Best Soccer Assessments to Test Your Player’s Skills
Soccer assessments are an important part of any soccer player’s development that helps players, coaches, and parents evaluate different aspects of performance, from physical fitness and skill development to injury prevention.
By incorporating skills assessments and fitness testing players can measure their speed, agility, and endurance while also assessing key skills such as ball control, dribbling, and shooting accuracy. To help you along your soccer journey here are some ideas for soccer assessments and fitness tests that can act as valuable tools for evaluations, tracking improvement, identifying strengths and weaknesses, and providing you with valuable information to get a better understanding of your team.
The Best Assessments For Fitness and Skills for Soccer Players
Weight and Body Fat %:
Measuring weight helps assess a soccer player’s overall conditioning and track changes in muscle mass or body fat percentage, a key indicator of a player’s fitness level, impacting endurance, speed, and agility. Lower body fat can improve aerobic fitness and reduce fatigue during high-intensity exercise and there are various ways to test for body fat%, but the easiest way would be to use a smart scale.
Heart Rate BPM:
This test measures heart rate beats per minute (BPM) at rest to see how hard your heart works at rest. A lower resting heart rate is usually a sign of better cardiovascular fitness and the average for an elite athlete is anywhere from 40-60 BPM.
Breath Rate:
Measuring breaths per minute helps evaluate a player’s breathing efficiency and when it comes to breath rate it is best to breath light, deep, slow, and gentle, instead of fast and shallow.
BOLT Score:
The BOLT (Body Oxygen Level Test) score measures a player’s ability to hold their breath after exhaling, reflecting their respiratory efficiency and overall fitness. A higher BOLT score indicates better control over breath, which is crucial for managing energy, maintaining focus, and sustaining performance during high-intensity exercise.
One Foot Balance + Juggling
This assessment focuses on testing a player’s balance, coordination, ball control, juggling, and the ability to maintain ankle stiffness in both feet. The goal is to maintain balance of your body while juggling the ball low.
To get a visual of how to perform this assessment watch this video of Cristiano Ronaldo doing it himself.
Alternate Juggling with High Kicks
This test is also designed to test your ball control with both feet but in a different way. With this assessment create a 5 yard square grid, juggle the ball a few times, and then kick the ball in the air high above your head. The point is to trap the ball while keeping control of it and repeating with out dropping the ball and alternating feet.
Alternate Wall Passes / volley
One way to test your passing is by finding a wall or a soccer rebounder, setting up a one minute timer, recording yourself, and performing wall passes repeatedly while maintaining control of the soccer ball. One way to test your ability to control the ball from the air is by doing the same thing but with a larger wall and performing wall volleys. This is more of a visual test where you will be able to see how coordinated you are while passing using different techniques and alternating feet.
Freestyle Dribbling for 45 Seconds to 1 Minute
This assessment focuses on ball control, dribbling, and your creativity. For this assessment grab a soccer ball and create a grid as big as you’d like or just use any open space you have available. Set up a 1 minute timer and dribble inside the box while doing different skill moves along the way, just like a boxer performs “shadow boxing” think of this as “shadow dribbling.”
Freestyle Dribbling to Shooting
For this final assessment we are combining dribbling with shooting accuracy. Similar to the last assessment grab a soccer ball, but the more you have available the better, and start off a few yards away from the 18 yard box. Kick the ball in the air and control, or simply roll the ball out, and perform “shadow dribbling” until you get closer to the goal and shoot. Make sure to go at a high intensity, like if it was a game, push yourself, and strive for excellence.
T-Test:
The T-Test evaluates agility and change of direction by requiring players to sprint, shuffle, and backpedal in a T-shaped pattern. This test measures speed, balance, and directional changes, crucial for intense soccer movements.
Beep Test:
The beep test is one of the best assessments to test the aerobic system and other energy systems because it involves constant running back and forth between markers at increasing speeds until exhaustion. To do this test either look up a Beep test timer, app, or video online and follow along until you get tired.
Summary
To summarize, this blog post emphasizes the importance of soccer assessments in evaluating and improving player performance. In this post we shared a range of tests for measuring physical fitness, skill development, and overall performance, including assessments for weight, body fat percentage, heart rate, breath rate, and BOLT score, as well as skill tests like juggling, passing, dribbling, and shooting accuracy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are Assessments important for Soccer Performance and Success?
Soccer assessments are essential for evaluating various aspect’s of a player’s performance such as physical fitness, physical abilities, technical skills, and overall performance because they provide valuable information to coaches and players to help them make better informed decisions.
What is the best agility test for soccer players?
The best agility test consists of the T test and the shuttle run tests. These tests are great for both youth soccer players and professional soccer players.
What is the best endurance test for soccer players?
The best conditioning drills and test consists of the beep test and the yoyo test. As above, these tests are great for both youth soccer players and professional soccer players.
What is the best skills assessment for soccer players?
Some of the best skills assessments for soccer players at all levels include juggling tests, passing tests, dribbling tests, and shooting tests. As above, these tests are great for both youth soccer players and professional soccer players.
What are the best sprint tests for professional football players?
The best test to find a player’s maximum speed is a 10-yard dash, 5-10-5 shuttle, and the 40-yard dash, which involve high intensity running.
How can I begin improving my soccer skills right now?
To begin improving your soccer skills right now, check out our post on the best soccer training drills. If you are looking to accelerate your progress, contact us or sign an interest form for our private training program.
How can I learn more about the beautiful game?
To learn more about soccer the most important thing is to join a team and play the game as much as possible. If possible, analyze high level games as much as you can and your own games as well by recording them with a soccer camera. Also read soccer books, listen to podcasts and interviews watch soccer documentaries, as well as some movies, tv shows, and anime.
