By Hughie O’Malley
U.S. National Teams Sports Medicine Coordinator &
Donald Kirkendall, Ph.D.
Univ. of North Carolina 

During physical assessments of the U.S. National Team and U-23 teams in January 1998, the national staff and the sports medicine staff agreed that a systematic series of tests uniformly applied at the highest levels of American soccer would help in establishing standards of fitness for American soccer. 

The tests described are the result of numerous sessions refining the selection and methods of testing. These tests have been applied to hundreds of players from u-12 through National Teams for both men and women. Following are explanations on the rationale for the selection of tests, the method of testing, and areas to watch for so that your learning curve will be short. 

Make sure the players are well warmed up prior to testing. You should use your discretion to pull players from certain tests due to an injury or illness. Group players in equal numbers. They start at any station then rotate through all stations as a group. The "beep" test is done at the end as a group. The entire testing session usually takes 2.0-2.5 hours for about 30 players. All tests are done on grass in the players preferred cleated shoe.