Class-XII Physical Education

Chapter-6: Test & Measurement in Sports

Learning Outcomes:
• Definition of Test & Measurement
• Motor Fitness Test
• General Motor Fitness
• Measurement of Cardiovascular Fitness: Harvard Step/Rockport Test
• Computation of Fitness Index
• Senior Citizen Fitness: Rikli and Jones Test
All results need to have a measure. What can be measured can be
corrected and improved upon. In physical education program especially, it
is important to plan a series of activities to achieve the desired goal. Thus,
improved performance in sports comes from measuring and evaluating
the progress of specific scientific parameters.
Test: Test is a tool which is used to evaluate the skills, performance, and
reliability of the task completed by an individual. Scores of the test vary
between being objective or subjective. The main reason that teachers test
the students is to measure their learning and growth in terms of
understanding and skills. Tests also provide feedback on the effectiveness
of the teacher’s teaching methods and the study material provided. The
tests in games and sports are used to gather information about the
athlete evaluating their capacity, ability, needs and endurance.
Measurement: Measurements are important as they help to classify the
students on the basis of age, sex, height and weight. It is the process of
collecting data about the performance or task completed by an individual
by using a test or a series of tests. Measurement is also useful in assessing
the level of performance, fitness, ability, knowledge, personality and skills
of the sportsperson. This helps to know where increased emphasis is
needed to achieve the target. Progress of individual or group is measured
and grading is done on the basis of measurement.
Motor Fitness Tests: Motor fitness is a term that describes an athlete’s
ability to perform effectively during sports or other physical activities.
There are six components of motor fitness are speed, strength, flexibility,
agility, endurance and coordination. The level of motor fitness of a child
can be measured by the following tests:
1. 50 Mts. Dash: The aim of this test to determine acceleration and
speed.

Procedure: The test involves running a single maximum sprint over 50

metres, with time recorded. Start from a stationery standing position with
one foot in front of the other. The front foot must be behind the starting
line. Once the subject is ready and motionless, the starter gives the
instructions ‘set’ then ‘go’.
Gender Excellent Good Average Fair Poor
Boys <8.18 sec 8.18 to 8.69 8.70 to 9.44 9.45 to 10.89 > 10.89
Girls <9.78 sec 9.78 to 10.71 10.72 to 11.78 11.79 to 12.83 > 12.83

2. Standing Broad Jump: This test is to determine the lower body

strength.
Procedure: In this test, a subject is required to stand behind a take-off
line, with feet apart. He takes a jump forward by extending his bent knees
and swinging the arms forward. The best jump recorded, out of the three
trials given, is the score of the subject. (The jump should be recorded in
metres).
Gender Excellent Good Average Fair Poor
Boys >2.50 2.20 to 2.50 1.80 to 2.20 1.40n to 1.80 < 1.40
Girls >2.20 1.90 to 2.20 1.50 to 1.90 1.20 to 1.50 < 1.20
3. Partial Curl-up: This test is to determine abdominal strength.

Procedure: Two lines marks will be given on the mat with 6 inches apart.
The subject should lie on his or her back with knees flexed and kept not
more than 12 inches from the buttocks. His/her buttocks should behind
the first mark. The hands of the subject should be placed at the ground
close to the body. Palms should be opened, finger tips to touch the first
mark and elbows touching the mat. From this position, the subject should
raise his or her head and palms should be slipped forward to touch the
second mark. Then return to the lying position. This constitutes one sit-
up. (The number of correctly performed sit-ups in 60 seconds from the
start of the first set-up is the score of a subject).

Gender Excellent Good Average Fair Poor

Girls 32+ 24 to 31 16 to 23 10 to 15 < 10
Boys 40+ 30 to 39 20 to 29 12 to 19 < 12
4. Push-ups (Boys)/Modified Push-ups (Girls): To determine upper body
strength.
Procedure: Boys should get down and put your body weight on palms and
toes for push-ups. But girls should get down on palms and knees for
modified push-ups. Place your hands slightly wider than your shoulders.
Straighten your arms and legs. Lower your body until your chest nearly
touches the floor. Then push yourself and come to the original position.
Repeat the same and the numbers of repetitions are to be counted.
Push-up Modified push-up

