Abstract
The effects that different constraints have on the exploratory behavior, measured by the variety and quantity of different responses within a game situation, is of the utmost importance for successful performance in team sports. The aim of this study was to determine how the number of teammates and opponents affects the exploratory behavior of both professional and amateur players in small-sided soccer games. Twenty-two professional (age 25.6 ± 4.9 years) and 22 amateur (age 23.1 ± 0.7 years) male soccer players played three small-sided game formats (4 vs. 3, 4 vs. 5, and 4 vs. 7). These trials were video-recorded and a systematic observation instrument was used to notate the actions, which were subsequently analyzed by means of a principal component analysis and the dynamic overlap order parameter (measure to identify the rate and breadth of exploratory behavior on different time scales). Results revealed that a higher the number of opponents required for more frequent ball controls. Moreover, with a higher number of teammates, there were more defensive actions focused on protecting the goal, with more players balancing. In relation to attack, an increase in the number of opponents produced a decrease in passing, driving and controlling actions, while an increase in the number of teammates led to more time being spent in attacking situations. A numerical advantage led to less exploratory behavior, an effect that was especially clear when playing within a team of seven players against four opponents. All teams showed strong effects of the number of teammates on the exploratory behavior when comparing 5 vs 7 or 3 vs 7 teammates. These results seem to be independent of the players’ level.
Highlights
Tactical creativity refers to varying, atypical and flexible decisions and actions, and it plays a key role in team ball sports due to the complex and chaotic determinants of performance [1,2]
This study explored the use of constraints as a way of enhancing players’ exploratory behavior in soccer, and analyzed the emergence of individual and collective action configurations when varying the number of opponents or teammates in the context of numerically unbalanced teams
Certain technical/tactical actions appeared with a high frequency, while others were statistically rare and short-lived reconfigurations that constitute fluctuations following dynamical systems principles [21]
Summary
Tactical creativity refers to varying, atypical and flexible decisions and actions, and it plays a key role in team ball sports due to the complex and chaotic determinants of performance [1,2]. The most widely used definitions of creativity refer to obtaining a useful and original product or behavior [8,9,10,11,12,13], several authors with closer ties to education have focused the concept on individual and exploratory behavior. Exploratory activity is strongly dependent on the set of constraints imposed on the system This observation implies that during training programs no explicitly prescriptive list of possible actions needs to be provided beforehand to the performer so that s/he might realize them [6]. This approach is relevant to team sports, which are based on improvisation and on the interaction between the performers and the environment. Practice tasks should seek to promote varied and flexible behavior so that players learn to be more adaptive, and the inclusion of exploratory tasks can help them to be more creative
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