Creativity in team sports

Current research provides various recommendations for the development of creativity in sports games. In most suggestions, creativity is predominantly understood as a player’s divergent thinking ability  – the cognitive ability to generate multiple solution ideas in a given situation (e.g., Memmert, 2015). The trainability of divergent thinking has been widely demonstrated. However, the practically relevant question of whether improvements in divergent thinking actually transfer to more creative actions in the game remains open. Therefore, arguing from a functional perspective, we proposed that creative actions are primarily rooted in players’ expanded skill repertoire (Zahno & Hossner, 2020; Zahno & van der Kamp, 2022). We have confirmed this hypothesis in a series of studies in youth football in collaboration with the BSC Young Boys and the Swiss Football Association (see video); both correlationally and through experimental interventions (Zahno & Hossner, 2023). Furthermore, we extended our results in applied projects funded by the FIFA (FIFA Research Scholarship) and the UEFA (UEFA Research Grant). Based on this research, we thus advise fostering creative performance in sports practice via situational motor skill training rather than with isolated divergent thinking training.

Selected Publications:

Zahno, S., & Hossner, E.-J. (2023). Creative actions in team sports are rooted in motor skills rather than in a divergent thinking ability. German Journal of Exercise and Sport Research. 53, 206–216. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12662-022-00847-6

Zahno, S., & van der Kamp, J. (2022). When insights based on ecological and cognitive theories to movement science converge – The case of creativity in sports. Frontiers in Psychology, 13:959599. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.959599

Zahno, S. & Hossner, E.-J. (2020). On the issue of developing creative players in team sports: A systematic review and critique from a functional perspective. Frontiers in Psychology, 11:575475. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.575475

Literature:

Memmert, D. (2015). Teaching tactical creativity in sport: Research and practice. Routledge.

Contact:

Stephan Zahno