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Enhancing Multimodal Learning Through Traditional Sporting Games: Marro360°

July 2020
Frontiers in Psychology 11:1384

DOI:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01384

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Authors:

Pere Lavega

Universitat de Lleida

Rafael Luchoro-Parrilla

Universitat de Lleida

Jorge Serna

Universitat de Lleida

Cristofol Salas i Santandreu

Universitat de Lleida

Show all 15 authorsHide

Different international organizations and initiatives highlight the contribution of the traditional sporting games (TSGs) to favor the diversity of knowledge, values, and attitudes necessary for today’s society. TSG such as Marro trigger multimodal learning contexts (driving conducts, interpersonal and organic relationships), with great interest in the educational and sports initiation field. The purpose of two studies presented in this manuscript was to examine the 360° multimodal strategic intervention (decisional, relational, and organic) of two teams faced in a Marro game. For this study, a quasi-experimental design was used composed by a single test applied to two non-equivalent teams. Mixed methods were used with an observational methodology in Quadrant III: nomothetic, punctual, and multidimensional. Fourteen university students participated [mean (M) = 20.49, standard deviation (SD) = 2.18]. Three internal logic variables were studied: outcome, role, and subrole; and three variables referred to the dimensions of motor conduct: relationship, risk in the decision, and physical effort. A mixed ad hoc registration system was designed with acceptable margins of data quality. For Study 1, cross-tabulations and classification trees were applied, while for Study 2 strategic T-patterns were identified. The relevance of the scoreboard (p < 0.001; Effect Size = 0.386) and the realization of the role (p < 0.001; ES = 0.091) for the study of multimodal strategic chains in the Marro game were confirmed. The detection of regularities in specific interaction (Hunters against Hares) by Theme (p < 0.005) allowed for interpretation of the process of strategic conducts of both teams during the game. Knowing the strategic chains of playful coexistence among equals through a multimodal range of variables and approaches has revealed an unusual dynamic picture. The study provides scientific evidence for the physical education teacher on the dynamics of the game of Marro. The pedagogical application of these contributions must be made according to curricular interests.

| Network of sociomotor role changes in Marro.

…

| The motor communication network in Marro game.

…

| Temporary events and regularities in a sequence of game (taken from Casarrubea et al., 2015). The elimination of superfluous events on a timeline is the procedure applied in Figures 5, 6A,B. The bottom-line disorder hides a specific order based on events and time distances (top line).

…

| Dendrogram of temporal regularities between Hunters and Hares.

…

| Marro360 • strategic chains used by the two teams in the role of Hare.

…

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Available via license: CC BY

Content may be subject to copyright.

fpsyg-11-01384 July 4, 2020 Time: 17:42 # 1

ORIGINAL RESEARCH

published: 07 July 2020

doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01384

Edited by:

Rubén Maneiro,

Pontiﬁcal University of Salamanca,

Spain

Reviewed by:

Antonio Hernández-Mendo,

University of Málaga, Spain

Michael Brill,

Julius Maximilian University

of Würzburg, Germany

*Correspondence:

Miguel Pic

pic.aguilar.90@ull.edu.es

Specialty section:

This article was submitted to

Movement Science and Sport

Psychology,

a section of the journal

Frontiers in Psychology

Received: 16 December 2019

Accepted: 25 May 2020

Published: 07 July 2020

Citation:

Lavega-Burgués P,

Luchoro-Parrilla RA, Serna J,

Salas-Santandreu C, Aires-Araujo P,

Rodríguez-Arregi R,

Muñoz-Arroyave V, Ensenyat A,

Damian-Silva S, Machado L, Prat Q,

Sáez de Ocáriz U, Rillo-Albert A,

Martín-Martínez D and Pic M (2020)

Enhancing Multimodal Learning

Through Traditional Sporting Games:

Marro360◦. Front. Psychol. 11:1384.

doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01384

Enhancing Multimodal Learning

Through Traditional Sporting Games:

Marro360◦

Pere Lavega-Burgués1, Rafael A. Luchoro-Parrilla1, Jorge Serna1,

Cristòfol Salas-Santandreu1, Pablo Aires-Araujo1, Rosa Rodríguez-Arregi1,

Verónica Muñoz-Arroyave1, Assumpta Ensenyat2, Sabrine Damian-Silva1,

Leonardo Machado2, Queralt Prat1, Unai Sáez de Ocáriz3, Aaron Rillo-Albert3,

David Martín-Martínez1and Miguel Pic4*

1Motor Action Research Group (GIAM), INDEST, National Institute of Physical Education of Catalonia (INEFC), University

of Lleida, Lleida, Spain, 2Complex System Research Group, National Institute of Physical Education of Catalonia (INEFC),

University of Lleida, Lleida, Spain, 3Motor Action Research Group (GIAM), National Institute of Physical Education

of Catalonia (INEFC), University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, 4Motor Action Research Group (GIAM), Institute of Sport,

Tourism, and Service, South Ural State University, Chelyabinsk, Russia

Different international organizations and initiatives highlight the contribution of the

traditional sporting games (TSGs) to favor the diversity of knowledge, values, and

attitudes necessary for today’s society. TSG such as Marro trigger multimodal learning

contexts (driving conducts, interpersonal and organic relationships), with great interest

in the educational and sports initiation ﬁeld. The purpose of two studies presented in

this manuscript was to examine the 360◦multimodal strategic intervention (decisional,

relational, and organic) of two teams faced in a Marro game. For this study, a quasi-

experimental design was used composed by a single test applied to two non-equivalent

teams. Mixed methods were used with an observational methodology in Quadrant III:

nomothetic, punctual, and multidimensional. Fourteen university students participated

[mean (M) = 20.49, standard deviation (SD) = 2.18]. Three internal logic variables were

studied: outcome, role, and subrole; and three variables referred to the dimensions

of motor conduct: relationship, risk in the decision, and physical effort. A mixed

ad hoc registration system was designed with acceptable margins of data quality.

For Study 1, cross-tabulations and classiﬁcation trees were applied, while for Study 2

strategic T-patterns were identiﬁed. The relevance of the scoreboard (p<0.001; Effect

Size = 0.386) and the realization of the role (p<0.001; ES = 0.091) for the study

of multimodal strategic chains in the Marro game were conﬁrmed. The detection of

regularities in speciﬁc interaction (Hunters against Hares) by Theme (p<0.005) allowed

for interpretation of the process of strategic conducts of both teams during the game.

Knowing the strategic chains of playful coexistence among equals through a multimodal

range of variables and approaches has revealed an unusual dynamic picture. The study

provides scientiﬁc evidence for the physical education teacher on the dynamics of the

game of Marro. The pedagogical application of these contributions must be made

according to curricular interests.

Keywords: observational methodology, physical education, T-pattern analysis, motor conduct, motor praxiology,

decision-making, motor interactions, physical effort

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Lavega-Burgués et al. Multimodal Learning: Traditional Sporting Games

INTRODUCTION

According to the Kazan action plan (UNESCO, 2017), TSGs are

a fundamental intervention area for the acquisition of basic life

skills; cognitive, social, and emotional skills; values; and attitudes

that deﬁne socially responsible citizens. In addition, TSG are

also important facilitators for sustainable development, inclusive

education of cultural diversity, and peace.

The TSG testify to the local culture that has been transmitted

over time, and their originality lies in the fact that they

are social manifestations, which are expressed through motor

action: body language. These are authentic cultural showcases

that contain values and distinctive factors of their society;

hence, UNESCO recognizes TSG as intangible cultural heritage

(Parlebas, 2001).

Despite this, the TSGs have an insuﬃcient presence in the

university curricula and in the physical education classes, when

compared to Olympic sports. Scientiﬁc evidences conﬁrm the

magniﬁcent contribution of TSG to educate in values as necessary

as respect, equality, peaceful coexistence, sustainability, diversity,

and mutual help (Lavega et al., 2016).

The TSGs are based on a democratic pact, on a social

contract (Rousseau, 1973;Parlebas, 2001). This is the ﬁrst social

lesson they give. In order to play a TSG, all participants

should respect the rights and prohibitions established

by rules. The observation of the application of the rules

aﬃrms that each game has an internal logic or identity

card that tests its participants through diﬀerent ways of

relating to other participants, space, materials, and time

(Parlebas, 2017a).

There is a large repertoire of TSG in which participants must

interact with their partners and adversaries. These sociomotor

games require the actors to have a constant dialogue with

other people, whether they are members of the same team

or rivals. Through these games, participants learn to enjoy

the pleasure of meeting others (Lavega et al., 2014b;Muñoz

et al., 2017). From the approach of social psychology, personal

connections and group dynamics have also been studied

(Graupensperger et al., 2019). The same sign of valence (Heider,

1946) used in TSG, guides the relationships of solidarity

(positive valence) or social conﬂict (negative valence) (Böhm

et al., 2018) within a given society. Although it should be

noted that the conﬂict prism from TSG is an abstraction of a

diﬀerent nature, of great importance to act in the education

of values (Lee, 1988;Bredemeier, 1991;Gibbons et al., 1995;

Hernández-Mendo and Planchuelo-Medina, 2012).

The TSGs, like sports, are motor situations that have a system

of rules and establish a competition between the participants.

However, in the TSG, there is no presence of an institution

(national or international federation). It is the players themselves

who agree on the rules to be followed.

Under these conditions, each TSG has an internal logic.

That is, it activates a diﬀerent motor and social adventure,

associated with original and varied rules according to the

time and geography in which they are played. Therefore, they

constitute an exuberant playful diversity (Parlebas, 2001) useful

for physical education.

The learning caused by TSG is aimed at acquiring the

motor competence that oﬀers testimony through motor conducts

of knowing, knowing how to do, knowing how to be, and

knowing how to act (Parlebas, 2017a). That is, one learns

to agree, to cooperate, and to respect others through motor

action. For this reason, participants ﬁnd themselves in real,

not imaginary, scenarios of contextual learning that allow the

diﬀerent dimensions of their personality to be put into action.

It is about multimodal learning contexts (Ward et al., 2017).

Within each motor action (a pass, a displacement, a jump) can be

found a physical eﬀort (organic dimension), decision (cognitive

dimension), emotion (aﬀective dimension), and communication

(relational dimension).

For each person, this multimodal unitary intervention (which

we could call 360◦) is diﬀerent. These are motor conducts

in which the external meaning (the observable part of motor

execution) and the internal meaning that the person gives to his

motor intervention are linked (Parlebas, 2001).

The research by Brasó and Torrebadella (2017) indicates

that Marro is a game with possible antecedents in ancient

Greece, known in many European countries with diﬀerent

denominations: Barres or Le jour e la nuit in France, Prisoner’s

Bars or Prisoner’s Base in England, Giorno and notte, Paladini,

Barrierre, or Barre in Italy, Tag und nacht or Das Mattmachen

in Prussia and Germany, and Marro, Regate, Hurto del cuerpo,

Rescat, or Riscat in Spain. These authors aﬃrm that throughout

history, this game has been practiced by people of diﬀerent ages

and social classes. It reached its full popularity in the ﬁfteenth

and sixteenth centuries among young people in rural and school

contexts. Its incorporation into the school is very clear from the

seventeenth century. Later, in the nineteenth century, this game,

same as other TSGs, followed a process of pedagogization and

school institutionalization.

Marro Game Rules

Although it can be played in diﬀerent ways, in this case, two

teams with the same number of players, placed in a protected

area (Home) behind a line at one end of a rectangular ﬁeld, face

each other. Each player who leaves Home may chase and capture

(as a Hunter) all opposing players (playing as Hares) who have

left before him/her. In these circumstances, a player can play

the role of Hunter before his/her Hares. However, they should

know that if an adversary leaves his/her Home after him/her, the

latter will have “Marro” on him/her and will become a Hunter,

so that he/she will become a Hare. In that case, the person must

decide whether to continue chasing any of his/her Hares or ﬂee

from his/her Hunter.

