Developing an action plan: designing a justified development plan for the prioritised weakness, selecting appropriate training methods or coaching, applying SMART goals, and evaluating the plan.

A Component 3 action-plan question. Two marks for the justified method, two for the SMART goal.

The action plan should select continuous and interval training as the methods, justified by specificity (they overload the aerobic system to raise VO2 max and the lactate threshold, which is exactly the weakness). The plan applies progressive overload (gradually increasing the duration or intensity) and works in the aerobic training zone (about 60 to 80 percent of maximum heart rate). A SMART goal makes the target concrete: for example "increase the time before fatigue in the second half by raising VO2 max, training four times a week for eight weeks, measured by a multistage fitness test improvement of one level." It is Specific (aerobic fitness), Measurable (a fitness-test level), Achievable, Recorded and Time-bound (eight weeks). So the plan targets the weakness with the right method and a measurable, time-bound goal.

A common dropped mark is selecting a method without justifying it by specificity, or giving a vague rather than a SMART goal.

A Component 3 full-plan question. Markers reward design, justification, SMART goals and evaluation.

Award marks for: the plan starts from the prioritised weakness (from the analysis) and selects an appropriate intervention, a training method for a fitness weakness, technique or skill practice for a skill weakness, or a psychological strategy for a mental weakness. The choice is justified by specificity (the method must match the demands of the weakness) and the plan applies the other principles of training (progressive overload, so the load increases gradually; reversibility, so it is sustained; and variance, so it stays motivating), using the FITT variables to set frequency, intensity, time and type. SMART goals make the targets concrete and trackable (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Recorded, Time-bound), with short-term process goals building toward a longer-term performance goal. Finally, the plan is evaluated: the performer re-tests or re-analyses the performance after the plan to judge whether the weakness has improved against the SMART goal, decides what worked and what did not, and plans the next steps. So the action plan is designed from the priority weakness, justified by the principles of training, made measurable with SMART goals, and reviewed to check it worked.

A top answer designs a specific plan, justifies it with the principles of training, sets SMART goals and explains the evaluation step.