Territorial gain dynamics regulates success in attacking sub-phases of team sports

CORREIA, Vanda, ARAÚJO, Duarte, DAVIDS, Keith, FERNANDES, Orlando and FONSECA, Sofia (2011). Territorial gain dynamics regulates success in attacking sub-phases of team sports. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 12 (6), 662-669.

Full text not available from this repository.
Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2011.06.001
Link to published version:: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2011.06.001

Abstract

Background and objective: Field invasion games, such as rugby union, can be conceptualised as dynamic social systems in which the agents continuously interact to contest ball possession and territorial gain.Accordingly, this study aimed to identify the collective system dynamics of rugby union phases-of-play near the try line by investigating whether ball displacement trajectory on the playing field provides insights on successful team performance.

Methods: Five rugby union matches were videotaped involving teams at a national league performance level. From these matches, 22 second phases-of-play were selected and digitized for analysis. The variable “distance gained” was investigated as a potential coordination variable describing functional coordination between players and teams. This variable concerned the distance between ball initial position and ball current position over time and was used to define the degree of territory gained by an attacking team.

Results: Analysis of distance gained dynamics in attacking sub-phases demonstrated the intermittent character of rugby union performers displacement trajectories on the playing field. Amplitude of ball movements was revealed as a distinguishing feature related to attacking effectiveness. Successful attacking phases displayed lower distances of positional retreat, with the maximum retreat distance achieved sooner in successful compared to unsuccessful phases-of-play. Autocorrelation and ApEn analyses suggested low system variability within time series data concerning both performance outcomes. However, evidence of less regularity and more complexity was found in unsuccessful phases-of-play.

Conclusion: Results suggested that distance gained dynamics manifests a characteristic collective behaviour pattern that captures the macroscopic functional order of multi-player attackedefence systems in team sports like rugby union.

Item Type: Article
Research Institute, Centre or Group - Does NOT include content added after October 2018: Centre for Sports Engineering Research
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2011.06.001
Page Range: 662-669
Depositing User: Carole Harris
Date Deposited: 01 Oct 2013 08:35
Last Modified: 18 Mar 2021 10:15
URI: https://shura.shu.ac.uk/id/eprint/7309

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics