Shaping decisions in sport

Shaping decisions in sport; affordances, information and emotions

A part of my research is involved with (the perception of) affordances and the dynamically defined boundaries for action in sport. Important decisions in many sport situations can be seen to be the result of a player’s ability to perceive affordances. Examples of affordances in a sport such as soccer are a player’s openness to receive an accurately placed pass, or a goalkeeper’s (in)ability to stop a kick at goal. Perception of action boundaries is of paramount importance for perception of affordances, and hence for successful decision making and co-ordination of sport skills such as jumping, reaching, catching an blocking, in basketball, football, soccer, volleyball, baseball, rugby, etc. Injury is an important potential consequence of an incorrect or inaccurate identification of the dynamically defined boundaries for movement. Which processes support our ability to perceive action boundaries? And which – social, emotional, neural, and neurophysiological – processes might enhance, or interfere and impede our ability to perceive affordances for accurate decision making in soccer and other team sports? Insight into these processes is important for sport psychological and sport science support, coaching, training, team selection, and team development, but also for injury prevention and rehabilitation in football and other team sports.