ABSTRACT
Performance analysis is concerned with the analysis, design and evaluation of sport systems. These systems are complex, and the distinction between analysis, design and evaluation is an abstraction and does not capture the actual practice of sport scientists and coaches. If sport systems are to be built in an integral fashion, then all three activities must be intimately intertwined and mutually informing each other. A sport system is composed of several layers. Traditionally, many disciplines like physiology, biomechanics, psychology, pedagogy or sociology have viewed their technical core as comprising the entire system. For example, the definition of ‘sport science’ for the Encyclopedia of International Sport Studies (Bartlett et al., 2006) does not include sociology, whereas ‘training science’, in the same encyclopedia, is mainly derived from physiology, and the entries ‘practice’ and ‘practice structure and organisation’ are mainly informed by psychology. A new layer of complexity appears when the discussions around how technical and tactical aspects of a sport should go beyond task characteristics and considering the players constraints (e.g., Davids et al., 2008). But this is not the whole story. The social-organisational level also plays a crucial role in the sport system. For example, the management changes implemented in a Team Sport Club may have consequences in terms of the performance of the professional team. Finally, environment also affects a sport system. The national football championships in Europe and in Asia greatly differ in terms of the competitive level of the teams, audience participation, economic management and the physical environment.
