Football Teams as Collective Homeostatic Systems: Implications for Research and Practice

Abstract

This thesis seeks to advance theoretical and practical foundations and empirical demonstrations regarding the reconceptualization of sports teams (using football as an example) as collective homeostatic systems. The collective homeostasis model aims to demonstrate how teams can continuously self-organize through ongoing interactions to maintain their functionality and organisation during competitive performance. According to this model, team performance is co-regulated as coordinated behaviours emerge through the formation of synergies among players, enabling them to adapt efficiently and effectively to satisfy the dynamic constraints of competitive environments. Understanding collective homeostasis in interpreting the self-organizing dynamics of sports teams facilitates identifying and analysing adaptive behavioural responses from teams, player subgroups, and individual players. The model presented in the thesis was inspired by the biological model and is composed of four components: a) players, b) set point, c) identifier, and d) adapter. Considering humans' strong capacity to build and adapt ecological niches, this thesis explores the creation of sports contexts that foster adaptive player-environment interactions. This model of adaptation emphasizes the importance of creating a sporting niche, rich in shared affordances, allowing for team coordination through the development of both individual and collective homeostasis in the different subphases of competitive performance. Considering the identification of such homeostatic behaviours, a methodological proposal was developed to capture synchronisation tendencies established by the relationships of cooperation and opposition between players (simplice), considering the angle and distance relative to the goal. The results demonstrated greater sensitivity compared to the traditional coordinate system. Synchronisation values were similar when comparing longitudinal and distance variables; however, differences became significantly more pronounced when constrained by lateral and angle variables. The frequency of patterns of relationships of cooperation and opposition between players during a game, the influence of ball possession, and effects of size and type of these interactions on synchronisation tendencies were all crucial to understanding how collective homeostasis is regulated within a team. This information enables the identification and intervention in specific points that regulate the game. The collective homeostasis perspective, along with this new methodological proposal, may prove to be a promising tool for analysing sports performance, and it also plays a significant role in monitoring and managing player and team training.