Innovations in Fitness Assessment and Monitoring in Sport

A special issue of Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology (ISSN 2411-5142). This special issue belongs to the section "Athletic Training and Human Performance".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2026 | Viewed by 681

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Resistance Exercise, Physiology, and Sport Laboratory, Health and Exercise Physiology Department, Ursinus College, Collegeville, PA 19426, USA
Interests: resistance exercise; sport science; velocity-based training; dietary supplements

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Fitness assessment and monitoring are essential tools for understanding athletes’ physical capabilities, guiding training decisions, and preventing injury. With rapid advances in technology and methodology, sports science is experiencing a transformation in how performance is evaluated and monitored over time. The aim of this Special Issue of the Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology, titled Innovations in Fitness Assessment and Monitoring in Sport, is to highlight novel approaches, tools, and applications that advance the precision, efficiency, and accessibility of fitness assessment.

We invite researchers to contribute original studies, systematic reviews, and applied perspectives that explore the development, validation, and practical use of innovative assessment techniques. Of particular interest are contributions that integrate new technologies, data analytics, and wearable devices to capture meaningful indicators of sport performance and health.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Novel methods for assessing physical fitness and sport-specific performance;
  • Advances in wearable technologies and monitoring devices;
  • Data-driven approaches to tracking training load, recovery, and readiness;
  • Field-based testing protocols that enhance ecological validity;
  • Applications of fitness assessment in youth, elite, tactical, and clinical sport populations.

Through this Special Issue, we aim to promote innovations that support evidence-based practice and optimize athlete performance and well-being.

Dr. Kyle Beyer
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • athlete monitoring
  • wearable technology
  • training load
  • reliability and validity
  • physiological profiling
  • injury prevention
  • data analytics
  • key performance indicators

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

15 pages, 770 KB  
Article
Efficiencies in Physical Talent Identification Among Australian Adolescents: A Retrospective, Cross-Sectional Observational Study
by Patrick W. R. Norton, Stephen J. Norton and Kevin I. Norton
J. Funct. Morphol. Kinesiol. 2026, 11(2), 160; https://doi.org/10.3390/jfmk11020160 - 20 Apr 2026
Viewed by 433
Abstract
Background: Talent identification (TID) programmes aim to detect adolescents with high physical potential, yet the efficiency of finding high-performance talent across different testing environments in an Australian context is unknown. The current study aim was to calculate the likelihood of participants scoring [...] Read more.
Background: Talent identification (TID) programmes aim to detect adolescents with high physical potential, yet the efficiency of finding high-performance talent across different testing environments in an Australian context is unknown. The current study aim was to calculate the likelihood of participants scoring at or above the 90th percentile in anthropometric or physical performance measures across different testing settings. Methods: We analysed retrospective, cross-sectional physical and performance data from 10,134 Australian adolescents aged 12–17 years (4427 girls; 5707 boys) tested in either schools (2992; 3500), advertised come-and-try TID “Select” sessions (1235; 1622), or community-based amateur sports clubs (200; 585). Standardised measures used across all settings included height, body mass, and five physical performance tests of strength, speed, agility, leg power and aerobic fitness. We used a threshold of “higher physical performance” or “physical talent” as an age- and sex-specific ≥90th percentile ranking in any of the performance tests when compared against our international normative database. Anthropometry measures were also compared using the same approach across settings. Results: Chi-square tests showed girls had significantly higher (p < 0.001) prevalence of ≥90th percentile scores in all performance results in Select, and all except speed in Sport settings compared to Schools testing. No differences were found for either height or body mass across settings (p = 0.078 and 0.17, respectively). Boys exhibited smaller differences, with Sport settings yielding significantly higher sprint and agility scores ≥90th percentile (p < 0.05), relative to both Schools and Select testing environments. Differences were found for height and body mass across settings (p < 0.001 for both analyses, respectively). Conclusions: Select environments enhance the identification of physically talented girls, while boys demonstrate broader distribution of performance talent across settings. Findings inform resource allocation for future TID programmes when the primary aim is to maximise the efficiency of finding higher-performance physical talent relative to the number of tests conducted. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovations in Fitness Assessment and Monitoring in Sport)
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