ORCID Profile
0000-0002-7129-8938
Current Organisations
City University of Hong Kong
,
Victoria University
,
James Cook University
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Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2021
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 03-08-2021
DOI: 10.1186/S40798-021-00347-1
Abstract: The promotion of inter- and multidisciplinarity — broadly drawing on other disciplines to help collaboratively answer important questions to the field — has been an important goal for many professional development organisations, universities, and research institutes in sport science. While welcoming collaboration, this opinion piece discusses the value of transdisciplinary research for sports science. The reason for this is that inter- and multidisciplinary research are still bound by disciplinary convention — often leading sport science researchers to study about a phenomenon based on pre-determined disciplinary ways of conceptualising, measuring, and doing. In contrast, transdisciplinary research promotes contextualised study with a phenomenon, like sport, unbound by disciplinary confines. It includes a more narrative and abductive way of performing research, with this abduction likely opening new lines of inquiry for attentive researchers to follow. It is in the weaving of these lines where researchers can encounter new information, growing knowledge in-between, through, and beyond the disciplines to progressively entangle novel and innovative insights related to a phenomenon or topic of interest. To guide innovation and the development of such research programmes in sport science, we lean on the four cornerstones of transdisciplinarity proposed by Alfonso Montuori, exemplifying what they could mean for such research programmes in sport science.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2013
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 26-05-2021
DOI: 10.1186/S40798-021-00329-3
Abstract: There have been multiple calls made in the sport science literature for the promotion of interdisciplinarity to progress some of sports’ most prevailing challenges. Designing practice environments that support learning represents one such challenge, particularly given contemporary perspectives of skill acquisition and motor learning calls for coaches to realign their role—progressing toward the designers of practice tasks that promote athlete-environment interactions. In doing so, performers learn through exploration, deepening a relationship with their performance environment as they solve problems based on changing and interacting constraints. This paper illustrates an interdisciplinary approach to the area of learning through sport practice by adapting established principles embedded in video game designs. Specifically, 13 principles common to good video game designs are described, with practical ex les of each provided across different sports. Fundamentally, this paper aims to offer sports practitioners with an overview and application of key principles that could support learning by design . Beyond this, the ideas presented here should further illustrate the value of interdisciplinarity in sports research and practice.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 21-05-2021
DOI: 10.1186/S40798-021-00326-6
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to explore a different, more relational worldview of skill, learning and education in sport. To do this, we turn to the work of social anthropologist, Tim Ingold, leaning on the notion of enskilment, which proposes that learning is inseparable from doing and place . From this worldview, what is learned is not an established body of knowledge, transmitted into the mind of a passive recipient from an authorised being, but is a progressively deepening embodied-embedded attentiveness, where an in idual learns to self-regulate by becoming more responsive to people and environmental features by ‘looking, listening and feeling’. As we discuss, Ingold’s perspectives on enskilment are rooted in the etymological connotations of education— ex-ducere , which roughly means ‘to lead out’. In applying this notion to sport, we unpack three of its entangled components, taskscapes , guided attention , and wayfinding , detailing the implications of each for the growth of enskilled sports performers. To promote the translation of these ideas, in addition to encouraging their inquiry beyond the scope of what is discussed here, sporting ex les are threaded throughout the paper.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2020
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 12-10-2023
Publisher: Routledge
Date: 03-11-2022
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 25-05-2020
Abstract: This study sought to longitudinally and retrospectively determine the relationship between professional career attainment and the development of anthropometric and physical qualities in junior Australian footballers. Eighty adolescent male Australian footballers from a single state academy previously selected onto an under 16 s talent development squad were classified by career attainment (professional team selection n = 17 and non-selected n = 63). Physical and anthropometric tests were conducted at the end of preseason during participation in under 16 and under 18 competitions. Tests included standing height, mass, stationary countermovement jumps, dynamic vertical jumps, 20-m sprints, agility and 20 m multistage fitness test. Both groups significantly improved all performance measures between the under 16 and under 18 levels. Athletes selected onto a professional team possessed significantly quicker 20-m sprint outcomes than non-selected athletes at both under 16 and under 18 levels, highlighting the importance of this physical capacity within talent development programmes. Binary logistic regression was unable to predict an effect of any measures on career attainment. An inability of the binary logistic regression to identify qualities predictive of long-term career success likely highlights limitations associated with utilising unidimensional models of assessment in talent identification practices. As such, development coaches and sport scientists should be aware that while physical capacities play a role in career attainment outcomes, other factors, such as tactical understanding and technical skill are also likely to be impactful.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 08-05-2022
