Agility tests — Docs

Tap Agility on the Choose protocol sheet and pick one of six tests. Metric Sprint times the run from one video, with the phone on a tripod beside the course. Each test loads with its own fixed gates.

Pick a test

Test	Course	Camera	What Metric Sprint times
5-0-5 (Stationary)	Start on the 0 m line, turn at 5 m	As for a sprint	The 10 m out-and-back
5-0-5 (Flying)	Start behind 0 m, gate at 10 m, turn at 15 m	As for a sprint	The 10 m approach, then the 5-0-5 from the 10 m gate and back
5-10-5 Pro Agility	Start in the middle, turn 5 m each side	As for a sprint	All 20 m, with two turns
T-Test	10 m out, 5 m shuffles each side	Tripod 10–12 m back	The whole 40 m course
Modified T-Test	5 m out, 2.5 m shuffles each side	Tripod about 6 m back	The whole 20 m course
Lane Agility	Two laps around a basketball key	Tripod 6 m back	Both laps and the total

For the camera position on a sprint, see How to record a sprint. On the T-Test, the Modified T-Test and Lane Agility, the athlete also shuffles towards and away from the camera. Those three tests need the tripod further back. Each section below gives its own camera steps.

5-0-5 (Stationary)

Stand still with your toes on the 0 m line.
Run to the 5 m line.
Plant on the 5 m line and turn.
Run back through the start.

Metric Sprint times each 5 m leg and reports the 10 m total.

5-0-5 (Flying)

Put cones at 0 m, 10 m and 15 m.

Stand still behind the 0 m line.
Sprint through the 10 m gate.
Plant on the 15 m line and turn.
Run back through the 10 m gate.

One run gives you three numbers: the 10 m approach, the 5-0-5 time from the 10 m gate out and back, and your COD deficit. The flying version is the traditional layout of the 5-0-5 (Ryan, Uthoff, McKenzie & Cronin, 2022). See Sprint metrics for how Metric Sprint works out the COD deficit.

Your 10 m approach keeps its own record, separate from your linear 0–10 m best, because you pace that 10 m for the turn.

5-10-5 Pro Agility

Straddle the middle line.
Run 5 m to one side and turn.
Run 10 m to the far line and turn.
Run 5 m back through the middle.

The run covers 20 m with two changes of direction. Turn to the left on one run and to the right on the next, then compare the two.

T-Test

The course is a T. Cone D is the start. Cone B is 10 m straight ahead. Cones A and C sit 5 m either side of B, with A on the phone’s side.

Place the camera

The most common mistake is a tripod that is too close. The shuffle cones then fall out of frame, and Metric Sprint loses the athlete halfway through the run.

Put the tripod level with the middle of the D–B line, square to it.
Move the tripod 10–12 m back from the D–B line.
Set the phone at 1.4–1.5 m high and level it until the tilt warning clears.
Drag the two gates onto D and B.
Find the dashed guide and its orange cone markers.
Drag the ringed marker on the far side onto the real cone.

That last drag tells Metric Sprint how high the phone sits. Metric Sprint uses that height to draw the course and plot the speed curve, and keeps it for that test.

The D–B line should fill 25–60% of the frame width. Outside that range, Metric Sprint shows a warning and Start stays off.

Run it

Stand still at D.
Sprint to B and touch it.
Shuffle to A and touch it.
Shuffle across to C and touch it.
Shuffle back to B and touch it.
Backpedal through D.

The clock starts on your first movement and stops when you cross D on the way back. Metric Sprint uses metric distances: 10 m and 5 m, 40 m in all.

Check the cone touches

Metric Sprint times the run at D. After the run, it finds the moments the athlete reached B, A, C and B again. Tap Check cone touches on the Legs card to step through them. Each step shows the clip at that cone, for example Cone A · 2 of 4.

The check never stops a run from saving. You decide whether a touch counts. If the athlete missed a cone, delete the test from your history and run it again.

Modified T-Test

Shrink the T to half size. B sits 5 m from D, and A and C sit 2.5 m either side of B. The course is 20 m in all (Sassi et al., 2009). It keeps all four changes of direction from the T-Test.

Place the camera as for the T-Test, with the tripod about 6 m back from the D–B line. Run it, time it and check the cone touches the same way.

Lane Agility

Lane Agility is the lane agility drill from the NBA Draft Combine. The athlete runs two laps around a basketball key, 4.88 m (16 ft) wide and 5.79 m (19 ft) long (Milan et al., 2019). It is a different test from the 5-10-5 Pro Agility, which runs along one straight line.

Put a cone on each corner of the key. A is the free-throw-line corner on the phone’s side, and B is the baseline corner on the same side. C and D are the far corners. The painted lines already give you the right size, so you do not need a tape measure.

Place the tripod 6 m from the A–B side of the key, level with its middle. Then follow the T-Test camera steps, with the gates on A and B.

Stand still at A, facing the baseline.
Sprint to B.
Shuffle along the baseline to C.
Backpedal to D.
Shuffle back to A.
Shuffle to D.
Sprint to C.
Shuffle along the baseline to B.
Backpedal through A.

The athlete runs around the outside of the cones. On the A–B side, that puts them between the cones and the phone. Metric Sprint times the whole drill. It reads three timed points on the A–B side: the turn at B, the reversal at A and the second turn at B. The far-side moves happen between those points.

The Legs card shows the time between each pair of timed points. Below those rows come Lap 1 to the reversal at A, Lap 2 from the reversal to the finish, and the Total.

When it goes wrong

A turn falls short of the line. Metric Sprint holds a flagged turn until you confirm it. The 5-0-5, the 5-10-5 and Lane Agility have turn lines. See Agility turns.
The athlete leaves the frame. On the T-Test, the Modified T-Test or Lane Agility, the tripod is too close. Move it back to the distance for the test.
The dashed guide does not sit on the real cones. Drag the ringed far marker onto its cone again. A wrong height skews the course, the turn checks and the speed curve.
Metric Sprint finds no finish. The athlete stopped short of the start cone on the way back. On the T-Test, backpedal all the way through D.
A skipped cone still gives a time. Metric Sprint times only the line across the frame. Use Check cone touches on the T-Test, and watch the far side of the key on Lane Agility.

Compare your times

5-0-5. Sprint metrics covers the 5-0-5 normative review and why the stationary and flying 5-0-5 do not compare.
5-10-5 Pro Agility. Compare against your own history and your roster.
T-Test. Most published T-Test tables use 10 yd and 5 yd, 36.6 m in all (Semenick, 1990). The Metric Sprint course is 40 m, so your times sit slower than those tables. Compare against your own history and your roster.
Modified T-Test. Sassi et al. retested 86 sport and physical education students (Sassi et al., 2009). The group was 34 women and 52 men. The 95% limits of agreement were ±0.37 s for the women and ±0.33 s for the men. For one of your athletes, a change smaller than about 0.35 s can be noise.
Lane Agility. Ranisavljev et al. studied 58 NBA rookies who played regular minutes from 2012–13 to 2015–16. Their combine times averaged 11.15 s, range 10.27–12.85 s (Ranisavljev et al., 2020).