Touch Football Fitness Essay

Part A - Question 1: Measure and analyse both a range of skill-related and health-related components of fitness for your chosen sport. Examine at least two fitness testing methods when analysing the question above.

SKILL RELATED:

Agility: Agility is the ability to move and change direction and position of the body quickly and effectively and still retain balance in response to obstacles, threats and other stimulus. Agility is highly required in touch Football as you need to be able to change directions very quickly when stepping your opponent to get passed him and hopefully score.

Balance: Balance is the ability to stay upright or stay in control of body movement. There are two types of balance: static and dynamic. When playing Touch Football dynamic balance is required for when you make sharp turns and steps so that you do not fall over and stay in total control of your equilibrium.

Power: the ability to exert a maximal force in as short a

time as possible, as in accelerating, jumping and throwing implements. Remember while strength is the maximal force you can apply against a load, power is proportional to the speed at which you can apply this maximal force. In Touch Football power is required for many things, when throwing a longball to a winger or accelerating very fast off the mark to beat the defender.

Reaction Time: the amount of time taken to respond quickly to a stimulus e.g., sprint start.

Reaction time is key in Touch Football because you must react very fast when you are defending and someone is trying to step you or throw a dummy to get past you or to intercept a longball.

Coordination: the ability to move two or more body parts under control, smoothly and efficiently. This is highly required in Touch Football as you need all parts of your body moving together efficiently to successfully pass, throw dummies, throw long balls, sidesteps, goose steps and plenty more moves and plays.

Speed: the ability to move quickly across the ground or move limbs rapidly to run, grab or throw. Speed requires good strength and power, but also too much body weight and air resistance can act to slow the person down. Speed is the most important skill related component in Touch Football as it is one of the fastest game in the world and requires non stop fast paced running against the defence to acquire tries.

HEALTH

RELATED:

Cardiovascular Endurance: is the ability of the heart, lungs and blood vessels to deliver oxygen to your body tissues. The more efficiently your body delivers oxygen to its tissues, the lower your breathing rate is. This is crucial in Touch Football as you are constantly sprinting and need a healthy cardiovascular system to maintain peak endurance and power.

Muscular Strength: Muscular strength refers to the amount of force a muscle can produce with a single maximal effort. Muscle strength is measured during muscular contraction. The size of your muscle fibers and the ability of nerves to activate muscle fibers are related to muscle strength. Muscular strength may be necessary in Touch Football when making an explosive run to get maximum speed in a short space.

Flexibility: Flexibility or limberness refers to the range of movement in a joint or series of joints, and length in muscles that cross the joints to induce a bending movement or motion. Flexibility can be necessary in Touch Football so that you prevent pulling a muscle or rupturing a tendon.

Muscular Endurance: Muscular endurance is the ability of a muscle or group of muscles to sustain repeated contractions against a resistance for an extended period of time. Muscular endurance is a key component of Touch Football as a athlete must be very endurant and fit to continue playing a fast paced touch game.

Body Composition: The percentage of body weight which is fat, muscle or bone. It helps sportspeople depending on the type of sport they play. In Touch Football an athletes body composition would usually be somewhat muscular especially in the legs but very lean upper body so that they can be fast and explosive but still very endurant.

Extension to Q1:Two most related components to chosen sport (Touch Football)
Touch Football is a fast paced, light contact ball game derived from rugby that requires a healthy balance of skill-related and health-related components of physical fitness. The components of skill-related fitness include agility, balance, coordination, power, speed and reaction time, whereas the health-related components includes cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility and body composition. If an athlete can maintain a stable balance of both health-related and skill-related components to physical fitness they are more physically prepared for their sport and are more likely going to excel in their sport. In Touch Football, the most crucial health-related component is muscular endurance. Touch Football is played on a rectangular field 70 meters long by 50 meters wide the games go for 45 minutes played in two 20 minute halves with a 5 minute halftime break. An athlete competing in an elite level of touch football has to continuously run at a very fast pace at times sprinting at full pace for almost the entire half, all the power a player has to run is generated by his legs. Power is used throughout the whole body to pull of steps, play the ball, pass the ball, make a ruck and bounce back into the line for the next quick play. The power is generated through the flexion and extension of muscle groups (especially in the lower body). Thus requiring strong muscular endurance. Two fitness testing methods for muscular endurance that would suite a touch player are the The Wall Sit Test and the Body-Weight Squats Test.
Wall Sit Test: The wall sit test will measure your legs’ abilities to hold a contraction over time. Hold a timer in your hand or have a partner keep time. Stand with your back to a wall and step your feet out so that they’re about 1.5 feet away from the wall. Try remain in your position for as long as possible, keep record of your times, have a rest and continue to try beat your record.
Body-Weight Squat Test: The body-weight squat tests the muscles in your legs on their ability to perform contractions over and over. Stand with your back to a chair. With your feet set to shoulder-width apart and your hands on your hips, push your hips back and bend your knees to lower down into a squat. Once your hips touch the chair, stand right back up. Complete as many repetitions as you can in 60 seconds.
The most important skill-related component of fitness in Touch Football is agility. Touch Football is one of the fastest games in the world, to excel in this sport agility is necessary to move as fast as you can to get past a defender or to do a quick play the ball and outrun defenders. Agility is a players ability to change the position of the body quickly and precisely and still retain balance in response to obstacles, threats and other stimulus through whole body movements. If a player masters this skill-component of physical fitness he can become virtually untouchable on the touch field making him a nightmare for defenders. Two fitness testing methods for Agility are,
The Agility Cone Drill: The Agility cone drill is a test of speed, explosive power, and the ability to control your body while changing direction. The Agility Cone Drill measures critical elements of lateral movement, including speed, power, body control and change of direction.

Q2. critically analyse the purpose and benefits of testing physical fitness for your chosen sport.
Within most sports, it is highly important to acquire a certain level or standard in terms of athletic capabilities that are specific to each sport. In order for the players themselves, coaching & training staff have to reach these standards optimally and exceed performance. they must work to identify and improve upon areas within their health and skill related components they lack preparation in. There are a variety of different tests that can enhance the athletes capabilities within these components, Tests are carried out and compared to other players and given back to the athlete where he will be told in what areas he needs training and enhancement in.