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 18-04-2023
DOI: 10.1177/17479541221092525
Abstract: To examine the effects of match-related contextual variables on positional groups and success in the National Rugby League (NRL). Data relating to match location, match outcome, quality of opposition and match type (absolute score differential) from all matches across the 2015–2019 NRL seasons were collected, in addition to 14 previously identified Factors (technical performance indicators). A decision tree, grown using the Exhaustive Chi-square Automatic Interaction Detector (CHAID) algorithm, was used to model the effect of each of these match-related contexts on positional contribution according to match outcome. The accuracy of the exhaustive CHAID model in explaining the influence of positional groups on match outcome was 66%. The model revealed four primary splits: interchange forwards, utility backs, adjustables and a group containing the remaining three positional groups (forwards, backs, and interchange). Results suggest that interchange forwards, utility backs and adjustables could have a definitive role within the team compared to the remaining positional groups in determining match outcome. In contrast to team-level research, there is a greater emphasis on the importance of defensive actions (e.g. try causes, tackles made) at a positional level than attacking performance indicators. The moderate classification accuracy justifies the use of this approach for examination of the interactions between match-related contextual variables, performance indicators and positional groups.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 14-08-2020
DOI: 10.1186/S40798-020-00268-5
Abstract: A fundamental challenge for practitioners in high-level sporting environments concerns how to support athletes in adapting behaviours to solve emergent problems during competitive performance. Guided by an ecological dynamics framework, the design and integration of competitive performance preparation models that place athlete-environment interactions at the heart of the learning process may address this challenge. This ecological conceptualisation of performance preparation signifies a shift in a coach’s role evolving from a consistent solution provider to a learning environment designer who fosters local athlete-environment interactions. However, despite the past decades of research within the ecological dynamics framework developing an evidence-based, theoretical conceptualisation of skill acquisition, expertise and talent development, an ongoing challenge resides within its practical integration into sporting environments. This article provides two case ex les in which high-level sports organisations have utilised an ecological dynamics framework for performance preparation in Australian football and Association Football. A unique perspective is offered on experiences of professional sport organisations attempting to challenge traditional ideologies for athlete performance preparation by progressing the theoretical application of ecological dynamics. These case ex les intend to promote the sharing of methodological ideas to improve athlete development, affording opportunities for practitioners and applied scientists to accept, reject or adapt the approaches presented here to suit their specific ecosystems.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 21-10-2020
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 22-11-2022
DOI: 10.1177/17479541221138680
Abstract: A constraints-led approach (CLA), based on an ecological dynamics rationale for athlete learning and development has been applied to analyses of in idual and team sports. To date, such an approach has yet to be applied to the learning of coaches. Here, we propose how applying a CLA in education and professional development programmes can shape emerging behaviours of coaches as they interact with constraints of representative environments to adapt their practice. A core concept within ecological dynamics for coach education is the conceptual differentiation between knowledge of (direct perception) and knowledge about (indirect perception) the environment. Current coach education and development practices focus primarily on the acquisition and transmission of knowledge about, which over-relies on provision of (abstract) verbal and visual augmented corrective information found in manuals. Reconsidering coaches’ behaviours as emerging under constraints provides a coach developer opportunities to identify and manipulate key in idual, environmental and task constraints. This approach guides attention to relevant and alternative affordances (opportunities for action) when coaching, and promotes continuous self-regulation of coach learning, supported by an experienced mentor. Learning to coach through a CLA could result in an extensive appreciation of multiple sources of knowledge, resulting in a continuously deepening fit between the coach and their performance environment. An ecological perspective of a coach learning to adapt to the constraints of a performance environment offers an alternative to current formalised coach development practice.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 02-03-2021
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 16-11-2020
DOI: 10.1186/S40798-020-00284-5
