Decision-making in action: How international-level professional football players gain an advantage.

Autor: Ramsey H; School of Sport, Health & Exercise Science, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, United Kingdom. Electronic address: harry.ramsey@port.ac.uk., Miller-Dicks M; School of Sport, Health & Exercise Science, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, United Kingdom., Reddy V; Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, United Kingdom., Hope L; Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, United Kingdom.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Psychology of sport and exercise [Psychol Sport Exerc] 2025 Jan; Vol. 76, pp. 102722. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Aug 24.
DOI: 10.1016/j.psychsport.2024.102722
Abstrakt: Understanding how both visual and contextual in-game information influences player's attempts to gain an advantage over their opponent is key to understanding skilled decision-making in fast-ball sports. In the present study, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 male professional football players to explore their reported behaviours and perspectives on their in-game decision-making and the ways in which they adapt to gain an advantage over their opponent. Professional players who have competed internationally at either Under 17, Under 19, Under 21, or senior level took part in semi-structured interviews. The data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis which generated four higher-order themes about players reported behaviours and perspectives on their decision-making and ways of gaining an advantage: (i) being "unpredictable"; (ii) option generation and invitation, comprising two sub-themes: (iia) generating and realising options in action; and (iib) act on what invites you in the moment; (iii) anticipation and awareness; and (iv) dictating and controlling the game. A key finding was that players attempts to gain an advantage were largely grounded in the aim of 'being unpredictable' through the use of deception and disguise, as well as deliberate manipulation of action sequences in order to make their actions 'hard to read'. A further important finding was that players do not always seek a universal optimal decision, as their individual action capabilities influence their available options. These findings have important implications for the assessment of decision-making performance in future empirical research.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Crown Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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