Information-governing dynamics of attacker–defender interactions in youth rugby union
- 31 October 2008
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis Ltd in Journal of Sports Sciences
- Vol. 26 (13), 1421-1429
- https://doi.org/10.1080/02640410802208986
Abstract
Previous work on dynamics of interpersonal interactions in 1 vs. 1 sub-phases of basketball has identified changes in interpersonal distance between an attacker and defender as a potential control parameter for influencing organizational states of attacker–defender dyads. Other studies have reported the constraining effect of relative velocity between an attacker and defender in 1 vs. 1 dyads. To evaluate the relationship between these candidate control parameters, we compared the impact of both interpersonal distance and relative velocity on the pattern-forming dynamics of attacker–defender dyads in the sport of rugby union. Results revealed that when interpersonal distance achieved a critical value of less than 4 m, and relative velocity values increased or were maintained above 1 m · s−1, a successful outcome (i.e. clean attempt) for an attacker was predicted. Alternatively, when values of relative velocity suddenly decreased below this threshold, at the same critical value of interpersonal distance, a successful outcome for the defender was predicted. Data demonstrated how the coupling of these two potential, nested control parameters moved the dyadic system to phase transitions, characterized as a try or a tackle. Observations suggested that relative velocity increased its influence on the organization of attacker–defender dyads in rugby union over time as spatial proximity to the try line increased.Keywords
This publication has 12 references indexed in Scilit:
- Manipulating Constraints to Train Decision Making in Rugby UnionInternational Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 2008
- System approach to games and competitive playing: Reply to Lebed (2006)European Journal of Sport Science, 2007
- Interpersonal dynamics in sport: The role of artificial neural networks and 3-D analysisBehavior Research Methods, 2006
- Movement Models from Sports Provide Representative Task Constraints for Studying Adaptive Behavior in Human Movement SystemsAdaptive Behavior, 2006
- Self-organization of cognitive performance.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 2003
- Surface measurement and tracking of human body parts from multi-image video sequencesISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 2002
- Introduction to Sports BiomechanicsPublished by Taylor & Francis Ltd ,2002
- Sport competition as a dynamical self-organizing systemJournal of Sports Sciences, 2002
- Camera calibration and three-dimensional world reconstruction of stereo-vision using neural networksInternational Journal of Systems Science, 2001
- Changing affordances in stair climbing: The perception of maximum climbability in young and older adults.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 1992