FSHP Academy
Assessment & Screening — all lessons

Screening

Preparticipation health screening

Resting and Body Composition Measures

Resting assessments and anthropometric measurements

Fitness Testing

Cardiorespiratory assessmentsMuscular strength, endurance and power assessmentsAthlete assessment and evaluation

Movement and Postural Assessment

Postural and functional assessment (Prehab assessment tool)Limits of movement screens and postural assessment

Athlete assessment and evaluation

Building a test battery for athletes — needs analysis, validity and reliability, typical error and smallest worthwhile change, test order, and turning results into programming decisions.

Advanced Evidence: Strong evidence 3 min read Reviewed 2026-10-31 Status: draft

Learning objectives

  • Design a test battery from a needs analysis
  • Explain validity, reliability, typical error and smallest worthwhile change
  • Sequence tests to minimise fatigue effects
  • Interpret individual changes and communicate results to athletes and coaches

Before this lesson

Why this matters

Testing consumes training time. A good battery measures qualities that drive performance, is sensitive enough to detect real change, and leads directly to programming decisions.

Needs analysis

Before choosing tests, analyse:

  • Sport demands — energy systems, movement patterns, injury profile.
  • Position or event — e.g., fast bowler vs batter; goalkeeper vs midfielder.
  • Athlete — training age, injury history, current season phase.

Validity and reliability

  • Validity — does the test measure a quality that matters for this athlete?
  • Reliability — does it give consistent results? Quantified by typical error (TE) — the random variation between repeated trials on the same person [hopkins2000].
  • Smallest worthwhile change (SWC) — commonly 0.2 × between-athlete SD.

A test is useful for monitoring when its TE is smaller than (or similar to) the SWC. An observed change should exceed TE (ideally by a clear margin) to be considered real.

Test order

Order tests from least to most fatiguing [haff2016]:

  1. Non-fatiguing: anthropometrics, flexibility, vertical jump
  2. Agility / change of direction
  3. Maximal power and strength
  4. Sprint speed
  5. Local muscular endurance
  6. Fatiguing anaerobic capacity
  7. Aerobic capacity (e.g., Yo-Yo, 1.5-mile run)

Standardise warm-up, footwear, surface, time of day, nutrition and prior training.

Using results

Common mistakes and misconceptions

  • Using tests to predict injury — screening tests have poor predictive accuracy for individuals [bahr2016].

Case study

A cricket academy tests CMJ, 20 m sprint, 1RM trap-bar deadlift and Yo-Yo IR1 in pre-season. One fast bowler’s CMJ is low relative to squad norms while his strength is high; the coach adds ballistic and plyometric work. Mid-season, his CMJ rises beyond the TE + SWC threshold — a meaningful change.

Further learning: video lessons

Video links are only marked “verified” after a human has watched them. Unverified entries open a YouTube search for that channel and topic rather than a guessed link.

Technical needs verification — opens a YouTube search

Reliability and smallest worthwhile change for coaches

sports-science educators (search)

You will understand: interpreting test changes against noise

Why: Core skill for practitioners.
Practical demo needs verification — opens a YouTube search

Designing a test battery

NSCA

You will understand: selecting and ordering tests

Why: Professional guidance.

Knowledge check

Knowledge check · 0/5

1. Smallest worthwhile change is commonly estimated as…

Answer A. Hopkins popularised 0.2 × between-subject SD as a small effect threshold.

2. Typical error of measurement describes…

Answer B. It quantifies within-subject noise between trials.

3. Which test should come first in a battery?

Answer B. NSCA guidance orders tests from non-fatiguing to most fatiguing.

4. A test that correlates strongly with match performance has good…

Answer B. Validity concerns whether a test measures what matters.

5. An athlete’s 10 m sprint improves by 0.02 s; typical error is 0.04 s. The change is…

Answer B. The change is smaller than the noise of the test.

Short-answer & application questions

  1. Design a one-day test battery for a semi-professional football squad, in order, with rest periods.
  2. Explain to a coach why a 3% change in jump height may or may not be meaningful.
  3. How would you present results to athletes to support motivation?

Key takeaways

  • Start with a needs analysis of the sport, position and athlete; test what informs decisions.
  • Valid tests measure what matters; reliable tests give consistent results.
  • A change is meaningful only if it exceeds measurement noise (typical error) and is larger than the smallest worthwhile change.
  • Order tests from least to most fatiguing and standardise conditions.

Connected topics

strength conditioning

Fundamentals of coaching in strength and conditioning

strength conditioning

Periodisation and long-term athlete development (LTAD)

sports technology

Performance testing and analytics workflows

cricket

Assessment protocols for cricketers: strength, power, speed, agility, endurance

football

Assessment protocols for footballers

racquet sports

Assessment protocols for racquet-sport athletes

This is the canonical lesson for: Strength & Conditioning → Coaching and Assessment

References

  1. Hopkins WG (2000). Measures of reliability in sports medicine and science. Sports Medicine, 30(1):1–15. Narrative review check pending
  2. Haff GG, Triplett NT (eds) (2016). Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning (4th ed.) — chapters on test selection and administration. Human Kinetics / NSCA. Textbook check pending
  3. Bahr R (2016). Why screening tests to predict injury do not work—and probably never will…: a critical review. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 50(13):776–780. doi:10.1136/bjsports-2016-096256 Narrative review check pending

Educational content only — not medical advice. Consult a qualified clinician for diagnosis or treatment.