Gender Excellent Good Average Fair Poor

Girls 40+ 30-39 20-29 12-19 <12
Boys 60+ 50-59 40-49 32-39 <32
5. Sit and Reach: This test is to determine flexibility.
Procedure: The subject is asked to remove shoes and place his/her feet
against the testing box while sitting on the floor with straight knees. Now
the subject is asked to place one hand on top of the other so that the
middle fingers of both hands are together at the same length. The subject
is instructed to lean forwards and place his/her hands over the measuring
scale lying on the top of the box with its 10 cms. mark coinciding with the
front edge of the testing box. Then, the subject is asked to slide his/her
hands along the measuring scale as far as possible without bouncing and
to hold the farthest position for at least one second.
Gender Super Excellent Good Average Fair Poor
Girls >30 21 to 29 11 to 20 1 to 10 -7 to 0 <-8
Boys >27 17 to 26 6 to 16 0 to 5 -8 to -1 <-9
6. 4 X 10 Mts. Shuttle Run: To determine agility (Speed with balance)

Procedure: For this test item, two parallel lines are drawn at a distance of
30 feet from each other and two blocks of wood are placed behind one of
the lines. The subject has to stand behind the other line and, on the
signal, Ready―Go should run to pick up one block, run back to the
starting line and place the block behind the line. He should again turn
back to pick up the second block and bring it also behind the starting line.
Two such trials are given. (The better time of the two trials to the nearest
10th of a second is the score of the subject).
Gender Excellent Good Average Fair Poor
Girls <10.9 sec 11.0-11.5 sec 11.6-12.0 sec 12.1-12.6 sec >12.6 sec
Boys <9.9 sec 10.0-10.3 sec 10.4-10.8 sec 10.9-11.3 sec >11.3 sec
7. 600 Mts. Run/Walk: To measure cardiovascular endurance

Gender Excellent Good Average Fair Poor

Girls < 2:10 min. 2:10-2:30min. 2:30-2:50 min. 2:50-3:10 min. > 3:10 min.
Boys < 1:50 min. 1:50-2:10min. 2:10-2:30 min. 2:30-2:50 min. > 2:50 min.
Procedure: This run can be organized on a track, on a football field or an
open area marked for this purpose. In this test item, a subject runs a
distance of 600 mts. The subject takes a standing start from the start line.
The subject may walk in between. However, the objective is to cover the
distance in the shortest time. The time taken to run the distance is
recorded in minutes and seconds.

General Motor Fitness (Barrow Three-item Test): The purpose of

the barrow motor ability test is to develop an easily administered test of
motor ability. This test consists of the medicine ball put, zigzag run and
standing broad jump.
1. Medicine Ball Put
2. Zigzag Run

3. Standing Broad Jump

Measurement of Cardiovascular Fitness: Cardiovascular fitness is

defined as the ability of the heart, blood cells and lungs to supply oxygen-
rich blood to the working muscle tissues and the ability of the muscles to
use oxygen to produce energy for movement.
Harvard Step Test: It is a type of cardiac stress test for detecting and
measuring efficiency of our heart. It is also a good measurement of fitness
and a person’s ability to recover after a strenuous exercise by checking
the recovery rate. Specifically, it is a predictive test of Vo2max. Vo2max is
the maximal oxygen consumption of our body.
Harvard Step Test is a test of aerobic fitness, developed by Lucien Brouha
and his associates in 1943.This test is simple to conduct and requires
minimal equipment. We need a step or a platform of 20 inches high, a
stopwatch and a metronome.
Procedure: The athlete steps up and down on the platform at a rate of 30
steps per minutes for 5 minutes or until exhaustion. Exhaustion is defined
as when the athlete cannot maintain the stepping rate for 15 seconds.
The athlete immediately sits down on completion of the test. After one
minute of completion of test total number of heart beats is to be counted
for next 30 seconds. Then take rest for 30 seconds and count the heart
beats of next 30 seconds. Again, take rest for 30 seconds and count the
heart beats of next 30 seconds. (3 pulse counts-30 sec. each)

Calculation of Fitness Index =Test duration in seconds X 100 _____ .

