Creating a Universal Fitness Evaluation for Female Athletes

Gabrielle Corbin
Advisor: Prof. Jeffrey Kallenbach
Siena Heights University

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

ABSTRACT

As body image continues to be a struggle for

young women, I hope to create a universal
fitness evaluation for female athletes. This
evaluation will allow coaches to rank their
players fitness and also limit body image
issues among them by not soley using weight
as a judgement of fitness level.

Fitness is one of the most important aspects

of being a college athlete. With hundreds of
different fitness tests performed by programs
all over the country, its impossible to find one
suitable and unbiased for all female athletes
specifically womens soccer players. Body
type, injuries and other factors can affect a
females ability to perform well in a particular
fitness test. By creating a universal
evaluation for fitness, I hope to eliminate the
bias created by these issues. Also, I hope a
universal evaluation will help reduce body
image issues among female athletes.

FACTS

More than 90 percent of girls 15 to 17

years want to change at least one aspect
of their physical appearance, with body
weight ranking the highest.
In the United States, 20,000 to 80,000 high
school female athletes experience ACL
injuries each year, with most in soccer and
basketball.
In a survey of 185 female students on a
college campus, 58% felt pressure to be a
certain weight, and of the 83% that dieted
for weight loss, 44% were of normal weight.

HYPOTHESIS

METHODOLOGY

Ill begin with researching the

different fitness tests college
coaches use for their female
athletes. Next, Ill try to evaluate
which fitness tests are most
important and how they will factor
into my algorithm. Also, Ill look into
attributes such as height and weight
and find how they affect a female
athletes physical fitness.

There is an algorithm available that can be

used to help rate a female athletes fitness
level. Also this algorithm will be effective and
useful for high schools and colleges.

RELEVANT INFORMATION

Some high school and college soccer

fitness tests include a 40 yard timed sprint,
the Yo Yo Intermittent Recovery Test,
timed 2 mile, beep test, etc.
In a study of 604 acl patients under the
age of 17 who were competitive high
school athletes in the following sports:
basketball, soccer, volleyball, gymnastics,
and football, the percentage of athletes
who returned to their same sport at the
same competitive level was 86%