s strong and
weak points if we conduct a wide range of tests.
Test
“An examination conducted in order to evaluate an
individual’s mental or intellectual status or the progress of
certain faculties (physical, moral, emotional) or aptitudes
(natural or acquired) or to establish a profi le of his
personality.”
Certain criteria must be respected if tests are to be relevant
and usable:
• Simplicity: easy to conduct without a complicated
protocol,
• Validity: the test should actually measure what it is
being used for,
• Objectivity: the test must meet a genuine need, there
is no point in conducting tests for which the result has
no purpose,
• Reliability, accuracy: the test should not vary if the
circumstances change or a different examiner is used.
Every test must fulfi l its functions in terms of measurement,
comparison (of a player with himself and with others) and
motivation (to do better than others).
Five kinds of test can be used in football:
• Biological,
• Biometrical,
• Physical,
• Technical,
• Psychological.
The sporting level and the fi nancial resources available (for
sophisticated tests) determine the choice of tests and how
often they are repeated in a season. The objectives are as
follows:
• start of season:
– better knowledge of the goalkeeper (especially if a new
recruit),
– to customise preparation,
• after preparation:
– to observe the effect of preparation,
• 2/3 of the way through the league season (more
important for outfi eld players than the goalkeeper):
– checking the players’ conditions before the fi nal phase
of the league season,
– adjusting training according to needs.
Remember!
• The player must be rested and well warmed up before
the test (for physical tests).
• The player must be aware of the protocol and objective
of the test.
• If the results of two sets of different tests are to be
compared, they must be conducted under the same
conditions (pitch or indoors, footwear, weather conditions).
Biological tests
At present, the primary objective of the biological monitoring
of a sportsperson is to ensure the maintenance of health. But
biological testing can have additional objectives depending
on the sporting level and the intensity of the competition:
• to establish if the sportsperson has good general health
(for example a medical check-up of a professional
sportsperson who is a potential recruit),
• to monitor the effectiveness of training,
• to detect the appearance of signs of fatigue,
• to confi rm if an athlete is overtrained,
• to reveal any cases of doping.
Furthermore, as is the case for any other person, a sportsperson
may become ill. In this case biological testing can be
used to assist an accurate medical diagnosis. However, the
measurement of blood and urine parameters, as well as any
other complementary examinations, do have limits and represent
only one strand of appropriate medical care. It is true
though that, in certain domains, so much progress has been
made that it seems diffi cult to conceive of high-level sport
without biological monitoring (e.g., longitudinal biological
monitoring carried out by federations to prevent doping in
high-level athletes). Without providing an exhaustive list of
all the parameters investigated, the main blood measurements
conducted in high-level sportspeople are as follows:
• Biochemical, allowing:
– checks on the proper functioning of the body’s main
organs, muscle parameters, etc.
– investigation of infl ammatory processes,
– checking the body’s cleansing functions,
– measurements of vitamin and mineral levels, etc.