2 X Sum of heart beats in the recovery periods

Fitness Index
Ratings Men Women Short form Equation=
Excellent >90 >86 Test duration in seconds X 100 .
Good 80-89.9 76-85.9 5.5 X Pulse count between 1-1.5 minutes
Above Average 65-79.9 61-75.9
Average 55-64.9 50-60.9
Poor <55 <50
Rockport One Mile Test: This is also a cardiovascular efficiency test.
Administration of Test:
(i) Choose a windless day to conduct the test.
(ii) Record your weight in pounds (lbs)
(iii)Walk one mile (1609 mt.) as fast as possible.
(iv) Record the time to complete the one-mile walk.
(v) Immediately on finishing the walk record your heart rate (beats per
minute).
(vi) Determine your Maximum Cardio-Respiratory ability (VO2) from the
calculation given below
Calculation Procedure:
Analysis of the result is done by comparing it with the result of previous
test. It is expected that, appropriate training between each test should be
done to show improvement.
The formula used to calculate
VO2 Max is: 132·853 – (0·0769 × weight) – (0·3877 × Age) + (6·315 ×
Gender) – (3·2649 × Time) – (0·1565 × Heart rate)
Where:
(a) Weight is in pounds (lbs)
(b) Gender: Male = 1 and Female = 0 (in minutes)
(d) Heart rate is in beats/minute
(e) Age in years.
Senior Citizen Fitness: Rikli and Jones Test
1. Chair Stand Test: This test is designed to measure the lower body
(legs) strength.
Procedure: A Chair will be kept closer to the wall to get support from the
backside by which it will be in a firm position. The subject is to sit in the
middle of the chair. His feet are shoulder width apart with arms crossed
at wrist and kept on the chest.
The test starts with standing up and then sitting down completely. The
number of stands in a 30-second period is to be recorded.

2. Arm Curl Test: It is a test for upper body strength. The purpose of
this test is to measure upper body strength and endurance.
Procedure: The subject has to do as many arms curls as possible in 30
sec. This test is conducted on the dominant arm side (or stronger side),
the procedure is
(I) The subject sits on the chair holding the weight (8 pounds for men and
5 pounds for women) in the hand using a suitcase grip (palm facing
towards the body) with the arm in a vertically down position beside the
chair.
(II) The upper arm is placed against the body so that only the lower arm is
moving (the tester may assist to hold the upper arm steady).
(III) The subject curls the arm up through a full range of motion, gradually
turning the palm up (flexion with suspiration).
(IV) Then the arm is lowered through the full range of motion, gradually
return to the starting position.
The arm must be fully bent and then fully straightened at the elbow.
(V) Repeat this action as many times as possible within 30 sec.
(VI) Score is the total number of controlled arm curls performed in 30 sec.
3. Chair Sit and Reach Test: This test is a common measure of flexibility,
and specifically measures the flexibility of the lower back and hamstring
muscles.
Procedure: For the test we need a straight-backed chair approximately 44
cm. high and a scale to measure the movement. The subject sits on the
edge of the chair. The chair is placed firmly against the back of a wall.
While one leg is placed with foot flat on the ground, the other leg is fully
extended at the knee. Both the hands are placed on top of each other
with the middle fingers being in identical position. While the back is held
up straight with head up, the subject is encouraged to bend forward in an
attempt to touch the toes without jerking. Then the distance left between
the fingertips and toes is measured with the score being zero if these are
in contact.
When there is no contact between the finger tips and toes, this is
measured and considered a negative score. If the fingertips overlap the
toes, this is considered a positive score.
4. Back Scratch Test: This test is designed to measure the shoulder
flexibility.
Procedure: This test is performed in standing position. Keep one hand
behind the head and back over the shoulder and reach as far as possible
down middle of your back. Your palm should touch your body and the
fingers should be downwards. Then carry other arm behind your back
palm facing outward and fingers upward and reach up as far as possible
trying to touch or overlap the middle fingers of both hands. Fingers
should be aligned. Measure the distance between the tips of fingers. If
the finger tips touch each other, then score is zero, if they do not touch
measure the distance between finger tips(negative), if they overlap than
by how much (+ score).
5. Eight Foot Up and Go Test: This is coordination and agility test for
senior citizens.
Procedure: Keep chair next to the wall and the marker, 8 feet in front of
the chair. The participant starts completely seated, with hands resting on
the knees and feet flat on the ground. On the command ‘go’ stopwatch is
started and the participant stands and walk (on running at all) as quickly
as possible to and around cone and returns to the chair to sit down. Time
is noted as he sits down on the chair. Two trials are given to the
participant.
6. Six Minute Walk Test: This is designed to test the overall functional
fitness.
Procedure: The subject is to instruct to walk maximum possible distance
covered in six minutes around the marked path. The distance covered in
six minutes is measured to the nearest metre.