Sports teams as collective homeostatic systems: Exploiting self-organising tendencies in competition

Abstract

This paper proposes theoretical insights on how sports teams, conceptualised as homeostatic regulatory systems, can continually self-organise their ongoing interactions to maintain team functioning and organization during competitive performance. In the model, team performance is co-regulated as coordinated behaviours emerge through synergy (re)formation between performers to adapt efficiently and effectively to satisfy emerging dynamical constraints of competitive environments. Understanding collective homeostasis in interpreting the self-organising dynamics of sports teams facilitates the identification and analysis of adaptive behavioural responses of teams, sub-groups, and individual players. As a starting point, a biological model of collective homeostasis is composed of four critical components: a) players, b) set point, c) identifier, and d), adapter. Understanding the interrelated functions of model components is fundamental to designing effective training sessions and programmes for development of self-regulating team performance. In terms of performance analysis, identification and disruption of specific set points will provide insights for studying how to negotiate critical moments of competitive game play.