When a player catches a Hare, he/she takes it to the Prisoner

area, on a side 1.5 m away where it will be placed forming a

chain (holding hands) with the rest of his/her team’s Prisoners.

If a player away from Home (Hunter or Hare) manages to touch

a Prisoner of the chain, all those who are forming the chain are

free, although they can be captured again by any adversary before

returning Home. In some ways of playing, the team that ﬁrst

captures all opponents or the team that, after a game time (e.g.,

8 min), has the highest number of captured Prisoners from the

opposing team wins.

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Lavega-Burgués et al. Multimodal Learning: Traditional Sporting Games

The Internal Logic of Marro Encourages

Decision Motor Conducts

While knowing the code of rules of the game is necessary,

it is not enough to reveal the regularities that the

Marro game contains. Although each player makes their

own decisions, there is an underlying order that is the

same for all actors, regardless of their age, gender, or

cultural background.

The theory of motor action or motor praxiology

(Parlebas, 2005) has universal or operational models that

represent the basic structures (Levi-Strauss, 1963) of the

operation of a game. There are seven universals that reveal the

underlying order that contains the internal logic of any game.

To study decision-making, two key universals are identiﬁed:

the network of changes of sociomotor roles and the network of

changes of sociomotor subroles.

The Network of Changes of Sociomotor Roles

Through this model the importance of appropriate decision-

making in the game of Marro could be identiﬁed. A role

corresponds to the potential motor conducts referred to as the

limitations, rights, and prohibitions prescribed for one or more

players by the rules of the game (Parlebas, 2001). In the Marro,

there are three roles: Home (being in the protected area), Field

Player (alive), and Prisoner.

Unlike team sports, players’ decisions are conditioned by

an excellent management of the relationship with time, since

the “moment” of leaving creates the possibility of having

Marro (being a Hunter) or receiving Marro (being a Hare)

over rivals. In addition, it may be that a player is potentially

a Hunter (for a rival Hare) and a Hare (for a rival

Hunter who has left afterward) at the same time. In these

circumstances, players will decide what role they will play in

each game sequence.

The systematic observation of the game has allowed us to

identify three strategic roles associated with the role of a live

player:

– Hunter: player who has Marro on opponents who have

left “before” Home.

– Hare: player who has left Home “before” one

or more opponents.

– Neutral: player whose decisions do not have an intention

directed to the other participants.

Through observation, it also identiﬁes another strategic

role in situations of disagreement:

– In Conﬂict: when two or more players stop playing to

discuss any disagreement during any sequence of actions

they have shared.

The dynamism of the game is associated with the transition

from one role to another, depending on the choices each player

makes. Representation based on graph theory (Berge, 1958)

identiﬁes roles through points and role changes through lines.

Loops or lines on the same role show that given a possible

change from one role to another, some players may remain

in that same role.

The Network of Changes of Sociomotor Subroles

Each role contains diﬀerent subroles considered as the minimum

unit of action loaded with strategic signiﬁcance.

The internal logic predetermines the possible changes between

subroles allowing each player, according to their strategy, to

make diﬀerent decisions corresponding to the transition between

diﬀerent subroles. This, in turn, involves the transition between

diﬀerent roles. The systematic observation of this game has

identiﬁed the following subroles:

Home (Hom)

– On hold (CEE): Player who is in the Home zone in a

passive attitude: standing, with crossed arms, with no

intention of leaving.

– On alert (CEA): Player who is in the Home zone in an

active attitude, moving, running, feinting.

– Leaving (CSL): Player leaving the Home zone.

Hunter (Hun)

– Menacing (ZAM): Hunter who stands (without moving)

but in an active attitude, feinting, ready to attack.

– Tracker (ZPS): Hunter who is chasing (running).

– Catcher (ZCT): Hunter that is at the moment of capturing.

– Conveyor (ZTL): Hunter who is moving his/her victim to

the Prisoners’ area.

– Go to save (ZIS): Hunter who is in the process of going to

save but is not doing it yet.

– Rescuer (ZSV): Hunter who is currently saving his/her

fellow Prisoners.

Hare (Har):

– On alert (LEA): Hare that stands (without moving)

but in an active attitude, feinting, prepared to

avoid being attacked.

– Provoker (LPV): Hare that is catching the attention of

Hunters. Fundamentally on the ﬁrst play of the game.

– Runaway (LHD): Hare escaping persecution or the

threat of Hunters.

– Protector (LPT): Hare that protects his/her fellow Prisoners

and commits suicide.

– Enter Home (LEC): Hare that passes from the living area

to the Home area.

– Rescuer (LSV): Hare that, in his/her ﬂight from the

Hunter, goes to the Prisoners’ area of his/her team to

try to save them.

Neutral (N)

– On hold (NEE): Neutral player (in the living area) that is

wandering, standing, or moving, waiting to make another

more inﬂuential decision in the game.

– Returning Home without threat (NRG): Neutral player

(mainly Hares) who is returning Home quietly because

he/she no longer feels a threat from Hunters. That return

can be walking or running.

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Lavega-Burgués et al. Multimodal Learning: Traditional Sporting Games

Prisoner (Pri)

– Go to prison (PIP): Hare that is captured and moved to the

prison of the rival team.

– On hold (PEE): Prisoner who waits, with whatever attitude,

to be released to adopt a new role in the game.

Conﬂict (F)

– In conﬂict (EC): Players who, for whatever reason, do not

play. The stoppage of the game can be partial (players who

are in conﬂict, but the rest are still playing) or total (the

entire game is paralyzed). Whether it is total or partial, it

will be categorized “in conﬂict” until the moment the game

is restarted with the motor decision that is taking place at

that moment of restarting the game.

Adopting a subrole involves deciding a level of risk in the

intervention. Considering the consequences of being able to be

captured or not, the subroles can be classiﬁed as (see Table 1):

conservative (passive and risk-free decisions), risky (can be

captured), and neutral (in the live role it is an active decision

(e.g., back Home); in the Prisoner role, it means not having an

alternative choice).

The Internal Logic of Marro Encourages

Conducts of Interpersonal Relationship

The Marro game is a miniature society (Parlebas, 2001) in which

players share interpersonal relationships. The relational order of

the game can be revealed by two universals:

The motor communication network reveals the underlying

relational structure (Parlebas, 2002), that is, the type of motor

relationships that are to be activated.

Marro players are related through two options of motor

interaction (Parlebas, 2002): (a) motor communication or

positive communication corresponding to a transmission motor

relationship explicitly provided by the rule and which, in the case

of Marro, occurs with the transmission of a positive sociomotor

role (touching fellow Prisoners to release them); and (b) the

countercommunication or negative communication referred to

as motor interrelation of opposition between adversaries and

which, in the case of Marro, corresponds to the transmission

of a negative role (touching an opponent to turn him/her

into a Prisoner).

The motor communication network represents players

through points (Figure 2) by roles (Figure 1). The continuous

lines that unite them show the relationship of cooperation

(solidarity) between the players, and the discontinuous ones

correspond to the relations of opposition (rivalry). The Marro

game corresponds to a team duel (two “collective actors” who

describe a zero sum, according to game theory, since what is

won on the one hand is lost on the other), symmetrical (equal

number of players and roles), exclusive (each player can only be

a companion or adversary of the other participants), and stable

(remains on the same team during the entire game). The network

is complete because each pair of vertices is connected to an edge

of positive or negative relationship (Parlebas, 2002).

Goal interaction network is a subset of the motor

communications network because it only examines the

TABLE 1 | Relation of roles, subroles, and their level of risk and decisional relationships.

Roles Strategic Sociomotor

Rules Roles Subroles

Name Name Cod Name Code # Risk decision-making Type relational decision-making

Home Home 1 On hold CEE 1 1 Conservative 3 Neutral

On alert CEA 2 1 Conservative 3 Neutral

Leaving CSL 3 2 Neutral 3 Neutral

Alive Hunter 2 Menacing ZAM 4 3 Risky 2 Opponent

Tracker ZPS 5 3 Risky 2 Opponent

Catcher ZCT 6 3 Risky o 2 Opponent

Conveyor ZTL 7 2 Neutral 2 Opponent

Go to save ZIS 8 3 Risky 1 Partner

Rescuer ZSV 9 3 Risky 1 Partner

Hare 3 On alert LEA 10 1 Conservative 3 Neutral

Provoker LPV 11 3 Risky 2 Opponent

Runaway LHD 12 3 Risky 2 Opponent

Protector LPT 13 3 Risky 1 Partner

Enter home LEC 14 2 Neutral 3 Neutral

Rescuer LSV 15 3 Risky 1 Partner

Neutral 4 On Hold NEE 16 1 Conservative 3 Neutral

Returning home without threat NRG 17 2 Neutral 3 Neutral

Prisoner Prisoner 5 Go to prion PIP 18 2 Neutral 3 Neutral

On hold PEE 19 2 Neutral 3 Neutral

Conﬂict 6 In conﬂict EC 20 2 Neutral 4 Conﬂict

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FIGURE 1 | Network of sociomotor role changes in Marro.

FIGURE 2 | The motor communication network in Marro game.

interactions that “outcome” success or failure in the game

(Parlebas, 2001). In the case of Marro, each success is associated

with capturing an opponent (each Prisoner involves adding a

point, opposition relationship) and also releasing the partners

(it implies leaving the rival’s outcome to zero, cooperative

relationship). Unlike sports, whose brand interaction network

is of opposition – since they only score points through rivalry

relationships (scoring goal or basket on the opposite zone) – the

Marro game retains a mixed goal interaction network: success is

achieved by looking for both partners and opponents.

The twenty subroles or possible decisions of the Marro game

have also been grouped according to whether these subroles

indicate a relation with partners or with adversaries. Observation

has identiﬁed neutral relationships (being at Home, being in

prison) and conﬂict (when discussing a disagreement) (Table 1).

The Internal Logic of Marro Causes

Motor Conducts of Different Physical

Effort Intensity

This game corresponds to a team duel in which the intervention

of any player is conditioned by a constant decision-making

during the development of the game. As in other games

or team sports, the other participants carry out messages

associated with unforeseen events, an informational uncertainty

that translates into an acyclic and intermittent strategic

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Lavega-Burgués et al. Multimodal Learning: Traditional Sporting Games

FIGURE 3 | Temporary events and regularities in a sequence of game (taken

from Casarrubea et al., 2015). The elimination of superﬂuous events on a

timeline is the procedure applied in Figures 5,6A,B. The bottom-line disorder

hides a speciﬁc order based on events and time distances (top line).

intervention. In these conditions, players must maintain

diﬀerent intensities of physical eﬀort with intermittent motor

actions of high intensity interspersed with moments of

recovery and pause (Bangsbo, 2000). In addition, that intensity

can change according to the outcome (score), the team’s

strategy, and the decision-making of each player, as well as

their possibilities, their way of understanding the internal

logic of the game, and their sports history or motivation

(Apostolidis et al., 2003).

The Need to Go Further

The review of the specialized literature conﬁrms that the

investigation of traditional games in educational contexts is

scarce compared to the proliferation of studies on sport (cf.

Navarro and Triguero, 2009). The motor praxiology is a discipline

that focuses the attention on TSG as an object of study and that

has generated a considerable amount of research on the eﬀects

of the TSG on emotional, relational, cognitive well-being, and

decision-making of the protagonists (cf. Lavega et al., 2016).

From the observational methodology, studies focusing on

traditional games have been essentially based on one or

two dimensions of study, using diﬀerent statistical strategies

(generalized linear models, classiﬁcation trees) (i.e., Lavega et al.,

2014a). As far as we know, no previous study has been performed

in order to interpret with a rigorous methodology an integrated

view of the intervention of players in a TSG from a systemic point

of view: decisional, relational, energetic, and various analysis

approaches, that is, a 360◦approach.

