Nonlinear Dynamics, Psychology, and Life Sciences, Vol. 16, Iss. 2, April, 2012, pp. 185-204 @2012 Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology & Life Sciences The Game of Futsal as an Adaptive Process Abstract: Some researchers have described team sports as complex, open, and hierarchical systems.
This study aimed to investigate and describe how the game of futsal could be characterized as a
dynamic adaptive process. One game, which included participation by two amateur teams, was analyzed
by examining players’ individual (space occupied, skills with and without ball) and collective actions
(attacks and defenses). Data were collected through time-continuum notation, and were analyzed through
frequencies and clustering, using trend analysis and multiple comparisons, and Ward’s minimum variance
method with Euclidean distance, respectively. Results revealed four attack patterns for each team,
with four defense patterns for one (Blue), and seven for the other (Red), and they showed within-pattern
variability. All were performed in an unpredictable manner, with no absolute correspondence between attacks
and defenses. The futsal game as an adaptive process was characterized by changing intra- and inter-patterns Keywords: open system, hierarchy, complexity, adaptation, variability, self-organization |