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Dynamic Systems and Performance in Team Sports

ORIGINAL ARTICLE


Seirul-lo Vargas, F. (2003). Dynamic Systems and Performance in Team Sports.
                                                 1st Meeting of Complex Systems and Sport. INEFC-Barcelona.


1.  Abstract

2.  Sport in the 20th Century
            Classical Paradigm
            Fundamentals to Practice

3.  Sport in the 21st Century
            Consequences: New paradigm
            The Athlete According to These Theories
            1st Contribution of the Systems Theory to the Development of Training
                       Practical Conditions
            2nd Contribution of the Systems Theory to the Development of Training
            3rd Contribution of the Systems Theory to the Development of Training

References

©

Francisco Seirul-lo Vargas
Barcelona University
Department of Physical Education


Dynamic Systems and Performance in Team Sports

 

 

 

1. Abstract

In order to create an appropriated training process for team sports, it is relevant to define a differential paradigm of sport performance. Traditionally, the sport training science has been developed through the study of the needs of several individual sports and, in contrast, its results are applied to team sports. We strongly believe that the analysis of the dynamic complex systems theories will provide us the best theoretical basis to construct a specific training science for team sports. Accordingly, it is necessary to modify the systematical Cartesian paradigm in such a way that can provide more adequate solutions to explain the complexity. Our proposal is to build channels of access between these theories and the different levels of the training process of team sports.

 

Key Words

Structural Training, Team Sports, Dynamic Complex Systems.

 

 

2. Sport in the 20th Century

Sport in the 20th century is developed by means of its teaching and its training. The teaching-learning processes are based on behaviorists theories (“what is observable”) such as psychology, pedagogy, didactics and methodology. The training-performance processes are based on mechanistic theories (“what is measurable”) such as physiology, physics, medicine and biomechanics. These sciences –through its contributions- have been useful to construct an atomist and multidisciplinary sport model; in other words, a model based on the dualism “mind-body” that has been an ongoing debate since the beginning of the human knowledge.

Classical Paradigm

In the classical paradigm there exists a reproduction of models by ... “contrasted evolution”. The model is reproduced depending on:

-The evolution of the rules.

-The evolution of the competition demands.

-The evolution of the knowledge of the coach.

-The evolution of the social and economical valuation of sport.

-The evolution of technology and research applied to sport.

All of them are external, alien to the athlete. The model is made up from the sport and from society.

Fundamentals to Practice

Behaviorist and mechanistic theories have developed certain practices to achieve these models.

-Practices of global tendency (during the first stages of sport learning): global training and small games.

-Practices of analytical tendency (during stages of sport performance): technique, tactic and physical conditioning.

Both of them, are developed by quantitative practices of lineal and progressive sequences of analytical exercises.

The player is built in order to  fulfill the demands of a certain model that at this moment “dominates” a concrete sport.

This paradigm, now in recession, has dominated our culture for several hundreds of years, during which it has been constituted our occidental society and considerably influenced the rest of the world.

Such paradigm consist of an entrenched set of ideas and values among which we can mention the following: the vision of the universe as a mechanical system that is compound of pieces, the vision of the human body as a machine, the vision of living in a society as a competitive struggle for survival, the belief in the unlimited material progress by the economical and technological growth, ...(Capra, 1998).

 

 

3. Sport in the 21st Century

Sport in the 21st century is developed by means of an integral development of the athlete (“mind-body” as a whole). Its teaching and training are an unique optimization process of the athlete. Cognitivism and structuralism _supported by organizational biology, neural-sciences, theory of the systems, theory of the information and ecological theories_ achieve the auto-modeling or auto-structuring of the athlete.

Consequences: New Paradigm

The aim is to achieve the auto-structuring by “differential optimization” and this is obtained by means of:

-The establishment of technical-tactical skills in which the player shows a certain competence.

-The observation of the impact that competition causes to the player.

-The constant acquisition of new knowledge of the player about the game, training and himself.

-The formation of the own social image.

-The achievement of the knowledge of the player during practice by means of technology and adequate research tools.

All of them are related to the athlete. The proposals are taken from the athlete.

If proposals are taken from the athlete, it is necessary to modify our thought, ideas and values about the sport-person as a living being that seeks the constant dynamic interaction between what is rational, analytical, reductionist, lineal, competitive, quantitative (for individual sports) and what is intuitive, synthetic, holistic, non-lineal, cooperative, qualitative (for team sports).

The Athlete According to These Theories

Based on the new paradigm, we are nowadays able to interpret the sport-person as a hyper-complex structure that is made up by interactions and retroactive actions between the following structures:  

-Conditioning structure.