In the present study, this approach is a requirement imposed

to propose a new and unknown integral approach for the study of

team strategies in games or in team sports. The lack of approaches

based on T-pattern analysis or predictive models to identify

hidden strategic regularities is a new challenge. Therefore, it is

about trying to reveal part of the interactive process that occurs

during a game and facilitate the veriﬁcation of evidence to be

applied in the educational ﬁeld or sports initiation.

Based on this theoretical framework, the article focuses

its interest on identifying the 360◦multimodal strategic

development processes (decisional, relational, and organic)

of two teams that play under the regulatory framework

of the Marro game.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Design

The study followed an associative strategy (exploring the

functional relationship between variables) and corresponded to a

comparative predictive design based on group comparison (Ato

et al., 2013). For this study, a quasi-experimental design was used

composed by a single test applied to two non-equivalent teams.

The study design (observational methodology) was nomothetic,

punctual, and multidimensional (Anguera et al., 2011). It was

nomothetic, because two collective units (teams) composed

of players were studied. When a single concrete action was

performed, it was considered punctual. A mixed system of ﬁeld

format and E/ME category system was used. Therefore, it would

be a multimethod study (Teddie and Tashakkori, 2010;Anguera

et al., 2014;Anguera et al., 2018).

Participants

In this study, 14 players (seven per team) participated (10 male

and 4 female, age range = 18–26 years, Mage = 20.49 years,

SD = 2.18) of the ﬁrst course of physical activity and sport

sciences at the University of Lleida, enrolled in the Theory and

Practice of Motor Game. The distribution between women and

men maintained the same proportion as in the class group, with

a predominance of the masculine gender over the feminine one.

The studied participants who developed a game of Marro were

chosen at random. This reduced number of players is justiﬁed

by the large amount of data (number of observations) recorded

and analyzed during 480 s. The sum of 480 s accumulated by

each player in interaction with their peers and rivals draws the

performance, for each variable, within their respective team.

All participants signed an express authorization authorizing

their ﬁlming (Declaration of Helsinki). In addition, the study

was review and approved by the Ethics Committee for Clinical

Research of the Catalan Sports Council [07/2019/CEICEGG].

Procedure and Materials

Six variables were used in the study. The relationships between

variables and categories are described below. Three variables

corresponding to the internal logic of the game:

(i) “Dynamic Score (Outcome).” The following coding was

used for the diﬀerent outcomes (scores): draw (ZE), +1

(ON), +2 (TW), +3 (TH), +4 (FO), +5 (FI), -1 (NO), -2

(NT), -3 (OH), -4 (NFO), -5 (NFI).

(ii) “Role”: understood as categories of rights and prohibitions

that players have that allow them to take subroles or

minimum decision units (Table 1). Of the six possible

decision scenarios: strategic roles (HUN), Hare (HAR),

Home (HOM), Prisoner (PRI), in conﬂict and neutral,

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special attention was paid to the roles of Hunter and

Hare, since they originate diﬀerent strategic options in

the diﬀerent dimensions: cognitive (subrole), decisional

risk (conservative, neutral, and risky), relational (looking

for a partner or adversary), and organic (sedentary, light,

moderate, and vigorous).

(iii) Subrole decision. Twenty decision subroles were identiﬁed

(see Table 1).

Three variables linked to the dimensions of motor conducts:

(i) “Relation.” N: neutral, when ambivalent or indistinct (N);

relationship with the opponent (A); relationship with the

partner (C); and when there is a conﬂict of interest between

the players (X).

(ii) “Decision Risk.” Risky decisions (RI), neutral decisions

(NE), and conservative decisions (CO).

(iii) “Energy” is an indicator of the intensity of physical eﬀort

made by the players based on the data extracted from

the accelerometer record. The cut-oﬀ points proposed by

Troiano et al. (2008) to categorize the energy variable in

eﬀor t intensity: Sedentary (S): 0–2 CPS (No. of frequencies

per second); Light (L): >2–34 CPS; Moderate (M): >34 to

100 CPS; Vigorous (V): >100 CPS.

Phase 1: Playing in Practice and Authorizations

The Marro game was carried out by the regular teacher of the area

during his regular class schedule, in a 42 m ×25 m artiﬁcial grass

outdoor sports court.

Since none of the participants knew Marro, the game was

explained in a previous class, it was put into practice for several

minutes to favor its understanding, and tests were made for its

ﬁlming at the same time as doubts raised by the players were

solved. Once all doubts were dispelled, participants were invited

to play after 2 days in this experience. Before starting the game,

the participants performed a series of exercises adapting to the

intensity of the physical eﬀort of the game.

To make the recording, two Sony DCR-SX21 model cameras

located at both ends of the game track were used. The recording

time was continuous, without interruptions, until completing

about 480 s. All shots were recorded far enough to ensure the

anonymity of the players.

Triaxial accelerometers (ActiGraph GT3X +accelerometer;

ActiGraph LLC, Pensacola, FL, United States) were used to

record the intensity of the eﬀort. The accelerometers were placed

laterally at the waist of the players and fastened with an elastic

band. Accelerometers were programmed to record movement at

a frequency of 60 Hz.

Phase 2: Registration Tool and Data Quality

For the analysis of the data from the ﬁlming, an ad hoc

registration tool was designed with exhaustive and mutually

exclusive categories (Chacón-Moscoso et al., 2019). This

allowed the use of ludograms (Parlebas, 2001) to record the

driving strategy of the players in the diﬀerent dimensions,

corresponding with: sequence of roles and subroles, decisional

risk, relationships, and physical eﬀort assumed by a player in each

second during game development.

The mixed system created for this purpose was used because

it takes advantage of a ﬁeld format and a category system. On the

other hand, there was the ﬂexibility of the ﬁeld format adapted to

new and unexpected playful events of the game, from categories

initially identiﬁed deductively, according to the theoretical bases

used. Categories were also exploratory or inductively identiﬁed

as a result of the observation made by the observer’s team.

The rigor of the category system was guaranteed by relying

on the theoretical foundation of the science of motor action

(Parlebas, 2001, 2017a).

The data were sequential (Chacón-Moscoso et al., 2019)

since in each observation there could only be a single category.

The type of parameters was secondary since the data were

derived from a registry of primary indicators (role, subrole, and

energy) that subsequently gave rise to diﬀerent categories of risk,

relationship, and energy intensity.

To address the quality of the data, diﬀerent methodological

strategies were followed. First, the observers had at least

2 years of experience in the observational methodology and its

application. All of them were members of the GIAM research

group, interested in the motor action. The observation tool

was described and agreed by GIAM following the subroles

(categories) and roles (criteria) of the Marro game.

After using the registration tool, it was implemented with

diﬀerent modiﬁcations and improvements, in order to ensure the

quality of subsequent registrations.

The monitoring game action made by the observers was focal,

that is, player by player. Thus, an independent record of each

player was obtained. When the mixed system of consensual

and deﬁnitive registration was reached, an observer manual was

prepared, describing the categories (determination of roles and

subroles) with the respective degree of freedom of the categories.

Next, although ﬁve observers were trained, just two of

them were selected to code all players from both teams for

the whole duration of the game, intra- (coder 1_coder 1)

and interobserver (coder 1_coder 2) reliability by applying

the Generalizability Theory (Cronbach et al., 1972;Ysewijn,

1996;Cardinet et al., 2010;Blanco-Villaseñor et al., 2014;

Hernández-Mendo et al., 2016).

A match of the Marro game in which 14 players participated

was analyzed: Two teams of seven players each and a duration of

the game of 8 min. The results showed that the variability of the

instrument was associated with the categories (93.7%) and with

the categories/observer interaction (6.3%). The overall analysis

of the relative and absolute G coeﬃcient (0.98) revealed that the

accuracy of the results was optimal.

Phase 3: Preparation of Two Databases for Analysis

All observed events are associated with a series of seconds

between which that variable or that set of variables is activated

in each player. Thus, the union of these players in their respective

organizations forms the team unit.

The data collection had two procedures:

The observational procedure, carried out by a team of

ﬁve observers allowed the recording of data of the variables

outcome, role/subrole, risk in the decision and relation from the

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visualization of the videos, and the second-to-second record of

the ludic events developed by the players.

The data recorded by the accelerometers (energy variable)

were downloaded and analyzed using the ActiLife 6.0 software

(ActiGraph, Pensacola, FL, United States). The data were

integrated in periods of 1 s obtaining 480 s per participant. The

intensity of the eﬀort expressed quantitatively by means of the

magnitude vector in counts per second was transformed into a

categorical variable using the cut-oﬀ points indicated above.

Each player intervened for 480 s, coinciding with the

number of rows in Microsoft Oﬃce v.2010 Excel, also used to

transform the magnitude of movement variable (quantitative)

into categorical (sedentary, light, moderate, or vigorous).

In order to carry out Study 2, the database was prepared

to apply the package Theme (2017) software, with the aim

of detecting T-patterns strategic Marro360◦chains. Thus, those

sequences of repeated variables were eliminated so that, on the

one hand, the database became lighter and faster to analyze and,

on the other, greater dynamics of the variables were achieved.

Through the programming language Phyton v 3.7, a script

or command ﬁle was designed to eliminate the sequences of

repeated variables (more than once in a row). That is, each time

a type combination appeared (ZE, APS, A, RI, M) it was included

for the analysis, but if this same combination was repeated next,

then it was eliminated. Thus, the cumulative duration (number

of seconds) of the sequences was available, and type IV data were

obtained (Sackett, 1978). This procedure was applied exclusively

for T-pattern analysis. It is of crucial importance to recognize

that the internal logic of the game establishes a dynamic of

action in which leaving before or after the adversary identiﬁes a

“when” of the playful event, with direct impact on the outcome

(capturing an adversary or saving a Prisoner). This temporal

dynamic guides the driving strategies of the social fabric that

is the Marro game.

Phase 4: Data analysis

Phase 4.1: Data analysis in study 1

This study corresponds to a mixed methods design

(Chacón-Moscoso et al., 2019). Using the IBM SPSS Statistics,

v. 25 (2017) statistics analysis tool. Cross-tabulations (Pearson’s

Chi-square test) were carried out with special attention to

adjusted residuals (ARs) >1.96 or <–1.96 (Gómez et al.,

2019), and decision trees. For both analyses, levels of statistical

signiﬁcance were started (p<0.05). The eﬀect sizes were

calculated using the Cramer’s V test. The interpretation was

based on: 0.10 = small eﬀect, 0.30 = medium eﬀect, and

0.50 = large eﬀect (Cohen, 1988). In order to elaborate the most

representative ﬁgures of the Hunter and Hare roles, the sets

of variables equal to or greater than 2% in the blue and red

teams were selected. This selection was represented exclusively

in Figures 7,8, with a total of 1,072 occurrences (70.4%) in both

roles and teams.

To determine the interaction between the variables, the

multivariate QUEST classiﬁcation technique (Quick, Unbiased,

Eﬃcient, Statistical Tree) was used. This was a fast-running

binary procedure compared to other models already used in TSGs

(Pic et al., 2019) to execute the ramiﬁcations. The tree used

was due to a supervised learning algorithm, used in artiﬁcial

intelligence to know the predictive capacity of the model when

analyzing the performance of both teams.

The following requirements were assumed for the

construction of the QUEST model: (i) a restriction of ﬁve

levels of maximum tree depth, (ii) minimum cases (=100) in

parent Node, and minimum cases (=50) in child Node, (iii)

signiﬁcance level for splitting nodes (p<0.05); and (iv) the

validation was approached by means of split sample, being

used (randomized) 80% of the cases for the training, and 20%

in the ﬁnal test.

