Collective behaviours and performance in sport

Winter school/Summer school

University of Rouen Normandy (France)/Sheffield Hallam University (UK)

Présentation

L’objectif des Winter et Summer School est d’immerger les étudiants pendant cinq jours dans une démarche d’analyse et d’optimisation de la performance sportive et de l’organisation collective en sport collectif en faisant l’expérience d’un partage de compétences, en langue anglaise, mixant des étudiants français et internationaux.
Pour ce faire, les étudiants alternent des moments de conférences par des enseignants chercheurs de l’UE et des moments de travail en petits groupes.

Pour la Winter School, les étudiants français sont délocalisés à l’université de Sheffield Hallam et analysent des données de compétitions internationales. Pour la Summer School, l’URN accueille des étudiants internationaux venant de l’Alliance INGENIUM et de l’université de Sheffield Hallam avec qui l’URN a un partenariat privilégié, qui interagissent avec les étudiants français de Master 2 STAPS (mention EOPS : entrainement et optimisation de la performance sportive). Lors de cette Summer School, les étudiants auront à collecter et à analyser des matchs de futsal de joueurs de niveau national, puis de fournir des propositions d’optimisation de la performance et de l’organisation collective. Les étudiants français et étrangers, avec des compétences variées (psychologie de l’intervention, pédagogie de l’entrainement, analyste vidéo, fouille de données et statistiques) devront collaborer en petits groupes tel que le fait le staff d’un club professionnel pendant la semaine qui sépare deux matchs de championnat afin d’analyser l’équipe adverse et préparer le match à venir.

Au delà des compétences spécifiques à l'entrainement sportif, à l'analyse de jeu et aux fouilles de données, ces Winter et Summer School permettent l’acquisition de compétences plus générales liées à la communication en langue anglaise et au travail en équipe, car les étudiants sont immergés dans le même contexte que celui d’un staff international qui supervise des joueurs professionnels de différentes nationalités.

1. Introduction

Sport performance analysis in competition and training is more and more monitored thanks to recent research in data sciences and technological development for motion capture such as GPS, inertial measurement unit, and multi-camera system. There is a real need to provide methods, tools and skills to correctly use these new devices, as well as to approach performance analysis and collective behaviours following a sound theoretical framework. Indeed, the risk of collecting multi-sourcing data is to shift toward data-driven approach rather than following theoretical framework supported by key concepts, methodology, feedback to coaches and pedagogy for training. This Winter and Summer school roots in the Complexity Sciences and intertwine various disciplines such as physics and mathematics through dynamical system theory, ecological psychology, complex system approach of neurobiology, interaction network in computer sciences, etc. The complexity sciences recently showed a growing interest to understand and to explain the individual and collective behaviours in various contexts (competitive vs. collaborative, routine vs. perturbation), especially in sport (Davids et al., 2014) and will be the heart of this Winter and Summer school.

2. Objectives, aims and acquired skills

The first objective of the Winter and Summer school is for participants to acquire competences in understanding and explaining collective behaviours in constrained contexts (such as team sport competition, building evacuation in a case of emergency situation). To do so, multi-disciplinary lectures from Data Sciences and Sport Sciences will be delivered to provide key concepts, methodology, tools and advices in signal and image processing, statistics and data mining, mathematical modelling, unsupervised machine learning associated to performance analysis (with interpretation based on biomechanics, psychology & motor control) and in particular team game analysis.

In the Winter school, we will focus our attention on multi-sourcing data collection and analysis by simulating a building evacuation during a laser game (https://www.dockslaser.com) in various scenarios (see below for more details). The aims of the Winter School are for participants to acquire skills in:

1) Collecting multi-sourcing data like kinematics (from accelerometer and GPS), physiological data (heart rate), psychological data (anxiety state).

2) Data visualisation and signal processing to synthesise various data sources.

3) Determining dependant variables to assess individual and collective behaviours, and network interactions in order to analyse sport performance outcome accordant to the task goal.

In the Summer school, we will focus our attention on data mining, mathematic modelling and statistics for team game analysis, in the context of collective sport performance. The aims of the Summer School are for participants to acquire skills in:

1) Identifying key patterns to understand individual and collective behaviours, mixing various dependant variables (time-series, discrete measurement from notational analysis).

2) Data mining and unsupervised machine learning to identify various profile of players and teams, by using cluster analysis, decision tree, Kohonen map, PCA, SNA, etc.

3) Mathematic modelling to determine law of control of collective behaviours.

The second objective of this Winter and Summer school is to provide an international experience to the students and the staff. In particular, students (5 to 10 participants) and staff from Sheffield Hallam university who are a privileged partner will visit the French university of Rouen Normandy during the Winter school in November 2018. The university of Rouen Normandy will also host 5 to 10 international students during the Winter school. Then, Sheffield Hallam university will host the students and the staff of the university of Rouen Normandy during a Summer school in May 2019. The aims of this international experience are:

1) To offer participants for whom English is not their first language chance to develop their English language skills, (with a prerequisite of B2 in English).

2) For participants – who will have various backgrounds and experience - to learn to from working in small groups made up of 4 - 5 persons from across the institutions involved in the Winter and Summer Schools.

3) For participants to learn how to lead an individual & collective project and to target a road map of one-week program.