Proposed NISOA Fitness Test Changes for 2015
by John Puglisi, NISOA Past - President, NISOA National clinician and NISOA local assessor.
NISOA’s Director of Physical Fitness, Dr. Ken Kaylor is recommending modifications to the NISOA Physical Fitness Test. Key highlights of the modifications include:
- Eliminating the point system. Officials must pass each event.
- Eliminating the Pro 40 Box event and reduces the number of events to three.
- Replacing the 30M shuttle (7 x 30 meters) with a 6 x 40 meter sprint repeat test similar to the one used by US Soccer.
The significant issues driving the proposed modifications are:
- Safety. There are too many reports of officials falling during the Pro 40 box event.
- Better alignment with US Soccer while still not burdening chapter administrators.
- Simplify the test to pass/fail.
- Use gender-based scoring.
The proposed fitness test is available for review/download and is on the agenda for action at the upcoming NISOA Convention/Annual General Meeting in Buffalo, New York on July 18, 2014. We are looking for feedback and comments from members to help shape our direction on this initiative. Please comment here.
Updated August 9, 2014 – Some significant changes to the proposed test were approved by the NISOA Membership at the Annual General Meeting in July 2014. Details are available on the NISOA web site.
This entry was posted on Thursday, June 26th, 2014 at 1:15 pm and is filed under Instruction with keyword(s) fitness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
The current fitness test is too easy. I suggest most of the referees who take the test never train ever.
So if you want to make the test “safer,” it will keep getting easier for unfit referees to pass the test.
College should employ similar tests to US soccer’s fitness testing.
Just leave it alone! Nothing wrong with the test
The problem with doing away with the point system a lot of Referees will have to drop out of NISOA. Some Referees are not good with The 12 min run but they are very fast with the sprint part of the test. Some Refs are very good with the 12 min Run but not good for the sprints .
The NISOA PFT is easier than the old USSF PFT because it shows the ref on where there strongest part and their weakness are. However there are Refs in NISOA that fail not by just one point but so horrible that how did they become officials in the first place.
My view, Keep the NISOA PFT as is and to officiate D1 then score beyond the current passing zone . The only problem with this is some conferences don’t even use NISOA Referees so even if you fail the NISOA test the conference Assignor could still use you if that conference Assignor fells that that official can do the job .
Our collected data does not support the statement that some referees are very good with the 12 minute run but not good for the sprints. With a single exception over the past six years, all referees that score well in the 12 minute run also score well on the sprints.
Our data does indicate that unless officials train for the 12 minute run better, we will see many more officials failing to meet the minimum requirement in 2015 if this proposal is approved by the membership as is.