Phase 4.2: Data analysis in study 2

Following the mixed methods (Chacón-Moscoso et al., 2019) and

a quasi-experimental approach, the implications of the temporal

dimension in the Marro game, together with the ambition to

apply a 360◦approach of whole variables, made the use of a

multivariate technique known by THEME (Casarrubea et al.,

2015, 2019a,Aiello et al., 2020) pertinent. THEME is an algorithm

that reveals temporal regularities, selected when examining the

chains of variables, including in the analyses of the temporal

distribution of events. Therefore, according to Magnusson (2000,

p. 94–95) “if A is an earlier and B a later component of the

same recurring T-pattern, then, after an occurrence of A at

t, there is an interval [t +d1, t +d2] (d2 ≥d1 ≥d0)

that tends to contain at least one occurrence of B more often

than would be expected by chance.” The search parameters

of T-patterns included for the assessments were signiﬁcance

levels (p<0.005) and a minimum of four occurrences.

A comparison was made between the results obtained (real

data) with their randomization to validate the analyzes proposed

(Brill and Schwab, 2019).

RESULTS

Results: Study 1

The Outcome (Score) of Both Teams

Diﬀerences were found in their respective outcomes (p<0.001;

ES = 0.386). Both teams shared most of the game the ZE(0)

draw outcome (blue and red: n= 1,288; 19.2%). Blue was mainly

with ON (+1) outcome (n= 672; AR = 5.9; 10%) and NT (–

2) (n= 504; AR = 15.1; 7.5%). The red team participated mostly

with the score NO (–1) (n= 672; AR = 5.9; 10%) and TW (+2)

(n= 504; AR = 15.1; 7.5%). The TH (+3) outcome was developed

exclusively by the red team (n= 266; AR = 15.1; 4%).

Comparison of Outcomes Exclusively in the Hunter

and Hare Roles

Signiﬁcant diﬀerences were found when selecting two

determining roles in Marro game (p<0.001; ES = 0.353).

The red team obtained a higher number of records (n= 841;

55.3%) than the blue team (n= 681; 44.7%). The greatest

diﬀerences in order, following the AR, were under an NT (–2)

outcome in blue team (n= 104; AR = 7.2; 6.8%) and red team

(n= 38; AR = –7.2; 2.5%).

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In the second position, with a TW (+2) outcome the red

team registered the following values (n= 134; AR = 6.9; 8.8%),

diﬀerent from the blue team (n= 33; AR = –6.9; 2.2%). Similar

ARs were found OH (–3) exclusively in the blue team (n= 37;

AR = 6.8; 2.4%) versus the red team (n= 0; AR = –6.8; 2.4%). The

outcomes were favorable to the blue team, following the AR in

ON (+1) (AR = 2.0) and ZE (0) (AR = 1.5) while higher outcomes

by the red team were observed in NO (–1) (AR = 3.4) and TH

(+3) (AR = 6.5).

Roles in both teams

The Marro’s game lasted for 6,720 s (resulting from the

intervention of 14 players during 8 min). All observation

periods were concatenated, player by player. Based on the

characterization oﬀered through the six strategic roles (p<0.001;

ES = 0.091) (Home, Hunter, Hare, Prisoner, Conﬂict, and

Neutral), the two teams were mostly at Home (n= 266900; 39.7%;

red n= 134000; AR = 0.7; 20.1% and blue n= 132000 ; AR = –

0.7; 19.6%), then Prisoner (n= 119700; 17.8%; (blue n= 69300 ;

AR = 6; 10.3% and red n= 50400; AR = –6; 7.5%), neutral

(n= 110300; 16.4%; (blue n= 57100 ; AR = 1.3; 8.5% and red

n= 53200; AR = –1.3; 7.9%).

When attention was paid to the Hunter and Hare roles it

was found that the intervention in the Hunter (HU; n= 97000 ;

14.42%) and Hare (HA; n= 52200; 8.23%) roles was developed

during 1,522 s (22.65%). Signiﬁcant diﬀerences were found in the

intervention of the two teams in the role of Hunter and Hare. The

red team spent more time in the role of Hunter (red n= 52600;

AR = 2.9; 7.8% and blue n= 44400; AR = –2.9; 6.6%) and also in

the role of Hare (red n= 31500; AR = 3.5; 4.7% and blue n= 23700 ;

AR = –3.5; 3.5%).

Subroles in both teams

The game mainly showed decisions at Home (CEA, on alert

n= 2,35500; 35%), Prisoner on hold (PEE, n= 90600 ; 13.5%),

Hunter chasing (ZPS n= 63100; 9.4%), Neutral on hold (SEN

n= 575; 8.6%), Returning Home without threat (NRG n= 52800;

7.9%) and Hare ﬂeeing (LHD n= 42300; 6.3%). Finally, Prisoner

go to prison (PIP n= 29100; 4.3%). Subsequently, in conﬂict (EC

n= 22900; 3.4%), at Home (CSL leaving n= 22100 ; 3.3%), Hunter

conveyor (ZTL n= 16200; 2.4%), at Home (CEE on hold n= 9300 ;

1.4%), and Hare on alert (LEA n= 7400; 1.1%).

Diﬀerences were found between the subroles of the Hunter-

Hare roles (p<0.001; ES = 0.155) of both teams. The subroles

over 5% of the total and two ARs (positive or negative) were

selected. Thus, the most used subroles were ZPS (n= 63100;

41.5%), with lower frequencies the blue team (n= 29000; AR = 0.8;

19.1%) than the red team (n= 34100; AR = –0.8; 22.4%).

The red team (n= 23800; AR = 0.5; 15.6%) exceeded the blue

team (n= 18500; AR = –0.5; 12.2%) in LHD (27.8%) and similar

records in both teams using ZTL (10.6%) were found in the red

team (n= 8200; AR = –1.3; 5.4%) and blue team (n= 8000 ; AR = 1.3;

5.3%). In the last subroles selected by percentage in both ZAM

teams (n= 7700; 5.1%), being in red (n= 3700 ; AR = –1.3; 2.4%)

was similar to the blue team (n= 4000; AR = 1.3; 2.6%). Based on

the diﬀerences, in terms of AR, in LPV (n= 1900; 1.2%) the red

team exceeded (n= 1900; AR = 3.9; 1.2%) the blue team (n= 000 ;

AR = –1.2; 0%). However, the results were reversed in LPV since

the blue team (n= 2400; AR = 2.7; 1.6%) exceeded the red team

(n= 1200; AR = –2.7; 0.8%).

Still regarding the Hunter and Hare roles, no especially

relevant diﬀerences were found when examining the level of risk

of the players’ decisions (p<0.068; ES = 0.59). Although it could

be reported that more neutral decisions were found in the blue

team (n= 10400; AR = 2.1; 6.8%) than in the red team (n = 9800 ;

AR = –2.1; 6.4%).

Motor relationships in both teams

Statistically, the teams were diﬀerent (p<0.001; ES = 0.070)

although both mainly showed neutral relations (n= 5,07900;

75.6%). Subsequently, the relations were oriented toward the

adversary (n= 1,34400; 20.0%). There were few conﬂicting

relationships (n= 22900; 3.4%). Relationships toward team

partners were very scarce (n= 6800; 1.0%).

In neutral relations, the blue team surpassed the red team (blue

n= 2,63600; AR = 5.5; 39.4%; red n= 244300 ; AR = –5.5; 36.4%). The

red team showed more relations with the adversary (blue = 605;

AR = 4.1; red = 739 AR = –4.1), more conﬂict relations (blue

n= 95; AR = —2.6; 1.4%; red n= 134; AR = 2.6 2.0%), and also

more relationships with teammates (blue n= 24; AR = –2.4; 0.4%;

red n= 44; AR = 2.4; 0.7%).

By segmenting records with Hunter and Hare roles

exclusively, no signiﬁcant eﬀects could be found (p= 0.249;

ES = 0.043), and the diﬀerences disappeared.

Physical eﬀort in both teams

Based on all roles, the following statistical relevance was found

(p<0.001; ES = 0.051). The participation in the Marro game

involved a mostly moderate energy (n= 2,30200; 34.3% of the

time recorded) and also vigorous (n= 1,95700; 29.1%). Sedentary

(n= 1,33300; 19.8%) and light interventions (n= 1,12800; 16.8%)

reached lower values. The two teams showed similar sedentary

conduct values (blue: n= 67200; AR = 0.3; 10.00%; red: n= 66100 ;

AR = –0.3; 9.8%).

The blue team showed a mostly moderate conduct (blue:

n= 1,219; AR = 3.5; 18.10%; red: n= 1,08300; AR = –3.5; 16.1%).

The red team was more vigorous (blue: n= 95200; AR = 1.4; 14.2%;

red: n= 100500; AR = –1.4; 15.0%) and light (blue: n= 51700 ;

AR = –3.1; 7.7%; red: n= 61100; AR = 3.1; 9.1%).

Exclusively in the Hunter and Hare roles, there were no

signiﬁcant diﬀerences in the level of eﬀort between teams

(p= 0.359; ES = 0.046).

Predictive capacity of variables on the conduct of both teams

Through the decision tree, the predictive capacity of the internal

logic variables (Outcome, Role) and the diﬀerent dimensions of

the participants motor conducts (risk in the decision, type of

relationship, level of physical eﬀort) were studied (Figure 4).

The roles included for the analysis were Home, Prisoner,

Hunter, and Hare. The last two roles were associated with great

variability in decision options, relationship, and level of physical

eﬀort. The proportion of cases correctly classiﬁed was 64.1%, the

estimated risk of misclassiﬁcation (0.359), and the standard error

of classiﬁcation (0.015) were calculated.

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FIGURE 4 | Classiﬁcation tree (QUEST) to identify the predictive capacity of different variables that explain the Strategic Conduct of the Blue and Red Teams.

At all levels of the tree, some variables of the internal logic of

the game appeared, such as the outcome (in the ﬁrst three) and

the role (in the last three). In addition, in the ﬁrst three predictive

levels, the outcome was the ﬁrst explanatory variable.

In the fourth level, in addition to the Role, the variable

Relationship was found. At the last level, Role and Energy

variables emerged again. The risk type variable in the decision

was not found as an explanatory variable of the conduct of the

two teams. Most of the data (69%) corresponded to the prediction

on the outcome ZE (0), no (–1), TW (+2), and TH (+3) (node 2).

Draw Outcome (ZE; Node 11 and Following)

The predictive variables were associated with the Role, which

distinguished the intervention in Prisoner (node 17) and the role

of Hare (node 22), in both cases more present in the red team

than in the blue team. In contrast, the Hunter role was slightly

higher in the blue team (node 22).

Unfavorable Outcomes

With the NO outcome (–1; node 12 and following). It appeared

as a novelty that at Home, Hunter, and Hare roles (node 20)

predicted the type of physical involvement of the teams (nodes

23 and 24), which distinguished light (node 23) from the rest of

intensities of eﬀort (node 24). In these cases, the red team was

superior to the blue one. With the rest of unfavorable outcome

(score), no more predictive variables were identiﬁed.

Favorable Outcomes

With the ON outcome (+1, next node 4) the same prediction

of the role (distinction of the role of Prisoner from the

rest) was originated to identify the strategic conduct of both

teams. However, the roles HOM, HUN, and HAR predicted

the relationship variable, diﬀerentiating the neutral relationship

(node 15, higher in the blue team) from the adversary and partner

relationship (node 16, slightly higher in the red team). With

the rest of the favorable outcomes (scores), no more predictive

variables were identiﬁed.