Abstract: With increasing resources in sports organisations being allocated to the development and preparation of in idual athletes and sub-groups with specialist performance roles, the work of coaches, specialist (role) coaches and support staff needs to be functionally and coherently integrated. This integration of sport science support and coaching can be administered by staff in a Department of Methodology (DoM). Particularly, in this paper, we propose how specialist coaching can be situated in a DoM, presenting a model advocating effective functioning in high-performance team sports organisations. Using principles of ecological dynamics, we provide a rationale for a functional methodology for the design of practice tasks in a DoM that views learners as wayfinders , self-regulating their way through competitive performance environments. This rationale for athlete self-regulation in practice could improve athlete performance by enhancing problem solving, engagement with constraints of learning designs and supporting better attunement to contextual information abundant in a competitive environment. Finally, by introducing this unified and multidisciplinary DoM, specialist coaches, team coaches and sport science support staff, within the organisational structure, can collaboratively debate and co-design in idualised athlete training programmes to enrich skill adaptability and performance functionality. To underline these contentions, three high-performance sport case studies from Australian Football: goalkeeping in Association Football and Rugby League are presented.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 28-10-2020
DOI: 10.1186/S40798-020-00280-9
Abstract: Wayfinding is the process of embarking upon a purposeful, intentional, and self-regulated journey that takes an in idual from an intended region in one landscape to another. This process is facilitated through an in idual’s capacity to utilise temporally structured, functional actions embedded within a particular environmental niche. Thus, in iduals learn of their performance landscapes by experiencing them through interactions, detecting and exploiting its many features to ‘find their way’. In this opinion piece, we argue that these ecological and anthropological conceptualisations of human navigation can, metaphorically, deepen our understanding of the learner and the learning process in sport, viewed through the lens of ecological dynamics. Specifically, we consider sports practitioners as (learning) landscape designers, and learners as wayfinders in iduals who learn to skilfully self-regulate through uncharted fields (composed of emergent problems) within performance landscapes through a deeply embodied and embedded perception-action coupling. We contend that, through this re-configuration of the learner and the learning process in sport, practitioners may better enact learning designs that afford learners exploratory freedoms, learning to perceive and utilise available opportunities for action to skilfully navigate through emergent performance-related problems. We conclude the paper by offering two practical ex les in which practitioners have designed practice landscapes that situate learners as wayfinders and the learning process in sport as wayfinding.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 28-10-2020
DOI: 10.1186/S40798-020-00281-8
Abstract: Where do novel and innovative ideas in sport science come from? How do researchers and practitioners collectively explore the dynamic landscape of inquiry, problem, solution and application? How do they learn to skilfully navigate from current place and practice toward the next idea located beyond their current vantage point? These questions are not just of philosophical value but are important for understanding how to provide high-quality support for athletes and sport participants at all levels of expertise and performance. Grounded in concepts from social anthropology, and theoretically positioned within an ecological dynamics framework, this opinion piece introduces a hunter-gatherer model of human behaviour based on wayfinding, situating it as a conceptual guide for implementing innovations in sport science. Here, we contend that the embedded knowledge of a landscape that guides a successful hunting and gathering party is germane to the pragmatic abduction needed to promote innovation in sport performance, leading to the inquisition of new questions and ways of resolving performance-preparation challenges. More specifically, exemplified through its transdisciplinarity, we propose that to hunt ‘new ideas’ and gather translatable knowledge, sport science researchers and practitioners need to wayfind through uncharted regions located in new performance landscapes. It is through this process of navigation where in iduals will deepen, enrich and grow current knowledge, ‘taking home’ new ideas as they find their way.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 21-08-2020
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 06-08-2022
DOI: 10.1186/S40798-022-00493-0
Abstract: What would it mean to consider research in the sport sciences as a sustainable practice? Taking a step back, in such a context, what would sustainability even mean? The time is ripe to address such questions, and what we lay out here are our initial thoughts on this most contemporary of issues. We start by exploring what is meant by the term ‘sustainability’. Rather than following mainstream thinking—the harnessing of earthly resources commodified and exploited as ‘renewables’—we situate it in the sport sciences as a continuing response-ability to the experiences of others. This view is rooted in ‘commoning’—an intransitive verb in which people conjoin varied experiences through correspondence. What makes this sustainable, is its ongoing open-endedness meaning, it carries on as people (co) respond to one another. Central to this idea is a perceptual system attuned to the ebbs and flows of what or who one is corresponding with. Though, the current modus operandi of research in the sport sciences is located, not on the skilled perception of the scientist corresponding with the coming-into-being of phenomena, but on an unsustainable model of recognition that views phenomena as ‘objects of analysis’, fixed and final in form, waiting to be known about by means of reduction, fragmentation and classification. For research in the sport sciences to become a sustainable practice, we propose a scholarship that prioritises direct observation and participation with what holds our attention, corresponding within its natural ecology of relations, embedding the phenomenon itself. This re-conceptualisation of science views research as a response-able scholarship grounded in conversation . Like inquiring about the well-being of loved ones, what sustains such a scholarship is curiosity, care and hope —a curiosity about which captivates us, a care that sees us respond to what we observe, and a hope of carrying the correspondence on, together.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2008
