The Academy Athlete testing days are used to benchmark and measure the students’ skills in gym, track and football. Students at The Academy complete The Academy Athlete testing at the start of each school year and then again at the end of the year to measure and celebrate their progress. The results of the testing days are then used to create individualised training programs for each of the students to help them develop their skills, strength and fitness.
Off the back of thorough research and design work of current testing protocols by our High Performance Team, The Academy has created a protocol that identifies more specific AFL parameters for testing with the hope it can assist in talent identification, with a particular focus on physical capacities of athletes.
The Academy Athlete program aligns with The Academy’s values to innovate and remain connected with industry. The Academy Athlete is innovative as the testing protocol helps keep us at the leading edge of education and high performance delivery, finding new training methods and validating current practice with research.
This year, we held our Academy Athlete days at our individual campuses. Using state-of-the-art technology, we tested our student athletes in the three key areas of Gym, Track and Field;
Gym: Students participate in a range of tests to assess lower and upper body force and power. These tests measure students’ ability to express power and explosiveness that helps them:
- Hold and maintain strong body positions
- Restrain and tackle an opponents
- Fend off and be able to move opponents to gain a competitive advantage
- Transfer speed, change direction and be agile in the field of play
Track: Students do a range of linear and nonlinear sprints and running efforts that help inform their ability to:
- Accelerate and reach max speed capacities
- Chase down, shut down and break away from opponents
- Account for off-line running that typically occurs in a game
- Change direction at speed for more efficient skill execution
- Repeat high intensity efforts to cover ground and impact multiple contests
Football Skills: And of course we test students’ football skills to help understand where we can support them in their training, including:
- Kicking proficiency and accuracy
- Fast and accurate handball movements
- Cleanly taking marks and receiving the ball
We look forward to providing students their athletic profiles and utilising them throughout the year to develop across the High Performance Program.