Results: Study 2

The results shown below respond to three complementary

approaches. In the ﬁrst two sections, the number of T-patterns

found exceeded the proposed randomization, and this approach

would be validated. Free interaction between Hunters and

Hares as a whole during the game (section “Strategic Temporal

Regularities in the Hunter and Hare Roles in the Marro

Game”) was between Hunters and Hares of both teams (section

“Interaction Between the Hunters of a Team and the Hares

of the Rival Team”) and ﬁnally, the strategic forms between

Hunters and Hares in their own team (section “Areas of

Multimodal Strategic Chains”). This speciﬁcity approach, by

studying the most decisive roles within the dynamics of the game,

is unprecedented.

Strategic Temporal Regularities in the Hunter and

Hare Roles in the Marro Game

Figure 5 shows the roles of Hunter and Hare while playing. Two

large groups of strategic chains were observed:

(a) Draw outcome and superiority, two points favorable

a.1 Draw outcome. The ﬁrst subgroup corresponded to the

draw outcome. Two chains were identiﬁed (ze, zps, a, ri,

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FIGURE 5 | Dendrogram of temporal regularities between Hunters and Hares.

m; ze, zps, a, ri, m), after that double sequence it was

followed (ze, lhd, a, ri, v).

a.2 With favorable outcome (+2): (tw, zps, a, ri, v

tw, zps, a, ri, v).

(b) Draw outcome (score)

b.1 The ﬁrst subgroup was composed of two strategic chains

(ze, zps, a, ri, v ze, lhd, a, ri, v).

b.2 The second subgroup was composed of two chains. The

ﬁrst was made up of two strategic chains (ze, zps, a, ri,

m; ze, zps, a, ri, v): the sequence of strategic regularities

360◦could be expressed as follows: ((((ze,zps,a,ri,m

ze,zps,a,ri,m) ze,lhd,a,ri,v)(tw,zps,a,ri,v))((ze,zps,a,ri,v

ze,lhd,a,ri,v)(ze,zps,a,ri,m ze,zps,a,ri,v))).

Interaction Between the Hunters of a Team and the

Hares of the Rival Team

This section considers the interaction of the Red Hunters with

the Blue Hares (Figure 6A) and of the Blue Hunters with the Red

Hares (Figure 6B).

In general, in both dendrograms, there was some regularity in

the use of ze, zps, a, ri, v (Draw-Chasing-Risky-Rival-Vigorous),

but each team oﬀered its own particularities. Speciﬁcally, to the

left of the image, an unfavorable outcome in three units belonged

to blue team with Hares trying to escape from adversary (Chain

C1). This ﬁrst chain was associated with the red team through

two chains related to the Hunter in pursuit actions in a draw, and

in moderate eﬀort (C2) and vigorous (C3). In turn, the strategic

chain (C2) and chain (C3) were closely linked.

On the other hand, the right side of the image revealed

less variability than the previous dendrogram, given that only

“Energy” presented changes. Thus, the strategic chain (ze, zps, a,

ri) invariably appeared in the strategic sets, while the intensity

of the eﬀort changed between (C1) and (C2) from light to

vigorous, respectively.

Areas of Multimodal Strategic Chains

In addition to the analyses performed, Figures 6,7

were constructed to identify the frequency areas of 360◦

multimodal strategic chains of each team in the Hunter

and Hare roles.

Figure 7 shows the strategic chains most used by the teams

(=2% intra-role: Hunter) in the game of Marro360◦.

The Marro360◦chain (ze, zps, a, ri, v) was the most used by

the Hunters of both teams. Although the blue team surpassed

(n= 81) the red team (n= 61), however, while the blue team

obtained the second position (n= 45) (on, zps, a, ri, v), it was

instead the strategic set (n= 54) (tw, zps, a, ri, v) achieved

by the red team in the same second position. Within this last

strategic set, the blue team was inferior (n= 11). Contrary

to what happened with the Hare role, it was not possible to

verify the exclusivity toward one of the teams, that is, both

obtained some frequency.

However, the most used strategic chain in the second position

by the blue team was registered with the On outcome (+1, n= 45)

(on, zps, a, ri, v), while for the red team its second chain was

identiﬁed with the outcome Tw (+2, n = 54, tw, zps, a, ri, v).

In general, regarding the diﬀerences between both teams, it

could be seen that the red team was more active in the Hunter

role (n= 40). These diﬀerences were found primarily in ﬁve sets

equal to or greater than 12 units. While three sets of variables

were found in the blue team (n= 12; nt, zps, a, ri, v) (n= 13;

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FIGURE 6 | (A) left; (Red Hunters-Blue Hares) and (B) right; (Blue Hunters-Red Hares). Dendrogram of the temporal regularities the interaction between the hunters

of a team and the hares of the rival team.

FIGURE 7 | Marro360◦strategic chains used by the two teams in the role of Hunter.

ze, zps, a, ri, v) (n= 13; ze, ztl, a, ne, m), two sets were

identiﬁed in the red team (n= 20; no, ztl, a, ne, m) and (n= 43;

tw, zps, a, ri, v).

Figure 8 shows the strategic forms of both teams. The sets

of variables (frequencies) most used by the teams (=2% intra-

role: Hare).

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FIGURE 8 | Marro360◦strategic chains used by the two teams in the role of Hare.

The more characterizing Marro360◦strategic chains diﬀered

by teams. While the blue team (n= 41) used the ﬁrst position

(on, lhd, a, ri, v), in the red team it occupied the second position

(n= 43). These few diﬀerences increased when comparing the two

most used Marro360◦strategic chains (ze, lhd, a, ri, v) by the red

team (n= 70) against the blue team (n= 40). Other strategic forms

Marro360◦didn’t appear in the red team (n= 14) (ze, lpv, a, ri, m).

As in the Hunter role, the most active Hares were found in

the red team (n= 54). When selecting the diﬀerences equal to or

greater than 12 units, four sets were found, three favorable to the

red team (n= 14; ze, lpv, a, ri, m) (n= 28; tw, lhd, a, ri, v) (n= 30;

ze, lhd, a, ri, v) and one to the blue team (n= 13; nt, lhd, a, ri, v).

DISCUSSION

This research has responded to the objective of the two studies

to determine the Marro360◦multimodal strategic intervention

(decisional, relational, and organic) of two teams that face

each other in a Marro game based on the outcome and the

roles of the game.

By participating in any TSG (and also in a sport), players

try to respond to the problems proposed by the internal logic

of that activity (Parlebas, 1988, 2001, 2017b) through motor

conducts that testify to a decisional, relational, and energetic

intelligence. Therefore, the eﬀect of two independent variables

from the game were studied: the score and the subroles associated

with the Hunter and Hare roles on the dependent variables

represented by Marro360◦strategic chains. Each of these chains

was simultaneously integrated by the type of response according

to the decision risk (risk in the decision), the relationship, and

the energy intensity (Reimers et al., 2018). It is unavoidable

to mention that the methodological approach used by the

present study became feasible, since the integration of diﬀerent

variables (dynamic score, role, subrole, relation, decision risk,

energy) was addressed.

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From this perspective, the study has revealed how two

teams with antagonistic interests, subject to the same rules of

the game, reveal a speciﬁc collective intelligence, through the

analysis of individual motor responses (individually considered

variables) but, above all, complex strategic chains Marro360◦

(decisional, relational, and energetic) capable of characterizing

the participation of each team.

Knowing the internal logic of the game has led us to

follow a consistent design of mixed methods (observational)

(Camerino et al., 2012;Preciado et al., 2019), which has allowed

expert observers to build a consensual registration system, viable

in practice and reliable. Thus, the experiences of the teams

have been recorded from a rigorous and ecological approach,

capable of capturing the interactive spontaneity (Parlebas, 1988)

of the context (Guerreiro et al., 2019). According to Marro’s

internal logic, the timeline of events (Hancock and Block,

2012;Timoszyk-Tomczak and Bugajska, 2018) acquires special

relevance unlike other traditional games or sports in which the

temporal relationship is not so crucial to modify the outcome.

The deep knowledge of the internal logic of Marro makes it

possible to state with severity that the ability of teams to calculate

and manage time is a distinctive feature of the motor conducts of

the participants.

The Marro360◦strategy of the game reaches its zenith in

making decisions for the Hunter and Hare roles because they

are the ones who can unbalance the scoreboard (capturing

opponents or saving teammates). The study identiﬁes the

frequency of strategic chains for these roles (Figures 7,8),

as well as their temporal recurrence through dendrograms.

The observation of each player, also explored in other

ecological contexts of traditional and sports games (Araújo

et al., 2014), has enriched the understanding of the strategic

conduct of both teams.

The ambition of this study has been to address the analysis of

the process of formation of Marro360◦strategic chains in both

teams from a multifaceted approach to the motor conducts of

their players. This has been possible thanks to the use of mixed

methods that have also been eﬀective in other studies (Johnson

et al., 2007;Anguera et al., 2018;Casal et al., 2019).

In a ﬁrst overview of the game, the diﬀerent types of

statistical analyses (cross tables, classiﬁcation tree, and the ﬁrst

dendrogram: Figure 5) show that the draw outcome (ZE) is

a relevant variable of the strategic framework in the Marro

game. In situations of equality on the outcome is when both

teams generate greater numbers of T-patterns (Casarrubea et al.,

2016, 2019b). This ﬁnding suggests a clear pedagogical transfer:

teachers should teach students how to manage Marro360◦

strategies with the draw outcome, both at the start of the game

and during the confrontation.

In this global perspective of the game, in the dendrogram,

two key outcomes were observed: in a draw (ZE) and favorable

outcome +2 (TW) with the emergence of T-patterns (Casarrubea

et al., 2018;Magnusson, 2020) of Marro360◦in terms of temporal

chains (((((ze, zps, a, ri, m ze, zps, a, ri, m) ze, lhd, a, ri, v) (tw,

zps, a, ri, v tw, zps, a, ri, v)) ((ze, zps, a, ri, v ze, lhd, a, ri, v) (ze,

zps, a, ri, m ze, zps, a, ri, v)))). These chains integrate the risky

subroles (ri) Hunter-chasing (zps) and Hare-ﬂeeing (lhd) of high

rivalry relation directed to the adversaries (a), associated with a

moderate-to-vigorous energy intensity (m-v).

This photograph of the temporal regularities of the game of

Marro360◦, although it did not distinguish the teams, shows

the teacher the complexity of the strategic time management

that emerged from the game, that is to say, the class group.

However, we went further trying to interpret the Marro360◦

strategic intervention of both teams during the game. This

challenge was speciﬁed when both teams participated in the roles

of Hunter and Hare.

Marro360◦Intervention of the Red

Hunters on the Blue Hares (Figure 6A)

It should be noted that, in the Marro game, the Hunter and Hare

roles are essentially operational procedures (Parlebas, 2019) that

are decisive for modifying the outcome, although playing these

roles does not imply winning the game directly. By including

the outcome variable in the analysis, through crossed tables,

diﬀerences in the outcome (p<0. 001) of both teams were

observed when participating under Hunter and Hare roles. With

the outcome on disadvantage NT (–2), both teams show an

unfavorable situation, although with a diﬀerent proportion: blue

team (n= 104; AR = 7.2; 6.8%) and red team (n= 38; AR = –

7.2; 2.5%). When the outcome was favorable TW (+2), the

red team (n= 134; AR = 6.9; 8.8%) exceeded the blue team

(n= 33; AR = –6.9; 2.2%). In addition, in the dendrogram two

T-patterns (Magnusson, 2020) were detected when the blue team

intervened before an unfavorable outcome (ON = –1, lhd = ﬂee,

a = rival, ri = risky, v = vigorous). This chain was predictive (T-

prediction) and more present in the blue team than in the red

one, as shown in the second dendrogram (Figure 6A) (n= 5,

length = 3), which conﬁrms a situational advantage (Gómez

et al., 2017) for the red team. This dendrogram was relevant

since it oﬀers a greatest complexity of temporal regularities

between red team Hunters and blue team Hares, with similar

analyses used in previous studies (Pic et al., 2018). Although other

T-patterns were found in 70% of the records (as in Figure 6A),

none of the following strings in the example were predictive

(n= 5, length = 3) [tw, zps, a, ri, v (nt, lhd, a, ri, v tw,

zps, a, ri, v)].

