Athlete Performance Profiling for Martial Arts Explained (Overall)

What & Why Athlete Performance Profiling

Ever wondered why some athletes just seem to have that "it" factor? It's not just about hours spent training, it's about understanding your own strengths and weaknesses like a superhero knows their kryptonite.

Athlete performance profiling for martial arts is like having a personalized instruction manual for your athletic potential. It's a deep dive into your physical, technical, tactical, mental skills and nutrition, helping you unlock your inner champion. It's essentially creating a comprehensive picture of the athlete current capabilities.

**Think of it like this:**

Scenario 1: A Karate practitioner with a strong foundation in traditional forms and Kata. He/She has good footwork and basic striking techniques. Performance profiling reveals that the athlete has the potential for great speed and agility, but his/her power generation needs refinement. By incorporating plyometric exercises and explosive strength training into the athlete regimen, it can unlock the hidden power and unleash devastating strikes.

This self-awareness empowers athletes and coaches to design effective training programs and track progress towards achieving performance goals.

HOWEVER, BEFORE WE START TO PROFILE OUR ATHLETE, WE FIRST MUST

have an understanding of the demands of Muay Thai Sport - Needs Analysis.

The concept of need analysis in exercise training programme is to provide the theoretical paradigm for program design for different sports and more importantly, for individual athletes. (Kraemer, W.J et. al., 2012).

In other words, as a coach, these 3 aspects are essential for a training programme design:-

• information on the demands of sport

• the current profile of athlete

• what the athletes need to be successful in their sports

Needs analysis often uses the information from performance profiling to pinpoint specific needs. Both concepts work together.

How to do performance profiling of athlete - General Preparation

Step 1:

Understand that these are the common Categorical Factors influencing athlete's performance:

• Physical preparation

• Energy system ability

• Technical skills

• Tactical skill

• Mental strength

• Movement skills

• Nutrition
  

Step 2:

Use the Categorical Factors and Formulate Testings to assess Current Athlete

Earlier in the article where it discusses the importance of needs analysis on Muay Thai metabolic demands, physical level abilities, biomechanical demands especially in the elite level. Use the in-depth analysis (using scientific data-journals, research papers) to identify the data of the Elite Athlete performance. Next, performance testings are carried out to identify current athlete's strengths and weaknesses.

Some testing data analysis can be taken from the journals but there are some key elements you need to devise your own evaluation & testing to determine the Current Athlete's strengths and weaknesses. Normally, we are able to do comparison with the Elite Athlete on their:-

• Physiological analysis - energy system pathway used

• Physical Level Abilities analysis (tests such as Squat, bench press, Taekwondo anaerobic test, etc.)

• Bio-mechanical analysis - biomechanics in striking, kicking, clinching, wrestling etc that generates power & accuracy
  

Here’s a breakdown of key elements in identifying the strengths & weaknesses of an athlete

*make sure the tests are closely related to your martial arts. Doing long jogging testing is not relevant to Wushu Sanda/Muay Thai, especially these martial arts utilize anaerobic systems.

STEP 3:

Once you have all the data between the Elite Athlete and Current Athlete, an in-depth comparison chart is devised by using spider chart. With that, the coach sees the differences.

Here's the sample comparative analysis - spider chart of Novice athlete vs Elite athlete in physiological aspect.

In the next article, I will be using kickboxing/Muay Thai as a reference example of the in-depth comparison of elite and the model athlete analysis. We will discuss it in the next article. Stay tuned!

REFERENCE

1. Bird, M. D., Castillo, E. A., & Luzzeri, M. (2020). Performance Profiling: Theoretical Foundations, Applied Implementations and Practitioner Reflections. Journal of Sport Psychology in Action, 12(4), 213–225. https://doi.org/10.1080/21520704.2020.1822970

2. Pearson Qualifications. (2010). Unit 41: Profiling Sports Performance [Specification]. Retrieved from https://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/BTEC-Nationals/Sport/2010/Specification/Unit_41_Profiling_Sports_Performance.pdf

3. Sports Performance Bulletin. (n.d.). Performance profiling: An essential tool for aspiring athletes. Retrieved from [https://www.sportsperformancebulletin.com/psychology/psychological-aides/performance-profiling-an-essential-tool-for-aspiring-athletes