The Sprint Mechanics Assessment Score
If you’re just here for the free download, it’s at the bottom!
If you follow Altis, I’m sure you have seen the “Altis Kinogram Method” as a way to help evaluate the technique of the athletes you coach. Although the principles of the method can be applied to any movement skill or sport, it seems to be most popular for assessing sprinting mechanics. Earlier this year, a paper was published that describes a simple method for scoring the mechanics of each of the phases of the gait cycle. I have been using the kinogram method off and on for a few years with the athletes I work with, but am extremely excited about this new way to help apply it and explain the results to the athletes I’m coaching.
Not only do I believe this will help me communicate the results with the athletes better, but it will also give me a more concrete way to track changes over time. Being able to assign a well defined score should allow me to compare kinograms from throughout the season more objectively to help track if changes in technique are actually occurring.
The other positive is that the authors have provided a scoring table to help interpret the results of the score and identify any athletes who may be at a “higher-risk” for potential injury.
If you haven’t read their article yet, you need to. I’ve also taken their scoring system and formatted it into an easily downloadable excel spreadsheet for you to be able to create a profile for each of the athletes you are coaching. There is a spot at the top to insert the kinogram and then you can use the chart to calculate the score. This can easily be printed, saved as a .pdf, or copied to multiple sheets to create an entire workbook for your team.
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