In relation to the role of Hunter, the results show that the red

team exceeds the blue in frequency of strategic Marro360◦chains.

For the red Hunters, the Marro360◦chain that best represents

them is given with the outcome in advantage for an additional

2 points (TW = +2, zps = Hunter-chasing, a = rival, ri = risky,

v = vigorous). In addition, the classiﬁcation tree has shown that

the TW (+2) outcome was a key variable to predict the diﬀerence

in the strategic behavior of both teams (node 13, red: n= 88;

blue: n= 20).

On the other hand, despite the constant variability

of the outcome in this game, the second-most frequent

Marro360◦chain of the red team was identiﬁed with an

unfavorable outcome (NO = –1, ztl = Hunter-transfer, a = rival,

ne = neutral, m = moderate).

Therefore, although it can be aﬃrmed that, in general, in the

role of Hunter the red team was superior to the blue one, it

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is also true that, in some sections of the game, the blue team

acquired superiority over its rival. This test conﬁrms once again

the originality of this study against other precedents, when trying

to reveal the process of the game, that is, the analysis of the

strategic use of time in the sociomotor dynamics that originate

the plays in the Marro game.

Marro360◦Intervention of the Blue

Hunters on the Red Hares (Figure 6B)

The third dendrogram (Figure 6B) showed little variability when

blue Hunters faced red Hares. Marro360◦chains appeared with

the tie outcome (ZE), and only the energy intensity variable (light

or vigorous) was modiﬁed [ze, zps, a, ri, l (ze, zps, a, ri, v ze,

zps, a, ri, v)].

The interpretation of this ﬁnding may lead to several

reﬂections. First, it is likely that from the moment the blue team

Hunters vary their outcome they change the way they act and,

therefore, no other combinations or outcome were observed.

Sometimes, players start the game little concentrated or, facing

too much novelty, they are less active as shown by the intensity of

light energy. However, they become active quickly (vigorously) to

get to hunt rival Hares.

As to why no T-patterns have been found between the red

Hares and the blue Hunters, as was the case with the analogous

dendrogram (Figure 6A), although with great caution, we are

inclined to consider that surely these Hares oﬀered more variety

of responses than the answers oﬀered by blue Hares since, if

the blue team Hunters have been temporarily regular, some

temporary regularity should also have been revealed. On the

other hand, it could also be due to the great predominance of

the blue team in Hunters, since a search was made of all the

T-patterns (length = 3), and only the participation of the red team

(Hares) was found in a dendrogram of all six found.

This ﬁnding suggests a direct transfer to the educational

ﬁeld: the educator should educate toward the coding and

decoding of strategic messages. That is, teachers should

stimulate in their students the creation (coding) of varied,

unpredictable strategic messages that hinder the detection of

Marro360◦chains. In parallel, students should be encouraged to

detect (decode) temporary regularities in the strategic action plan

of the opposing team.

An unexpected ﬁnding in this game has been the non-

detection of Marro360◦chains aimed at saving partners, even

though the Marro game allows one to gain an advantage on

the outcome by saving teammates or capturing opponents. It

has been observed that both teams used primarily regularities

with opposition relations (capture) in the face of intra-team

cooperation. The reason may be due to a poor strategic approach.

It could be thought that the majority of the participants have

a “sports footprint” as a result of their background in team

sports in which victory is achieved through motor relations

projected exclusively on the opponent (insert the ball into the

goal or rival zone).

The theoretical procedures and the methodological design

of mixed methods employed have allowed us to identify the

strategic intervention of both teams, as well as ﬁnding T-patterns

(Magnusson, 2000) based on outcome. This multifaceted vision

allows an interpretation of the process followed during a game in

the confrontation of two teams. The two groups were diﬀerent

because their 360◦strategic chains were uneven. The risk in the

subrole, the type of relationship, and the intensity of energy used

have been diﬀerent in both teams. Situational variables (Gómez

et al., 2017) asks for managing time as a faithful ally and focusing

on the dynamics of the interactive collective process (Gonçalves

et al., 2016;Parlebas, 2019) of the intervening teams.

It has been observed that the red team was more active than

the blue team in the roles of Hunter and Hare, which could

explain its superiority. However, that reading should be done

with caution, since, being a game with such a variable outcome,

the momentary advantage could be changed to an unfavorable

situation. It seems reasonable to interpret that when the Hare of

any team intensiﬁed its activity, it was due to an emergency not

chosen in that situation, in which the rival team had a domain or

advantage over the subsequent options in the Marro game.

Deeply understanding the keys of the Marro game without

referring to its temporal dimension would be a complex task,

provided that the interactive process is considered relevant for

the study of the game. Leaving Home “after” an adversary grants

a strategic advantage. In addition, the time to make decisions is

reduced, and the decision options are numerous and changing

(Parlebas, 2010). Thus, choosing the right time to change roles

(leaving Home, moving from Hunter to Hare, deciding whether

to chase or ﬂee, save or capture) is a key aspect of multimodal

strategic intervention. There is scientiﬁc evidence that shows that

Marro’s game relationships go from binary strategic relationships

(Parlebas, 2019) in players aged 7–8 to relationships that increase

in complexity (Morin, 1990) in adults. While a player is chasing

an adversary (binary relationship), he/she is being chased by

another rival (tertiary relationship), which in turn can be harassed

by a partner (quaternary relationship).

Among the most notable limitations, the increase in

participants would be advisable to know the aprioristic strategic

plans of the players before starting the game, and their subsequent

comparison would be a future line of suggestive exploration

by research groups, as well as the used of test-posttest designs

to ﬁnd out speciﬁc T-patterns for each player. On the other

hand, studying the emotional state of the players, as well as

the personality traits of the participants, would oﬀer great

opportunities to get to know the player better and thus establish

better curricular plans in the future. In this study, the scarcity

of speciﬁc literature used mostly in discussion, responded to the

small group of papers in line with the objectives of the study.

Therefore, it was complex to establish direct comparisons with

other groups and research studies.

The study reveals direct transfers in the educational ﬁeld.

The traditional game in general, and the Marro game in

particular, oﬀer an extraordinary setting to develop fundamental

learning of physical education (Parlebas, 2017a, 2019). Educating

strategies based on the outcome, especially when teams draw,

trying to identify in the opposing team temporary T-patterns

of multimodal 360◦chains, as well as avoiding being predictable

for rivals, are some pedagogical examples that emerge based on

this experience.

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CONCLUSION

The most relevant strategic chains in the Marro game have

been speciﬁed from diﬀerent variables and approaches. It is

a game that made driving conducts of decision, relationship

(Heider, 1946) (positive and negative valences), and physical

eﬀort emerge, which activate multimodal learning of motor skills

in its participants (Parlebas, 2017a;Ward et al., 2017). Through

Marro the participants developed values of coexistence necessary

for current society, recognized by diﬀerent oﬃcial international

initiatives of UNESCO (e.g., Kazan 2017 action plan, 2030

Agenda, Berlin Declaration, and the International Charter of

EF, AF, and Sport).

This study has deepened on a 360◦multimodal vision, rather

unknown in studies around TSGs and sports. The variables

and strategic forms (multimodal chains of Marro360◦variables)

used by two teams depending on the outcome, aligned with the

temporal transience (T-patterns) and the sociomotor dynamics of

the process rather than the ﬁnal result, revealed the educational

potential of this game (Parlebas, 2019). The internal logic of the

Marro game asks the protagonists to intervene in a systemic

(multimodal) way, activating at the same time the decision,

the relationship, and the intensity of energy according to their

strategic interests (Lavega et al., 2016).

The analysis made by using the classiﬁcation tree conﬁrmed

the great relevance of the outcome and role variables and,

to a lesser extent, energy and relation, as predictive factors

of the conduct in both teams. More speciﬁcally, the Hunter

and Hare roles were decisive for the study of Marro, since

the dominance of the red team over the blue team nested on

favorable outcomes, but also on the role, with greater exposure

and development of the most decisive roles. This suspected

predominance was intensiﬁed when the Hunters in the blue

team and the Hares in the red team generated a dendrogram

with a more favorable outcome (score) for the team of the

Hares (belonging to the red team). However, in the homologous

dendrogram, no T-patterns were identiﬁed for Hares in the

red team (Figure 6B). This ﬁnding could be related to the

high decision variability of the role of Hare in the red team,

or due to the scarcity of actions by Hunters belonging to the

blue team and/or their limited strategy. Therefore, playing is

not neutral. The physical education teacher has evidence on

(multimodal) development in the game of Marro360◦. Knowing

hosted information about players and strategic roles (decisional,

relational, and organic) can help teachers make better decisions

in their daily tasks.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

The datasets generated for this study are available on request to

the corresponding authors.

ETHICS STATEMENT

The studies involving human participants were reviewed and

approved by the Ethics Committee for Clinical Research of

the Catalan Sports Council. Generalitat de Catalunya. The

patients/participants provided their written informed consent to

participate in this study.

AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS

PL-B, CS-S, JS, MP, and AE: substantial contribution to

study conception and design. PL-B, US, AR-A, VM-A, and

QP: preparation of the document for approval by the ethics

committee. PL-B, QP, VM-A, SD-S, AE, LM, PA-A, and CS-S:

preparation and participation in the empirical work. RL-P, CS-S,

PA-A, RR-A, and JS: observational analysis, manual observational

preparation, strategic chain analysis of the players. AE, LM,

and DM-M: download and analysis of all accelerometry data.

MP, VM-A, AE, RL-P, CS-S, JS, and PL-B: preparation of the

temporary database (all variables). MP, PL-B, VM-A, SD-S, JS,

RL-P, AR-A, DM-M, and PA-A: database revision. MP, PL-B, DM-

M, RR-A, US, PA-A, JS, RL-P, CS-S, and AE: discussion of data

analysis strategies. PL-B, MP, AE, LM, US, AR-A, RR-A, CS-S, JS,

DM-M, VM-A, and QP: writing of the manuscript. All authors

contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

FUNDING

This work was supported by the National Institute of Physical

Education of Catalonia (INEFC).

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Conﬂict of Interest: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the

absence of any commercial or ﬁnancial relationships that could be construed as a

potential conﬂict of interest.

Aires-Araujo, Rodríguez-Arregi, Muñoz-Arroyave, Ensenyat, Damian-Silva,

Machado, Prat, Sáez de Ocáriz, Rillo-Albert, Martín-Martínez and Pic. This is an

open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution

License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted,

provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the

original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic

practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply

with these terms.

Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 18 July 2020 | Volume 11 | Article 1384

Reflection on traditional sporting games: the impact of bodily involvement on empathic dimensions

Article

Full-text available

May 2023

ABSTRACT=The aim of this study was to investigate bodily engagement and involvement in traditional sporting games (TSGs), with a focus on the development of empathy. Even though the current research on empathy has been focused on its emotional component, the name “empathy” alludes to a considerably more profound dimension than emotional engagement. Empathy refers to the ability to perceive another person’s private life through the exchange of contextual factors provided through interactive sports activities. In this study, based on real-world experiences, it has been demonstrated that traditional sporting games stimulate, preserve, or reveal empathic capacities in several ways. Games can show and sustain the full potential of empathic dispositions if they are present at a young age. Moreover, by examining empathy through the prism of a TSG, we recognized them as a source of relational empathy and feelings developed to various degrees by direct involvement. As a result, we may define empathy as an integrated pedagogy that can be more successfully conducted through TSGs which are multifaceted because of their internal and external logic systems. Essentially, the hypotheses discussed in this study allow us to postulate that the physical gaming involvement of players, such as role changes, influences the individual’s empathic dimensions. Furthermore, the characteristics of traditional sporting game interaction networks may serve as a source of encouragement or inspiration for a wide range of games (theatrical, social, etc.).

