ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with outlining a dominant motor control theory that can aid the explanation and interpretation of performance analysis data – dynamical systems theory. It aims to discuss the central concepts relating to dynamical systems theory, outlines its relevance to sports performance analysis, and explains how inter-personal coordination and perturbations can be examined during sport competition. The apparent need for dynamical systems theory has emerged because sports performance analysis research has been criticised for being overly descriptive and too heavily focused on discrete behaviours of teams and/or individuals. An alternative approach to studying inter-personal coordination within team sport invasion games, and which may yield useful insights, has been to use variables such as the centroid, stretch index and surface area. Perturbations can be defined as actions or events that disrupt the normal flow and rhythm of a game, and which may lead to scoring opportunities.
