SPARQ Ratings
SPARQ is an acronym for Speed, Power, Agility, Reaction and Quickness. The SPARQ Rating was a scoring system designed to measure sport-specific athleticism.
Note: Despite being a very popular assessment method for some time, the SPARQ business is no longer active and is not available to conduct testing and rate players.
The results from various tests in each of the areas of speed, power, agility, reaction and quickness were combined and weighted using a sport specific formula to create a single SPARQ rating score. The SPARQ Rating was used to identify which areas you should concentrate your training and where you could improve. A companion system, SPARQ Training, gave the athletes a variety of drills, programs and information to improve in their sport.
The sports protocols were updated several times. Below is what is believed to be the most recent protocols used for these sports:
The general SPARQ Athletic Assessment Protocols included the following tests:
- Vertical Jump
- Kneeling Power Ball Throw
- 20 Meter Sprint
- 20 Yard Shuttle
- Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test
The SPARQ Rating set of tests for self-administration were as follows. You also needed you testing day body weight to calculate your rating.
This is the complete list of tests that were used in SPARQ assessments, depending on which sports are being tested.
- 2 Hop Jump
- Shuttle Cross Pickup
- Vertical Jump (also One Step Vertical Jump)
- Max Touch
- Rotational Power Ball Throw
- Overhead Power Ball Throw
- Kneeling Power Ball Throw or Chest Launch
- Hand Grip Strength
- 20 Yard Shuttle
- Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test
- 20 Meter Dash
- 30 Meter Dash
- 30 Yard Dash
- 40-yard dash
- Sprint 3/4 Court
- 30 Second Endurance Jump
- Multi-stage Hurdle Jump Test
- Agility Cone or Compass Drill
- Arrowhead Agility
- Lane Agility Drill
- Bench Press
- Quick-Strike
- Punch Power
- Upper-Body Arm Crank
- Agility Jump
- Light Board
Some Results
There were performance guides which gave the details for each rating so you could see how you ranked and can quickly identify your relative strengths and weaknesses. An average rating typically fell between 45 and 55. An elite rating typically exceeded 85 or 90.
- Bryan Clay (US Decathlete) - reported in the SPARQ Magazine from the Summer of 2008, he achieved a Football rating of 130.40, close to the high-scoring 132.00 recorded at the 2008 Nike Combines, where more than 10,000 athletes were tested. He performed all tests, and his other ratings were: SOCCER 96.50, BASEBALL 102.00, BASKETBALL 90.00 and ATHLETIC ASSESSMENT 145.00.
- The highest recorded SPARQ Baseball Rating is 102.31 by Jacoby Ellsbury, a Major League Baseball outfielder for the Boston Red Sox.
- The SPARQ Magazine (Summer of 2008) also noted that the highest Basketball SPARQ rating score recorded for hoops was 89.70 by Brandan Wright, a 6' 9" forward who plays for the Golden State Warriors. Also notable was the score of 86.80 recorded by NCAA All-American Derrick Rose.
Related Pages
- SPARQ fitness test videos
- Measuring overall fitness, a Fitness Index
- Pre-draft combine testing for sports
- UA Combine — a fitness testing competition involving eight tests.
- Nike SPARQ testing shoe — the first-ever running shoe designed specifically for fitness testing.
- Complete List of fitness tests
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