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Sep 2021

Tamamı İngilizce olan bu kitap, 04 Nisan 2021 tarihinde Kyrgyzstan-Turkey Manas University - Traditional Game and Sports Research Institute önderliğinde; United Nations (UN), World Ethnosport Confederation (WEC), Washington Bowie State University paydaşlarıyla birlikte "Impacts of Traditional Sports and Games on Global Peace and Development During and After COVİD-19 /Geleneksel Spor ve Oyunların COVİD-19 Sırasında ve Sonrasında Küresel Barış ve Kalkınma Üzerindeki Etkileri" konulu yapılan panelde sunulan bildirilerden oluşmaktadır. Geleneksel spor ve oyunların sosyal küresel ve bölgesel dayanışma ve bütünleşmedeki rolünü göstermektedir.

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Resumen El acceso al deporte universitario en personas con discapacidad es una cuestión por visibilizar. Esto se ha convertido en un problema para los estudiantes universitarios que, a menudo, encuentran dificultades para su acceso debido, entre otras causas, a la falta de información y formación de las propias instituciones. El objetivo de este estudio se centra en analizar cómo es el acceso y las limitaciones en la práctica deportiva para estudiantes universitarios con discapacidad en la Universidad de León. Para llevar a cabo este estudio se ha utilizado la técnica de encuesta mediante la administración de un cuestionario a 40 estudiantes con discapacidad de la Universidad de León. Los resultados analizan cuatro bloques: 1-Número de universitarios con discapacidad que realizan práctica deportiva, 2-Acceso al deporte en personas con discapacidad en la Universidad de León, 3-Recursos disponibles para realizar deporte adaptado, y 4-Factores facilitadores y barreras para acceder al deporte adaptado. Para el análisis de los resultados se utilizó el programa JASP realizando estadística descriptiva y correlacional. Las discusiones y conclusiones se centran en la necesidad de promover una mayor difusión sobre el acceso al deporte en personas con discapacidad. Palabras clave Educación Superior; inclusión; deporte; discapacidad.

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Sep 2023

Se adopta un enfoque multidimensional de 360º, basado en situaciones naturales, para estudiar dos partidas del juego 'El Marro' (JDT), con una participación asimétrica de las/los jugadoras/es (24 participantes; M = 19.4; SD = 1.3). Una vez obtenidos indicadores fiables de calidad de los datos, se realizaron análisis descriptivos, predictivos (Modelo Chaid) y análisis de patrones temporales (TPatterns). Los resultados mostraron que los hombres emplearon una velocidad superior a la de las mujeres (p < .001). Además, el rol jugado por los participantes se reveló como la variable explicativa principal en el modelo Chaid (p < .001). Mediante el análisis de T-Patterns, se identificaron diferentes niveles de complejidad en la interpretación del juego por parte de las/los jugadoras/es. Específicamente, de los 12 jugadores/as analizados, 8 (2 chicas y 6 chicos) revelaron un nivel de complejidad 3, mientras que 4 chicos superaron estos niveles de complejidad. Estos hallazgos sugieren que el rol jugado puede ser una herramienta para modular variables orgánicas que caracterizan las diferencias entre mujeres y hombres.

Hello, D., Vitiello, D. and Collard*, Luc (2022) The concordance game: A simple tool to estimate breath hold swimming performance and to teach dynamic apnea. Front. Psychol., 21 November 2022 Sec. Movement Science and Sport Psychology https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1046533 13:1046533. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1046533

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Nov 2022

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Feb 2022

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Apr 2022

Elizara Carolina Marin

Este texto apresenta a entrevista realizada com o Pere Lavega-Burgués, uma das pessoas mais influentes na promoção e salvaguarda dos jogos e esportes tradicionais (JETs) no mundo. É professor do Instituto Nacional de Educação Física da Catalunha da Universidade de Lleida/Espanha, membro do Comitê Consultivo da Organização das Nações Unidas para a Educação, a Ciência e a Cultura (UNESCO) e presidente da Associação Europeia de Jogos e Esportes Tradicionais (AEJeST). A entrevista está centrada na sua atuação à frente da AEJeST, Organização não Governamental de caráter continental que atua para o reconhecimento dos JETs como Patrimônio Cultural Imaterial da Humanidade, por meio da formação de redes locais, nacionais e continentais; da promoção de eventos, festivais e formações pedagógicas; do desenvolvimento de pesquisas; da produção de materiais pedagógicos; e da intervenção em instituições globais, tais como a International Traditional Sports an Games Association e a UNESCO. Reconhecer, salvaguardar e nutrir o patrimônio cultural é fator essencial nos processos educativos e na continuidade de grupos sociais minoritários e ancestrais.

TRADITIONAL SPORTING GAMES AND PLAY: ENHANCING CULTURAL DIVERSITY, EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING, INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS AND INTELLIGENT DECISIONS

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Dec 2021

05 Editorial: Traditional Sporting Games and Play: Enhancing Cultural Diversity, Emotional Well-Being, Interpersonal Relationships and Intelligent Decisions Pere Lavega-Burgués, Marco Antonio Coelho Bortoleto and Miguel Pic 10 Book Review: The Story of Catch: The Story of Lancashire Catch-as-Catch-Can Wrestling Kazimierz Waluch 12 Book Review: La Aventura Praxiológica. Ciencia, Acción y Educación Física Maria Pilar Founaud and Asier Oiarbide 15 Book Review: Éléments de Sociologie du Sport Bordes Pascal 17 Book Review: Recreios Collegiaes Mário Duarte Maia Rodrigues 19 Sports Teaching, Traditional Games, and Understanding in Physical Education: A Tale of Two Stories Raúl Martínez-Santos, María Pilar Founaud, Astrid Aracama and Asier Oiarbide 31 The Universals of Games and Sports Pierre Parlebas 43 The Blows and Capoeira Movements From the Caricatures of Calixto Cordeiro Paulo Coêlho Araújo and Ana Rosa Jaqueira 51 Book Review: Games and Society in Europa Bartosz Prabucki 53 Joy in Movement: Traditional Sporting Games and Emotional Experience in Elementary Physical Education Verónica Alcaraz-Muñoz, María Isabel Cifo Izquierdo, Gemma Maria Gea García, José Ignacio Alonso Roque and Juan Luis Yuste Lucas 64 Book Review: Contribution à un Lexique Commenté en Science de l’Action Motrice Zhaïra Ben Chaâbane 66 Book Review: Els jocs i els esports Tradicionals. Tradicionari. [The Traditional Games and Sports. Traditionari] Gabriel Pubill 69 Book Review: La paradoja de jugar en tríada. El juego motor en tríada Raúl Martínez-Santos 71 The Commemoration of Independence Day: Recalling Indonesian Traditional Games Mustika Fitri, Hana Astria Nur and Wulandari Putri 79 The Game of Skittles on the Northern Route of the Camino de Santiago José E. Rodríguez-Fernández, Mar Lorenzo-Moledo, Jesús García-Álvarez and Gabriela Míguez-Salina 93 Influence of Traditional Sporting Games on the Development of Creative Skills in Team Sports. The Case of Football Alexandre Oboeuf, Sylvain Hanneton, Joséphine Buffet, Corinne Fantoni and Lazhar Labiadh 105 Student Moods Before and After Body Expression and Dance Assessments. Gender Perspective Mercè Mateu, Silvia Garcías, Luciana Spadafora, Ana Andrés and Eulàlia Febrer 118 Playing Ludomotor Activities in Lleida During the Spanish Civil War: An Ethnomotor Approach Enric Ormo-Ribes, Pere Lavega-Burgués, Rosa Rodríguez-Arregi, Rafael Luchoro-Parrilla, Aaron Rillo-Albert and Miguel Pic 128 Traditional Sporting Games as Emotional Communities: The Case of Alcover and Moll’s Catalan–Valencian–Balearic Dictionary Antoni Costes, Jaume March-Llanes, Verónica Muñoz-Arroyave, Sabrine Damian-Silva, Rafael Luchoro-Parrilla, Cristòfol Salas-Santandreu, Miguel Pic and Pere Lavega-Burgués 137 Traditional Sports and Games: Intercultural Dialog, Sustainability, and Empowerment Soraia Chung Saura and Ana Cristina Zimmermann 148 The Effect of Traditional Opposition Games on University Students’ Mood States: The Score and Group Type as Key Aspects María Isabel Cifo Izquierdo, Verónica Alcaraz-Muñoz, Gemma Maria Gea-García, Juan Luis Yuste-Lucas and José Ignacio Alonso Roque 159 Traditional Games as Cultural Heritage: The Case of Canary Islands (Spain) From an Ethnomotor Perspective Rafael Luchoro-Parrilla, Pere Lavega-Burgués, Sabrine Damian-Silva, Queralt Prat, Unai Sáez de Ocáriz, Enric Ormo-Ribes and Miguel Pic 170 The Emotional States Elicited in a Human Tower Performance: Case Study Sabrine Damian-Silva, Carles Feixa, Queralt Prat, Rafael Luchoro-Parrilla, Miguel Pic, Aaron Rillo-Albert, Unai Sáez de Ocáriz, Antoni Costes and Pere Lavega-Burgués 181 New Images for Old Symbols: Meanings That Children Give to a Traditional Game Alfonso García-Monge, Henar Rodríguez-Navarro and Daniel Bores-García 191 Emotional Well-Being and Traditional Cypriot Easter Games: A Qualitative Analysis Christiana Koundourou, Markella Ioannou, Chara Stephanou, Maria Paparistodemou, Theodora Katsigari, Georgios Tsitsas and Kyriaki Sotiropoulou

T-Pattern Detection and Analysis (TPA) With THEMETM: A Mixed Methods Approach

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2020

Magnus Magnusson

This work, which was started in the early 1970s, was inspired by social interaction analysis based on direct observation and careful coding of behaviors according to a list of behavioral (mostly ethological) categories, especially the ethological work of N. Tinbergen, K. Lorenz, and K. von Frisch, for which they shared a Nobel Prize in 1973 in Medicine or Physiology but also H. Montagner’s ethological analyses of interactions in social insects and children. S. Duncan’s psychological and linguistic research on turn-taking in human interactions provided great inspiration, and so did Chomsky’s work on syntactic structure and Skinner’s probabilistic real-time functional analysis and their consequent debate. A hypothesis concerning numerous kinds of temporal and spatial natural and especially biological structures, the T-pattern is a hierarchical self-similar fractal-like structure that recurs with significant translational symmetry on a single discrete dimension, initially real time. It also points to profound self-similarity across many levels of biological spatio-temporal organization, as it seems characteristic of molecular structures such as genes and a multitude of recurrent motives on DNA and its 3D generalization corresponding to (3D) folded proteins. Developed initially to facilitate empirical analysis, the T-pattern and its detection algorithms were first presented in AI (Magnusson, 1981) and Applied Statistics (Magnusson, 1983) through THEME (3 k Fortran IV) software using an evolution algorithm. It is now over 300 k lines of code, runs under Windows, and, more recently, uses parallel processing for increased speed. This has allowed abundant detection of hidden structure in numerous kinds of biological phenomena at highly varied scales, from human behavior at timescales of days (Hirschenhauser et al., 2002; Hirschenhauser and Frigerio, 2005) to interactions of many individual neurons simultaneously registered at a temporal resolution of 10–6 s in neuronal networks in rat brains to ongoing work on T-patterns in DNA molecules at a spatial nano-scale. T-pattern detection and analysis (TPA) thus mix qualitative and quantitative analyses, as T-patterns themselves are artificial categories composed of recurring coding categories with special real-scale statistical relations between their instances. After their detection, T-patterns are thus analyzed much as are other behavioral categories.

