Abstract
The present study explored how football players’ dynamic positional data can be used
to assess tactical behaviour by measuring movement patterns and inter-player coordination.
A pre post-test design was used to assess the effects of a 13-week constructivist
and cognitivist training program by measuring behaviour in a 5×5 football small-sided
game, played on a 60×40 m outdoor natural turf pitch. Data was captured at 5 Hz by
GPS devices (SPI Pro, GPSports, Canberra, Australia) and analysed with non-linear
signal processing methods. Approximate entropy values were lower in post-test situations
suggesting that these time series became more regular with increasing expertise in
football. Relative phase post-test values showed frequent periods with a clear trend
to moving in anti-phase, as measured by players’ distance to the centre of the team.
These advances may open new research topics under the tactical scope and allow narrowing
the gap between sports sciences and sports coaching.
Key words
complex systems - dynamical systems - team sports - expertise
