Now you know what to be done, it is a matter of scheduling them and most importantly doing all of the tests.

Call your coach and ask him to do your technical and tactical review

Organise for a fitness tests to be completed

Organize an appointment with a sports psychologist

Line up an appointment with your GP for a medical review

Call your physiotherapist and organize for a musculoskeletal screening<

Book a nutritional assessment

Conduct an environment review

Talk to your parents and others around you

Set your own personal goals

I have finished my tests so what’s next?

Talk to a consultant to interpret the results

Having completed your assessment, the most vital thing is to now integrate all this information and this is where a sports scientist or sports conditioning performance director comes into action. It is cool to have all the testing done and now the genuine value comes in interpretation of the results and what it means to you, and most significantly the execution of the results into your daily training program.

I have so many parents and coaches show me reports from testing they have finished and it all appears great and the reports looks very impressive with coloured graphs, bar charts etc but they do not have any idea what it means, a lot less what to do about it or the easy way to make the necessary enhancements to fix any areas of weakness.

Moreover, it has got to be integrated and compliment their fitness and training routines. It’s also critical the coach, the tutor and all worried completely understand it in order to be in a position to apply the corrections needed.

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If you do not have access to somebody that understands all the results, be completely sure you understand all your results and also what to do. Knowledge is power. Ask questions of the person who did the testing on you and ensure you understand the results and what that means and most importantly what to do to improve that result. For example, if you have poor shoulder stability, then you would need to grasp what particular exercises you can do to boost it.

Also you will need some steerage on how to do it correctly, how many repetitions and sets to do at what weights, and so on. Knowing an exercise is merely a some of it. It is how many you do and how you do them that’s also important. I have seen a large amount of sportsmen so keen to boost swiftly and then finish up with an overuse injury! Do not let be you. Simply ask for guidance.

Some people feel it is no use correcting what’s not a problem. That should have been the case 20 years ago but then we didn’t have the knowledge, experience and knowledge we have today. Now, it is all about prevention and prevention is better than spending weeks and months on the sidelines, and rehabilitating from wounds that would have been stopped.

Professional sportsmen repeat the same movements millions of times time after time and over. Think of the swimmer, or the rower, or the long distance runner always repeating the same movement patterns with their every move. In time, the surrounding muscles, joints, tendons and tissues may break down if there are any failings or disparities. More than ever before, sportsmen are demanding more from their bodies.

Many sports are played at a quicker pace, and with the improvement in technology and equipment, the strength, the power, speed and the endurance needed by athletes is now even greater than their fellow rivals in years gone by. Added to that, the increased harms, the pressures of the media, sponsors, coaches and other demands a sportsman faces implies that no stone can get left unturned.

Prevention is most definitely better than the cure! I cannot stress this point enough to coaches and players as I have seen too many sportsmen over time not putting in the tiny extra work needed to prevent injuries. It may only be 1 or 2 exercises but those little exercises are worth their weight in gold.

Having gathered all the required information in detail, you’ll realize you have lots of things to work on. And that’s the really exciting part.