Citation

Passos P, Araújo D, Davids K, Gouveia L, Milho J, Serpa S. J. Sports Sci. 2008; 26(13): 1421-1429.

Affiliation

Faculty of Physical Education and Sports, Lusófona University of Humanities and Technologies, Lisbon, Portugal.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/02640410802208986

PMID

18923958

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 x 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.

Language: en