title: The game of futsal as an adaptive process.
abstract: Some researchers have described team sports as complex, open, and hierarchical systems.  This study aimed to investigate and describe how the game of futsal could be characterized as a  dynamic adaptive process. One game, which included participation by two amateur teams, was analyzed  by examining players' individual (space occupied, skills with and without ball) and collective actions  (attacks and defenses). Data were collected through time-continuum notation, and were analyzed through  frequencies and clustering, using trend analysis and multiple comparisons, and Ward's minimum variance  method with Euclidean distance, respectively. Results revealed four attack patterns for each team,  with four defense patterns for one (Blue), and seven for the other (Red), and they showed within-pattern  variability. All were performed in an unpredictable manner, with no absolute correspondence between attacks  and defenses. The futsal game as an adaptive process was characterized by changing intra- and inter-patterns.
authors.affiliation: School of Physical Education and Sport, University of São Paulo, Brazil. umbertoc@usp.br
authors.forename: Umberto C
authors.initials: UC
authors.lastname: Corrêa
authors.forename: Fernando A M
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Alegre
authors.forename: Andrea M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Freudenheim
authors.forename: Suely
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dos Santos
authors.forename: Go
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tani
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D054874:Athletic Performance; D001938:Brazil; D003163:Competitive Behavior; D006608:Hierarchy, Social; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009048:Motor Skills; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics; D009949:Orientation; D012916:Soccer / Q000523:psychology*; D013598:Systems Theory