ABSTRACT
A criticism often directed at sports performance analysis is that it is too focused on performance outcomes rather than the underlying processes and mechanisms that produce those outcomes. In recognition of these and other issues, dynamical systems theory has been promoted as a viable multidisciplinary theoretical framework for sports performance analysis because: (i) it has the potential to more effectively link behaviours to outcomes due to its process-oriented, rather than product-oriented, focus; (ii) the same principles and concepts govern pattern formation at all levels (i.e. intra-and inter-individual) of sports performance; and (iii) it provides an opportunity for sport physiologists and sport psychologists to play a more prominent role in sports performance analysis. In this chapter, we provide an overview of two of the main concepts of dynamical systems theory, namely self-organisation and constraints, and consider how these constructs might be applied to the analysis and explanation of sport performance at the individual and team levels.
