Purpose. To compare the performance in the execution of specific motor skills among novice futsal players in 3 competitive categories (U-7, U-9, and U-11) and to compare their performance in specific motor skills during the offensive and defensive phases of the game. Methods. Ten specific motor skills were investigated, including 6 offensive actions and 4 defensive actions, in 49 futsal players aged 6-11 years. Technical performance was analysed in terms of the number of actions, the effectiveness of the action (successful or unsuccessful), and where the action occurred (offensive or defensive midfield). One-way ANOVA was used with the Tukey test, when appropriate, or Student's t-test, with a significance level of 5%. Results. Players in the older categories were more effective defensively than those in the younger categories (F 2,46 = 6.04, p < 0.01, partial 2 = 0.21). The two older groups had an approximately two-and three-fold greater chance, respectively, of executing successful defensive technical actions (OR = 1.82, p < 0.05; OR = 2.83, p < 0.01). Furthermore, the players were more technically effective in the offensive phase of the game than in the defensive phase (M = 41.35, SD = 21.53 and M = 16.47, SD = 7.90, respectively; t 96 = 7.60, p < 0.01, d = 1.69). Conclusions. Players in older competitive categories were more effective, and players were more effective offensively than defensively.

This article considers human motor skills based on the concept of the hierarchical organisation of living systems. This concept considers apparently opposite phenomena (e.g. consistency-variability) as complementary and as contemplated in the same structure. The hierarchy in open systems is characterised by three main relativities: (a) whole and parts, (b) control and (c) variability. From a hierarchical standpoint, motor skills phenomena are structured under two levels: macro (responsible for the consistency and configuration of patterns) and micro (responsible for variability and, consequently, the flexibility of patterns). Study findings make it possible to understand how adaptations in the soccer, futsal, swimming, golf, coincident timing and graphic motor skills take place by altering the microstructure (parameterisation) or reorganising the macrostructure (self-organisation). The distinction between these two modes of adaptation allows us to consider the increase of complexity in the motor skills phenomena as a basic feature of living systems.

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/1980-0037.2017v19n2p242 The aim of this research was to evaluate the performance and tactical behavior of youth soccer players of teams from base categories. The sample consisted of 152 male soccer players aged 11-17 years who participated in the in the U-13 (n = 50), U-15 (n = 62) and U-17 (n = 40) Sergipe State Championship in the year 2015. The System of Tactical Assessment in Soccer (FUT-SAT) was used to identify the players’ tactical behavior based on the fundamental tactical principles. The main results of the study show that players presented higher tactical offensive performance (50.8 ± 9.8 points) compared to defensive performance (34.3 ± 5.7 points) (p < 0.001; d = 2,1), and the Depth Mobility principle presented the highest performance indices in the offensive phase (64.1 ± 8.7; F = 54.4; p < 0.001; partial ƞ² = 0.26). Defensive Coverage showed the highest performance indexes in the defensive phase (46.1 ± 24.3; F = 54.4; p < 0.001; partial ƞ² = 0.26).

PurposeTo investigate the patterns of recovery of ball possession in a young futsal team.MethodsSeven games played by a youth futsal team were analysed. Patterns of recovery of ball possession were investigated on the basis of the following variables: way to recover the ball, location of recovery, tactical behaviour after the recovery, and result of the match. One-way ANOVA and post-hoc Tukey honest significant difference test were used to compare the variables. Principal component analysis was also applied to verify the association between variables.ResultsIt was observed that there was a greater number of ball recoveries in the defensive sector (F_3,24 = 35.6; <i>p</i> < 0.001; η_p² = 0.79), that set pieces were the most frequent way to recover the ball (F_5,36 = 7.9; <i>p</i> < 0.001; η_p² = 0.46), that ball possession was maintained more often after the recovery of the ball (F_3,24 = 79.6; <i>p</i> < 0.001; η_p² = 0.90), and that there was no correlation between the result of the match and the number of ball recoveries (F_3,24 = 0.20; <i>p</i> = 0.93; η_p² = 0.10). Four components were identified that represented a variance of 95% for all variables. Factor 1 was related to the patterns of ball possession recovery in the offensive sector, while factor 2 was related to the tackle.ConclusionsIt was concluded that the way to recover the ball and the location of recovery affected both patterns of recovery and tactical behaviour after the recovery of the ball.

The aim of this study was to analyze the effectiveness of long distance passes performed during the 2014 Brazil FIFA World Cup. All 64 matches were analyzed, however, actions performed during overtime were not included in the sample. The study defined long pass as an action made by a player from the defensive midfield aiming at passing the ball to another teammate located on the offensive field. The action result assessment followed these criteria: shots on goal, ball possession maintenance, loss of ball possession and ball possession recovery. Total long distance passes were also considered in the analysis. Throughout the tournament, 4,512 long distance passes were attempted. The main findings were that 59% resulted on loss, 28% on maintenance and 12% on recovery of the ball possession, but only less than 1% resulted in shots on goal (F = 505.5; p<0.001; partial ƞ² = 0.76). Teams with the highest number of long pass attempts loose ball possession more frequently. There were more long distance passes at the first and at the last 15 min of matches. UEFA and Concacaf teams executed, respectively, the lowest and the highest number of long passes. The major outcome of this study is that long distance passes have low effectiveness due to the high rate of loss of ball possession, rarely creating score opportunities. The more the teams executed long passes, the more the teams lose ball possession.

Sports science has showed benefits in the use of small-sided games in the teaching-learning and training processes of football. We propose that such benefits occur because the small-sided games are holons of a hierarchically organized that maintain the same characteristics of game, regardless the reduced complexity. The hierarchical model of football considers the numerical relations of cooperation and opposition in specific spaces of play. It characterizes a nested hierarchy model because it deals with both the parts and the different processes of game. Such a hierarchical model contains five levels, in which the upper level is the football game and the elementary level a game situation, that is, a small-sided game. As any open system of hierarchical organization, the small-sided games present simultaneously invariant characteristics of whole and the specificities of the parts according the context and level of analysis. The adoption of such a hierarchical perspective allows setting goals as well as selecting the teaching-learning and training’s contents at different analysis levels by considering the autonomy-dependency in each one.

O objetivo deste estudo foi de identificar o perfil de liderança dos treinadores de categorias de base de equipes de futebol do município de Aracaju/SE. A amostra foi composta por 22 treinadores do sexo masculino que treinavam equipes de base. Foi utilizada a Escala de Liderança Revisada do Esporte que contém 60 questões fechadas divididas em dois estilos de liderança e seis dimensões. O teste de Kruskal-Wallis indicou prevalência dos comportamentos autocráticos (3,45 ± 1,60 pontos), de reforço positivo (4,48 ± 0,99 pontos) e de treino-instrução (4,59 ± 0,78 pontos) no perfil de liderança dos treinadores das categorias de base do município de Aracaju (p<0,05). Os treinadores têm hábito predominante de tomar decisões sem consultar seus jogadores, embora realizem o feedback positivo e valorizem os aspectos metodológicos do treino.