PRIMARY OUTPUT
READINESS · SUBJECTIVE CONTEXT
Daily Readiness Check-In
Four brief athlete-reported ratings support a direct conversation before training. They are context—not diagnosis, medical clearance or an automatic training prescription.EQUIPMENT
Private form and conversation
IMPORTANT LIMIT
Not diagnosis or clearance
COACH PROTOCOL
Standardized administration
Use the same wording, scale direction and collection time. Athletes rate sleep quality, fatigue, muscle soreness and stress from 1 (best/lowest concern) to 5 (worst/highest concern), then may add a private flag or note.- 01
Collect privately
Provide a predictable, age-appropriate way to respond without teammates seeing individual answers. Explain who can access the information and when a concern must be shared for safety.
- 02
Rate four items
Sleep quality: very good to very poor. Fatigue, muscle soreness and stress: very low to very high. Record each item separately on the same 1-5 direction.
- 03
Review before totaling
Look first for a marked change in any item, a free-text flag or a request to talk. A sum may be retained as a trend aid, but must not replace the item-level conversation.
- 04
Document the response
Record the coach follow-up, relevant context and any referral/escalation. Do not automate removal, punishment or medical clearance from a threshold alone.
PRINTABLE FORMS
Use the controlled packet
The coach packet includes setup, scoring, stop rules, a multi-athlete sheet, interpretation boundaries and hot research links.INTERPRETATION
The response matters more than the total.
- Use a personal baseline and repeated trend rather than ranking teammates.
- Review individual items; identical totals can represent different concerns.
- Age, school, travel, illness, training and life context affect responses.
- Set a club escalation procedure for health, mental-health, welfare and safeguarding concerns.
- Protect access and retention according to club policy and applicable privacy requirements.
SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS
Supporting evidence and limits
Subjective wellness measures can be useful monitoring signals, but results vary and require context. This four-item check-in is not a validated diagnostic instrument.- Saw et al. — Monitoring the athlete training response: subjective self-reported measuresJournal or DOI record ↗
- Hooper et al. — Markers for monitoring overtraining and recoveryJournal or DOI record ↗
- Halson — Monitoring training load to understand fatigueJournal or DOI record ↗
- Bergeron et al. — IOC youth athletic development consensusJournal or DOI record ↗
COMMON QUESTIONS
Daily Readiness Check-In FAQ
Is the total a readiness score?
It may be retained as a trend aid, but individual items and conversation come first. It is not medical clearance.
Should teammates see each other’s answers?
No. Individual wellness responses should be collected and reviewed privately by authorized staff.
What if an athlete reports a serious concern?
Follow the club’s health, safeguarding, parent or guardian, emergency or referral pathway as appropriate; do not rely on the form alone.
Can one high rating cancel practice?
No automatic decision should be made from one threshold. Speak with the athlete and apply qualified guidance and established policy.
Stop criteria and scope
This check-in does not diagnose illness, injury, mental-health conditions, overtraining or abuse. Urgent symptoms or safety concerns require the appropriate emergency, medical, safeguarding and parent or guardian response—not routine score interpretation.