-Coordination structure.

-Social-Affective structure.

-Emotional-Volitive structure.

-Creative-Expressive structure.

-Mental structure ... ?

Each structure must be considered as the expression of underlying processes.

This means that the processes _a complete net of dynamic connections among systems_ become apparent through what we call structures.

Also, what we traditionally call capacities are just forms of sectorial evaluation of part of the processes that occur in some systems which makes up a determined structure.

1st Contribution of the Systems Theory to the Development of Training

This systematic and holistic conception of the player will provide clues about the conditions under which the athlete must develop his training activity in order to obtain his differential auto-structuring. As a result, the own contents of the structural training appear; understanding that despite it can also provides new elements to “individual” sports, it is much more adequate for “team” sports in which the continue interaction among objects-partners-opponents requires high levels of auto-structuring of all their components.

Therefore, high variation contents and high variability practices are relevant.

As pointed out in the new paradigm, teaching and training are a single fact of optimization of processes which will become apparent as properties of each aforementioned structure, because these properties can only be considered from two standpoints:

-The dynamic inter-activity of all the systems.

-The global consistency of their interactions ...

We must construct specific exercises of structural training that provide such dynamic inter-activity and consistency; in contrast to the repetitive and analytical training exercises typically used by individual sports and based on other theories.

Practical Conditions

These practice requirements are offered by Preferential Simulation Situations. It must be defined such determined conditions of work that fix a “preferential” performance on some of the functional systems of the athlete. Thus, we will make up the building of the conditioning substratum of the training system. It is applied by certain movement forms that the athlete performs during his practice. These movement forms must include basic coordination elements that support the sport technique _execution of coordinate simulation_. (Stable levels that assure the consistency of the interactions). They are practiced under concrete situations which contain relevant information that must be processed so as to perform consequently. The cognitive structure must be involved. Connections with the partners-opponents-object must be established to feed the social-affective structure. Episodes of specific personal challenge must be experienced so as to commit the emotional-volitive structure. (Levels for the variability that provides dynamic inter-activity).

2nd Contribution of the Systems Theory to the Development of Training

One of the essential properties of any life manifestation is the irreducible tendency to construct multi-level structures of systems inside of systems. These structures are consequence of varied inter-active processes among systems of differential complexity that take shape as a net in which nothing is the most important.

This triggers the need to modify the laws of the traditional training, inasmuch as synergy relations are more used than progressive training loads and sequential planning is substituted by differential priority. Many other principles based on the hierarchical and lineal conception must be substituted by inter-connected multi-level guidelines.

Practical Consequences

 

          Figure 1. Model of a Structural Micro-cycle.

 

Every training day, there exists a differential priority adjusted to the needs of the athlete. All priorities are integrated in the synthesis pre-competition.

The total of contents of each micro-cycle are related with the consecutive and next micro-cycles. This is based on different inter-connection guidelines so as to obtain a high level of structural optimization.

3rd Contribution of the Systems Theory to the Development of Training

We know that the function of the components of such nets is to participate in the production or transformation of other components of the net. Consequently, all the net is built by itself. This provokes that the product of processes is the own organization, the differential auto-organization based on processes of qualitative production which bring about each unique human being.

On the whole, the called improvement of performance can not be evaluated by quantitative criteria that are alien to the person; on the contrary, they should be evaluated by qualitative proposals which are based on the interpretation that the own athlete is able to complete at any episode and from any perspective of the practice that performs.

 

References

Bateson, G., Maturana, H. (1999). Gaia. Editorial Kairós: Barcelona.

Capra, F. (1998). La trama de la vida. Editorial Anagrama: Barcelona.

Capra, F., Bolem, D. (2000). El espíritu de la ciencia. Editorial Kairós: Barcelona.

Capra, F. (2002). Conexiones ocultas. Editorial Anagrama: Barcelona.

Hayles, N.K. (1993). La evolución del caos. Editorial Gedisa: Barcelona.

Mosteriu, J. (1994). Filosofía de la cultura. Editorial Alianza: Madrid.

Morris, R. (1994). Las flechas del tiempo. Editorial Salvat: Barcelona.

Newel, K.M. & Corcos, D.M. (1993). Variability and motor control
            Human Kinetics Publishers: Chicago.

O’Connor, J. & McDermont, I. (1998). Introducción al pensamiento sistémico.
            Editorial Urano: Barcelona.

Prigogine, I. & Nicolis, G. (1997). La estructura de lo complejo. Editorial Alianza: Madrid.

Prigogine, I. (1984). Order out of chaos. Bantam Books: New York.

 

 

 

 


© 2003 Francisco Seirul-lo Vargas  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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