Effects of Temporary Numerical Imbalances on Collective Exploratory Behavior of Young and Professional Football Players
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Date
2019
Authors
Canton, Albert
Torrents Martín, Carlota
Ric Diez, Ángel
Gonçalves, Bruno
Sampaio, Jaime
Hristovski, Robert
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Abstract
The aim of this study was to explore how the use of temporary numerical imbalances
during small-sided Game SSGs affects team’s exploratory behaviors (i.e., variety and
quantity of responses given in an ever-changing game context and its rate of change)
in different age groups. Two different age groups (under−15 and under−23) of football
players participated in the study. For each age group, three teams of five players played
six small-sided games of 5 min duration in different conditions: (i) numerical balance
(GK + 4 vs. 4 + GK); (ii) temporary numerical imbalance, which consisted of a numerical
change of teammates and opponents every one minute. Latitude and longitude GPS
coordinates were used to determine the positioning-derived variables. The dynamic
overlap (i.e. the measure of average similarity of the game patterns that take place
in increasingly larger time intervals) was used to provide information of the rate and
breadth of exploratory behavior. The results revealed that the long-term exploratory
breadth increased for the under−23 age group. Non-clear effects were found for the
short-term rate of exploration, but with an increasing trend. In the under−15 group,
the exploratory behavior was more likely to increase in the long term. The increase for
the short-term rate of exploration was unclear, but it follows an increasing trend. These
results suggest that the use of temporary numerical imbalances could offer coaches
more dynamic training situations and different adaptive training environments similar
to matches.
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Frontiers in Psychology, 2019, vol. 10, a1968