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 17-02-2021
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 22-03-2021
DOI: 10.1177/17479541211002335
Abstract: As it is appreciated that learning is a non-linear process – implying that coaching methodologies in sport should be accommodative – it is reasonable to suggest that player development pathways should also account for this non-linearity. A constraints-led approach (CLA), predicated on the theory of ecological dynamics, has been suggested as a viable framework for capturing the non-linearity of learning, development and performance in sport. The CLA articulates how skills emerge through the interaction of different constraints (task-environment-performer). However, despite its well-established theoretical roots, there are challenges to implementing it in practice. Accordingly, to help practitioners navigate such challenges, this paper proposes a user-friendly framework that demonstrates the benefits of a CLA. Specifically, to conceptualize the non-linear and in idualized nature of learning, and how it can inform player development, we apply Adolph’s notion of learning IN development to explain the fundamental ideas of a CLA. We then exemplify a learning IN development framework, based on a CLA, brought to life in a high-level youth football organization. We contend that this framework can provide a novel approach for presenting the key ideas of a CLA and its powerful pedagogic concepts to practitioners at all levels, informing coach education programs, player development frameworks and learning environment designs in sport.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 11-08-2022
DOI: 10.1080/17461391.2021.1958011
Abstract: The design of sports practice environments can be informed through data collected and analysed according to principles of the constraints-led approach. In this study, three manipulated environmental (area per player, number of players and team outnumber) and two task (activity objective and disposal limitations) constraints were measured during professional Australian Football training activities (
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 16-12-2022
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 24-07-2006
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 23-10-2021
DOI: 10.1186/S40798-021-00366-Y
Abstract: Information technology has been integrated into most areas of sport, providing new insights, improving the efficiency of operational processes, and offering unique opportunities for exploration and inquiry. While acknowledging this positive impact, this paper explores whether sufficient consideration has been directed towards what technology risks detracting from the learning and developmental experiences of its users. Specifically, viewed through the philosophical lens of the device paradigm, and considering a more ecological account of technological implementation, we discuss how technology use in sport could subtly disengage educators and applied sports scientists from performance environments. Insights gleaned from such an ecological account of technology implementation could lead sports science and educational teams to ask and reflect on tough questions of current practice: i.e. has too much control been given to technological devices to ‘solve’ problems and communicate knowledge (about) in sport? Has technology improved the skills of players and performance staff? Or are performance staff at risk of becoming over-reliant on technology, and as a result, reducing the value of experiential knowledge (of) and intuition? Questions like these should be asked if technological devices, purported to support aspects of practice, are continually integrated into the sporting landscape.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 07-11-2021
Abstract: Identifying correlates of behavioural patterns are important to target population sub-groups at increased health risk. The aim was to investigate correlates of behavioural patterns comprising four behavioural domains in children. Data were from the HAPPY study when children were 6–8 years (n = 335) and 9–11 years (n = 339). Parents reported correlate and behavioural data (dietary intake, physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sleep). Behavioural data were additionally captured using accelerometers. Latent profile analysis was used to derive patterns. Patterns were identified as healthy, unhealthy, and mixed at both time points. Multinomial logistic regression tested for associations. Girls were more likely to display healthy patterns at 6–8 years and display unhealthy and mixed patterns at 9–11 years than boys, compared to other patterns at the corresponding ages. Increased risk of displaying the unhealthy pattern with higher age was observed at both timepoints. At 9–11 years, higher parental working hours were associated with lower risk of displaying mixed patterns compared to the healthy pattern. Associations observed revealed girls and older children to be at risk for unhealthy patterns, warranting customisation of health efforts to these groups. The number of behaviours included when deriving patterns and the in idual behaviours that dominate each pattern appear to be drivers of the associations for child level, but not for family level, correlates.
