Capturing homeostatic behaviour in elite football teams: Synchronisation tendencies of cooperative and oppositional dynamics

Abstract

This study, investigating the collective homeostasis model, explores the importance of understanding both individual and collective behaviours in analysis of team performance in sport. Rooted in ecological dynamics, this model views collective behaviours in sports teams as a homeostatic process, with structural integrity of performance empowered through synergistic actions at multiple levels. At the microlevel, players interact with their nearest teammates (at a mesolevel) through n-ary interpersonal relations, producing complex behaviours or synergetic patterns observable at the macrolevel. These patterns, and their level of synchronisation, reflect microscopic homeostatic regulation, directly impacting team stability. Here, we sought to capture micro homeostasis effects (reflected in the mesolevel of behaviours) in football teams by analysing synchronisation tendencies of simplice structures, regulated by information that emerges on players’ angles and distance to goal. Frequency of simplice patterning during a game, the influence of ball possession and effects of size and type of simplices on synchronisation tendencies are all crucial to understanding how collective homeostasis is regulated within a competitive sports team, mirroring the synergistic processes that underpin effective teamwork.