WHAT IS A NEED’S ANALYSIS?
The needs analysis is a process of determining what qualities are necessary for an athlete or sport. It should look at the needs of the sport, position and game situations. The analysis should also look at the individuals needs; physical, nutritional and psychological.
It is important to carry out this process before designing your programme to help focus the training on what needs to be done, not what you think should be done.
THE KEY ELEMENTS OF A NEED’S ANALYSIS.
1. What are the needs of the event/sport?
Finding out what muscle groups are used, what the key movements patterns are and what energy systems are used will allow you to outline the training methods required to prepare for the sport.
2. Testing as part of the analysis.
When designing a programme what will the testing process be to track your progress. There needs to be a method of validation for the training plan you’re following. Otherwise you have no real way of knowing if it is working until race day when it’ll be too late.
3. The Competition/Game Schedule
This analysis will determine the training schedule, the cycles of programming and allow you to see when you need to peak, recover, progress or taper.
4. Analysis of Current Condition
Before designing the ultimate programme, you need to know where you are in terms of physical condition and gather your training history so you can set the training variable in your programme. Adjusting the intensity, volume, density and recovery periods will be the difference between consistent progression and development, or injury and failure.
Creating an analysis process that covers all of these sections will give you a very detailed set of answers and information to design a plan that is specific to the sport/event and ensure success.