Performance Differences of Temporal Parameters and Point Outcome Between Elite Men’s and Women’s Badminton Players According to Match-Related Contexts

Article

Full-text available

Oct 2019
Int J Environ Res Publ Health

Background: the aim of the present study was to identify the temporal and notational performance differences between elite men's and women's badminton players according to match type and set. Methods: the sample was composed of 60 men's and 60 women's matches classified by match type or duration: short (lower quartile), long (upper quartile) and regular matches (interquartile range). Temporal and notational variables were analysed for each match and compared between sexes accounting for match duration. Results: greater intensity for most variables (i.e., rally time, rest time, density, and strokes per match/rally) was exhibited in men's matches compared with women's matches (i.e., higher frequency between strokes). In addition, the greater intensity for men compared to women was more pertinent during long matches (13 significant variables) and less evident during short matches (six significant variables). Point outcome displayed similar trends for each sex during matches with more winners for men's players when serving and more unforced errors for women's players. Lastly, based on each match type, fewer sex differences were noted during sets 2 and 3, as the match progressed. Conclusion: men's players performed at a greater intensity than women's players for different match and set contexts, with this sex difference enhanced when controlling for match type and set. The development of sex- and match-specific scenarios will assist coaches and trainers in the design of specific training drills to enhance the athletic performance of elite badminton players.

Observational Studies in Male Elite Football: A Systematic Mixed Study Review

Article

Full-text available

Oct 2019

Objective: This systematic mixed study review, focuses on the use of observation methodology in elite men's football matches, which constitutes an innovative approach, that opens up a new panorama of useful and productive research. Method: The methods used in this study follow the recommendations for systematic reviews and meta-analysis guidelines (PRISMA). The search was carried out in five databases. Ninety-four articles out of 3,195 were selected and analyzed. In order to achieve a quality assessment, the guide was used to inform evaluations based on observation methodology (GREOM) (Portell et al., 2015), recognized by the EQUATOR network. Results: From the methodological review analysis, information obtained indicates that 97% of the researches used direct observation and 3% indirect observation. On the other hand, 56.5% of the articles explain the instrument used and 77% justify the applied observational design. A quantitative comparison of the proportions was made in several methodological aspects, which resulted in only 15.21% reviewing the quality of the data, and that 67.3% of the articles contributed to the mixed methods approach. The methodological review allowed us to establish procedural profiles. The results indicate that 67% of the articles have been published in English, and of these, 77% were published in journals that have an impact factor. The majority of the researchers, 53.26%, belong to Spanish entities. The most studied substantive aspects were goal (34%), possession of the ball (28%), and corner (27%). The most observed events were Leagues, World Cups, individual players and other events. Conclusions: The results obtained refer to both substantive and methodological aspects and allow us to configure a systematic review of mixed studies, in which we emphasize the aspects of a “systematic review” and a “mixed study,” within an integrated perspective.

Different Representation Procedures Originated from Multivariate Temporal Pattern Analysis of the Behavioral Response to Pain in Wistar Rats Tested in a Hot-Plate under Morphine

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2019
BSRCCS

Temporal pattern analysis is an advanced multivariate technique able to investigate the structure of behavior by unveiling the existence of statistically significant constraints among the interval length separating events in sequence. If on the one hand, such an approach allows investigating the behavioral response to pain in its most intimate and inner features, on the other hand, due to the meaning of the studies on pain, it is of relevant importance that the results utilize intuitive and easily comprehensible ways of representation. The aim of this paper is to show various procedures useful to represent the results originating from the multivariate T-pattern analysis of the behavioral response to pain in Wistar rats tested in a hot-plate and IP injected morphine or saline as a control.

Network Centrality, Group Density, and Strength of Social Identification in College Club Sport Teams

Article

Full-text available

Aug 2019

Objective: With the underlying rationale that social identification is related to psychological health and well-being, we aimed to understand how social connections and group structure within college club sport teams relate to students' perceptions of social identification. Method: We sampled 852 student-athletes from 35 intact same-sex college club sport teams. Using social network analyses derived from teammates' reports of connections with one another (i.e., time spent outside of sport, and teammate friendships), we computed: outdegree centrality (i.e., self-reported connections with teammates), indegree centrality (i.e., nominations from others), and group-level density. Multilevel models were fit to test the relative effects of outdegree centrality, indegree centrality, and group-level team density on athletes' social identification strength. Results: Outdegree centrality, indegree centrality, and team density were all positively related to the strength of athletes' social identification with their sport team. Examining model results step-by-step, incoming nominations of social connections (i.e., indegree) were associated with social identification beyond the effects of self-reported outdegree centrality. Furthermore, team-level density was significantly related to social identification after accounting for the individual-level effects of centrality. Conclusion: Sport is a domain where participants can build social connections with peers, and sport groups offer a salient source for social identification. The current findings indicate that athletes who have greater social connections with teammates may form a stronger sense of social identification. Alongside theoretical contributions to a social identity approach to studying small groups, the current study highlights the utility of studying small groups using social network methodologies.

A Mixed-Methods Approach Using Self-Report, Observational Time Series Data, and Content Analysis for Process Analysis of a Media Reception Phenomenon

Article

Full-text available

Jul 2019

Due to the complexityof research objects, theoretical concepts, and stimuli in media research, researchers in psychology and communications presumably need sophisticated measures beyond self-report scales to answer research questions on media use processes. The present study evaluates stimulus-dependent structure in spontaneous eye-blink behavior as an objective, corroborative measure for the media use phenomenon of spatial presence. To this end, a mixed methods approach is used in an experimental setting to collect, combine, analyze, and interpret data from standardized participant self-report, observation of participant behavior, and content analysis of the media stimulus. T-pattern detection is used to analyze stimulus-dependent blinking behavior, and this structural data is then contrasted with self-report data. The combined results show that behavioral indicators yield the predicted results, while self-report data shows unpredicted results that are not predicted by the underlying theory. The use of a mixed methods approach offered insights that support further theory development and theory testing beyond a traditional, mono-method experimental approach.

Combining Quantitative and Qualitative Data in the Study of Feeding Behavior in Male Wistar Rats

Article

Full-text available

Apr 2019

The first step in a behavioral study is represented by the organization of a suitable ethogram, that is, a formal description of individual components of the behavior. Then, each component of such a behavioral repertoire can be quantified (e.g., how many times it occurs, its duration, percent distribution, latency, etc.). However, it is our contention that the possibility to describe the behavior of a living being by means of hundreds or even thousands of numbers concerning isolated components, disjointed from the comprehensive behavioral architecture, does not imply the possibility to use those numbers to reconstruct the meaning of behavior. Such a level of comprehension requires a qualitative approach based on the analysis of behavioral structure and its underlying dynamics. By means of synergic utilization of quantitative and qualitative data a more complete description of a given behavior becomes available. In present study we discuss results obtained from observations of feeding behavior in two groups of male Wistar rats: a control group, under standard diet, and a second group, under hyperglycidic one. Results have been presented both in terms of quantitative evaluations and in terms of structural/qualitative ones, the latter obtained by means of T-pattern detection and analysis. As to quantitative results, mean durations showed a significant reduction of Walking and Feeding and an increase of Hind-Paw Licking and Body Grooming; concerning mean occurrences, a significant increase of Front-Paw Licking, Hind-Paw Licking, and Body Grooming was present; percent distributions showed significant reductions for Walking and Feeding and a significant increase for all grooming activities. As to qualitative assessments, T-pattern analysis unveiled a clear-cut behavioral reorganization induced by the hyperglycidic diet. If on the one hand, 50 different T-patterns were detected in subjects under standard diet, on the other hand, 703 different T-patterns were discovered in animals under hyperglycidic treatment, with a highly significant increase of mean lengths and a significant reduction of mean occurrences of T-patterns. Synergic evaluation of results in terms of quantitative and qualitative aspects shows, in rats fed with hyperglycidic diet, an increased anxiety condition, likely dependent on food-related stimuli and suggestive of a pervasive craving-related behavior.

Possession in Football: More Than a Quantitative Aspect – A Mixed Method Study

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2019

The aim of the present study was to identify and differentiate the factors that determine the possession times of successful and unsuccessful elite football teams, with the purpose of identifying a more effective possession model. For this, match corresponding to the round of eighth-finals, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final of the 2016 UEFA Euro France in which 2,636 offensive sequences occurred, were analyzed. Video recordings of matches were analyzed and coded post-event using systematic observation. The performance indicators recorded and analyzed were: phase; match period; type of start-up; interaction context; intention; field zone; possession time, passes, attack outcome; match status and final outcome. An ANOVA was performed to analyze data in order to study the influence of a set of variables. A Box–Cox transformation was applied on the variable explained to achieve normal conditions. A study of the main effects and significant interactions was also carried out, complemented with a set of predictions with the variables that were more significant. It is hypothesized that possession analysis from a mixed methods perspective will identify a more effective offensive playstyle. Results show how, in successful teams, possession time is influenced by: Type of start-up, intention and field zone. On the other hand, in unsuccessful teams, possession time is determined fundamentally by intention and match status. In terms of the results of the predictive models, in the case of successful teams, they will have longer possessions in the offensive zone with the score in favor and, in the defensive zone with a draw score, in both situations, initiated with the intention of progressing by means of a transition. For unsuccessful teams, possessions will be of longer duration in the defensive zone with a draw score, regardless of the type of start-up and, in the offensive zone, losing and initiating the play by means of a set ball action and winning by means of a transition. Results obtained in this work identify key factors that determine possession time in teams and allow to differentiate the possessions of successful and unsuccessful teams, identifying a more effective ball possession model. This information can be used to design a possession model with greater probabilities of success and increase the offensive performance of teams.

T-patterns in the study of movement and behavioral disorders

Article

Dec 2019

Aim of the present review is to offer an outline of the application of T-pattern analysis (TPA) in the study of neurological disorders characterized by anomalies of movement and, more in general, of behavior. TPA is a multivariate technique to detect real time patterns of behavior on the basis of statistically significant constraints among the events in sequence. TPA is particularly suitable to analyse the structure of behavior. The application of TPA to study movement and behavioral disorders is able to offer, with a high level of detail, hidden characteristics of behavior otherwise impossible to detect. For its intrinsic features, TPA is completely different not only from quantitative evaluations of behavior such as assessments of frequencies, durations, percent distributions etc. of individual behavioral components, but also from the largest extent of multivariate approaches based, for instance, on the analysis of transition matrices. Various applications of TPA in the study of behavior in human patients and in animal models of neurological disorders are discussed. TPA is a suitable tool to study the movement and behavioral disorders. This review represents a useful background for researchers, therapists, physicians etc. who intend to use this technique.

Methodological quality checklist for studies based on observational methodology (MQCOM)

Article

Nov 2019

Background: No existing instrument addresses the minimum number of items that guarantee methodological quality in studies based on observational methodology. Consequently, professionals who are not experts in observational methodology do not have a basic framework to guide their practice in this type of study. This study developed a checklist to measure the minimum number of items for methodological quality that studies based on observational methodology should consider and provided evidence of their validity based on test content and intercoder reliability. Method: Fifty-four judges with at least 1 year of experience in observational methodology and research based on this methodology evaluated the items of the developed checklist in terms of relevance, usefulness, and feasibility. Items were selected if they obtained at least .5 in the Osterlind indexes of the three aspects evaluated. Two coders applied the selected items to a random selection of articles that used observational methodology to investigate soccer, and intercoder reliability was examined using Cohen’s kappa (k) coefficients. Results: The final checklist included 16 items grouped into 11 criteria/dimensions, with adequate reliability coefficients. Conclusions: This study developed a useful instrument for non-expert professionals to enhance the methodological quality of studies based on observational methodology.

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