At 9 a.m. this morning in Rockford, Nike and SPARQ (Speed, Power, Agility, Reaction, Quickness) training kicked off SPARQ testing for over 3,000 players, to take place over the next two days. We were on site watching the U-15/16 CASL (pictured above) during warm ups prior to their SPARQ testing: 20-meter sprint, vertical jump test, and agility drill.
Each player’s results were synced up with their pre-Showcase yo-yo intermittent recovery test results, height, and weight to produce a final, single number. Eric Hakeman and the training team from SPARQ Soccer are overseeing the testing of all 126 Academy teams over this Showcase weekend.
“The SPARQ soccer rating is representative of that athlete’s overall soccer-specific athleticism,” said Hakeman. “We distill it into one number because it allows for a comparison. Because the tests are standardized any athlete that has a rating can compare him or herself to any other athlete that’s tested too and then those individual test results will serve as a foundation for training programs that we can deliver to all the teams in the Development Academy.”
The final SPARQ results range from 20-110 and players with a final score of 75-110 rank in the top tenth percentile of SPARQ athletes. With these numbers, the players can evaluate their overall athleticism in comparison to other SPARQ-evaluated players.
Check out some of our pictures from the SPARQ testing site this morning! We’ll have more pictures posted on ussoccer.com later this afternoon.
Each player’s results were synced up with their pre-Showcase yo-yo intermittent recovery test results, height, and weight to produce a final, single number. Eric Hakeman and the training team from SPARQ Soccer are overseeing the testing of all 126 Academy teams over this Showcase weekend.
“The SPARQ soccer rating is representative of that athlete’s overall soccer-specific athleticism,” said Hakeman. “We distill it into one number because it allows for a comparison. Because the tests are standardized any athlete that has a rating can compare him or herself to any other athlete that’s tested too and then those individual test results will serve as a foundation for training programs that we can deliver to all the teams in the Development Academy.”
The final SPARQ results range from 20-110 and players with a final score of 75-110 rank in the top tenth percentile of SPARQ athletes. With these numbers, the players can evaluate their overall athleticism in comparison to other SPARQ-evaluated players.
Check out some of our pictures from the SPARQ testing site this morning! We’ll have more pictures posted on ussoccer.com later this afternoon.
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