Eco-Dynamics Approach to the study of Team Sports Performance

Abstract

The main goal of performance analysis in team sports has been the identification of data frequencies or sequences of actions in a temporal line, based on the assemblage of numerous discrete variables. This focus may be deemed as not displaying the foremost team sport feature, i.e., the dynamics of the interaction between two teams. In order to better understand the dynamic patterns of the game, the methods commonly applied must be furthered in a functional perspective. Underpinned in the Ecological Dynamics approach to decision making in sport, this paper regards performance analysis as a process of synthesis and parsimonious explanation of game's functional nature. Accordingly, we argue the importance of the following three aspects: i) game must be viewed considering different levels of analysis; ii) there is a functional role of variability in players' behaviour that must be included in the analysis; iii) human behaviour is better understood if we consider how the dynamics reflects individual and collective perceptual-action couplings.