ABSTRACT

Shedding new light on sport pedagogy and the teaching and coaching of games, this book shows how complexity theory can be used to improve team sport performance, coach education, and young player development. 

The book draws together insights from both the humanities and behavioural sciences, including psychology, philosophy, anthropology, sociology, history, and play theory into a new educational methodology for team sports. It shows how concepts from complexity theory underpin and inform team sport dynamics, including the uncontrolled nature of live human systems; the nature of complex systems and how this shapes student and young athlete learning; self-organization and its relation to decision-making in play; and mental self-regulation and motivation. 

It presents an innovative and sophisticated definition of sport pedagogy that can help teachers and coaches deepen their understanding of teaching and learning in team sports and help them develop more motivated, more effective, and more creative athletes.

chapter |6 pages

Introduction

part I|29 pages

What is human play? A philosophical issue

chapter Chapter 1|16 pages

Play as a phenomenon and a value

part II|42 pages

How humans play

part III|31 pages

How human culture plays games

chapter Chapter 5|9 pages

From ritual to sport show

chapter Chapter 6|20 pages

From games playing to games teaching

part IV|71 pages

How to teach and coach games

chapter Chapter 7|21 pages

Complexity paradigm in games teaching and coaching

chapter Chapter 8|15 pages

The ‘8 and 4’ approach to games teaching and coaching (I)

Main principles

chapter Chapter 9|33 pages

The ‘8 and 4’ approach to games teaching and coaching (II)

Basic concepts

chapter |3 pages

Conclusion