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 21-03-2022
DOI: 10.1371/JOURNAL.PONE.0265848
Abstract: Duration is a key component in the design of training activities in sport which aim to enhance athlete skills and physical qualities. Training duration is often a balance between reaching skill development and physiological targets set by practitioners. This study aimed to exemplify change point time-series analyses to inform training activity duration in Australian Football. Five features of player behaviour were included in the analyses: disposal frequency, efficiency, pressure, possession time and player movement velocity. Results of the analyses identified moments of change which may be used to inform minimum or maximum activity durations, depending on a practitioner’s objectives. In the first approach, a univariate analysis determined change points specific to each feature, allowing practitioners to evaluate activities according to a single metric. In contrast, a multivariate analysis considered interactions between features and identified a single change point, reflecting the moment of overall change during activities. Six iterations of a training activity were also evaluated resulting in common change point locations, between 196 and 252 seconds, which indicated alterations to player behaviour between this time period in the training activities conduction. Comparisons of feature segments before and after change points revealed the extent to which player behaviour changed and can guide such duration decisions. These methods can be used to evaluate athlete behaviour and inform training activity durations.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 24-03-2023
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 02-05-2019
Abstract: The aim of this study was to explore the (dis)similarity of game-play characteristics throughout an in-season period within the National Basketball Association. Thirteen performance-related indicators of all 1230 games of the regular 2016–2017 season in the National Basketball Association were analysed. Non-metric multidimensional scaling was used to examine (dis)similarity of team profiles. The two-dimensional multivariate matrix showed that team profiles generally presented similarity, while the beginning and ending of the season (October and April) showed relative dissimilarity. Although each team presented unique paths throughout the in-season period, the dominant teams in the National Basketball Association presented similar game styles. In addition, the game-play of the teams evolved into effective interactions in terms of offence and defence as the competition progressed while presenting an increased trend in the number of three-point field-goals made (p 0.000, small effect size (η 2 ) = 0.011) throughout the in-season period. The analytics performed in this study could be used practically to evaluate temporal changes of game-play characteristics in basketball as well as inform strategic periodization plans within season periods.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 05-01-2023
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 26-02-2022
DOI: 10.1080/24733938.2021.1882687
Abstract: To profile the kicking and handballing accuracy of female Australian football (AF) players and investigate potential differences across five competition levels. Female AF players were classified into five competition levels: elite senior (≥18 years) ( A large, significant difference between the competition levels was noted ( This study is the first to report technical skill characteristics in female AF across a broader participation pathway. These exploratory findings could be used as reference data for player development and inform training designs, namely by incorporating non-dominant handballing competitive play situations to develop this skill in female AF players.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 16-08-2021
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 12-2022
DOI: 10.1186/S40798-022-00535-7
Abstract: In professional team sports, like Rugby League, performance analysis has become an integral part of operational practices. This has helped practitioners gain deeper insight into phenomena like team and athlete behaviour and understanding how such behaviour may be influenced by various contextual factors. This information can then be used by coaches to design representative practice tasks, inform game principles and opposition strategies, and even support team recruitment practices. At the elite level, the constant evolution of sports technology (both hardware and software) has enabled greater access to information, making the role of the performance analyst even more valuable. However, this increase in information can create challenges regarding which variables to use to help guide decision-making, and how to present it in ways that can be utilised by coaches and other support staff. While there are published works exploring aspects of performance analysis in team sports like Rugby League, there is yet to be a perspective that explores the various operational uses of performance analysis in Rugby League, the addition of which could help guide the practices of emerging performance analysts in elite organisations like the Australian National Rugby League and the European Super League. Thus, this narrative review—with accompanying case ex les—explores the various ways performance analysis can help address pertinent operational questions commonly encountered when working in high-performance sport.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 03-04-2022
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 22-04-2022
DOI: 10.1080/24733938.2021.1877335
Abstract: To examine physical fitness profiles of female Australian football players and investigate differences according to competition level. A testing battery of 28 physical fitness assessments was undertaken with 240 players across five competition levels: elite senior (≥18 years), non-elite senior (≥18 years), high-level junior (<18 years), non-elite junior (14-17 years), and non-elite junior (10-13 years). Physical fitness profiles were examined and competition level differences were investigated using multivariate analyses of variance. Significant differences ( This is the first study to comprehensively profile physical characteristics of female Australian footballers across a broader development pathway. These preliminary findings may assist sport practitioners to better understand athlete development, provide insight on talent identification and development programs, and injury management in this population.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 23-02-2021
Abstract: This study examined the effect of match location, score-line, team quality and match outcome on the expression of team playing styles in the National Rugby League (NRL) across the 2015–2019 seasons. Thirty-eight performance indicators (e.g. offloads, runs) from all NRL games (n = 2010) were collected. Match-related factors examined were location (home/away/neutral), match type (absolute score differential), team quality (end of season ladder position) and outcome (win/draw/loss). Factor analysis using principal component analysis (PCA) were run to identify team playing styles, which were inferred from the clustered dimensions (Factors) of team performance indicators. Discriminant analysis was then used to determine the effect of the match factors on team playing styles. PCA revealed nine Factors accounting for ∼54% of team performance variance. Discriminant analysis did not meaningfully resolve team playing styles for match type, team quality or location (∼34%, ∼46% and ∼58% classification accuracy, respectively). One discriminant function correctly classified ∼81% of matches based on outcome, including four team playing styles defined as ‘attacking play’, ‘linebreaks’, ‘handling errors’ and ‘conceded linebreaks’. Team playing styles characterised by ‘attacking play’ and ‘linebreaks’, coupled with relative defensive efficiency showed the greatest association with winning regardless of team quality, match location or match type. Using similar sport analytical techniques, additional insight into the importance of various team playing styles over the time-course of a match may allow teams to further extrapolate the likelihood of success in real-time.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 29-10-2023
No related grants have been discovered for Carl Woods.