A peculiarity is noticed when studying the facial expressions and body language of both athletes and umpires as soon as the yo-yo is announced. Any person with military background and battle experience will be familiar with the reaction. It looks the same as when soldiers go into battle. For most people the yo-yo is the enemy which needed to be conquered.
Keep your friend close but your enemy closer.
Attributed to a number of different people
We are all familiar with the above saying but is it possible to make this enemy your friend? My opinion is that it is possible. However, there need to be a number of important aspects in place for this to happen successfully.
What is the yo-yo?
The yo-yo is a test that was developed by Danish soccer physiologist Jens Bangsbo to test fitness levels with minimal costing impact. The yo-yo has four different levels. For netball umpiring testing the focus will be on the yo-yo level 1 endurance test.
The test is run over a distance of 20m moving like a yo-yo. To the end and back. At the starting end there is a 5m distance for speed reduction and return to the starting marker before the next run. The time for the 20m gets less and less depending on the level you run while the time for the 5m stays the same.
If you want to know more about the science behind the test you should visit this page.
The three musketeers
I believe there are three aspects that need to be successfully addressed in order to run a yo-yo test effectively. The subliminal advantage is however that these aspects are also required to umpire successfully.
- Psychological
- Physical
- Fitness
An exciting announcement will be made at the workshop to assist umpires in training for better performance.
Let’s have a look at each of these aspects in turn and how to prepare ourselves for the test.
1. Psychological
The human is an organism where all aspects play a part in our ability to perform well. If we fear failure the body becomes tight, the thought processes slow down and the ability to perform well gets reduced.
In order to overcome this effect the umpire needs to make the yo-yo his or her friend. This may be done by familiarising yourself with the test often. I would suggest two ways of doing it:
- As part of warm-ups. Use the first couple of levels in early warm-ups.
- As part of endurance training. Use the yo-yo to tire yourself in between the warmup and any endurance training
The benefits of using the yo-yo like this are not only getting used to the exercise but also you get used to timing the runs at the different levels optimally. This will address the issue a lot of umpires have in running the beginning levels to fast which in turn will reduce their highest level achieved.
I use the paid version of the Yo-Yo Intermittent Test by Ruval Enterprises to assist me. It is available for my Android phone on Google Play Store.
2. Physical
The yo-yo requires a number of physical attributes to be well trained and developed in athletes. If this is not the case injuries will develop. To run the yo-yo effectively you need to have the following attributes well developed:
- Effective running technique. This should require minimum hip rotation around the vertical. This will require an effective arm technique and leg actions. Use arm movement training as well as A-walks, A-skips, and A-runs to assist.
- Hip mobilisation. Make sure the hip can move through the different planes. Training to include leg swings, fire hydrant, and lunge matrix.
- Anti-rotation strengthening of the core. Palloff press, and land mine exercises.
- Effective change of direction technique. Use the energy created in running to propel yourself in the opposite direction. This will require good ability to triple load and triple extend without sway of the upper body.
The above are just some of the main physical aspects that I believe is required to run the yo-yo effectively and injury free.
3. Fitness
General aerobic fitness is definitely required but speed improvements tend to help at the higher levels. Since most netball umpires tend to be older a good suggestion is to train speed work over short distances up to 15 meters. To give the exercises more effect do these against an incline of maximum 40 degrees.
An important aspect to remember is that when you are training for speed you should not sweat. Short very fast intervals with long rests. However, if you want to be able to maintain speed over longer distances you should make sure to incorporate speed endurance training.
I will be addressing some of these techniques during the workshop as well as provide some training tips.
An exciting announcement will be made at the workshop to assist umpires in training for better performance.
Remember to make the yo-yo your friend and it will never bother you again. Hopefully, we will be seeing smiling faces when the yo-yo is announced in future.