Physical Literacy...Do your athletes have it?

I describe a lot of different exercises in this blog that are all appropriate in the right place and time.  However, they are no substitute for physical competancy.  You can pass someone's movement screen and not be physically literate, that's why I don't care for movement screens.  I doesn't make a difference what sport you do, it's universal to all.  I have always admired the Australians.  I always thought they do the best with the small population they have.  Yes, I know it is the size of the U.S., but the central part of the country is mainly uninhabitable.

Coach Kelvin Giles is the CEO of Movement Dynamics (http://www.movementdynamics.com/).  He has quite an international resume.  Educated in the U.S.; then on to the U.K. to coach track and field; back to Australia to become Performance Director for the Brisbane Broncos; and a lot in between.  His broad background led to to develop a set of tests that are universal to all sports.  Pushing, pulling, squatting, rotating, the ability to hop and stick a landing.  Then the ability to measure it and use it to put together a picture a that athlete's level of physical literacy- independant of their skill in a particular sport.

It's the lack of physical litercy that will ultimately limit the athlete's ability to reach their potential.  It's not designed to be an injury predictor, but from the experience I've had with it, it does indeed.  It involves a series of tests and specialized instruments which all gets plugged into a software program that Coach Giles developed.  The PCA (Physical Competancy Assessment) is all ready to be rolled out in the U.S. If you are interested, you may contact him at his website.