401 Medicina (Kaunas) ႣႡႢႡ; ႥႧ(Ⴇ) EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATIONS Medicina (Kaunas) ႣႡႢႡ;ႥႧ(Ⴇ):ႥႡႢ-Ⴈ Corresponden≥e to H. M. B. Sarmento, Rua Bom≤eiros Voluntários, lote 48, 3610-019, Tarou≥a, Portugal E-mail: hg.sarmento@gmail.≥om Adresas susirašin”ti: H. M. B. Sarmento, Rua Bom≤eiros Voluntários, lote 48, 3610-019, Tarou≥a, Portugal El. paštas: hg.sarmento@gmail.≥om Development and validation of a notational system to study the offensive process in football Hugo Sarmento 1, 2 , Teresa Anguera 2, 3 , Jorge Campaniço 1, 2 , José Leitão 1, 2 Ⴂ Department of Sport Sciences, Exercise & Health, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal, Ⴃ žentre for Research in Sport, Health and Human Movement, Vila Real, Portugal, Ⴄ Department of Methodology of the Žehavioural Sciences, Universidad de Žarcelona, Žarcelona, Spain Introduction The study of the game ≤y o≤serving the ≤ehavior of the teams and players is not a re≥ent phenom- enon, ≥hara≥terized ≤y a pro≥ess that has evolved over time (1–3) and that has a≥≥ompanied the enor- mous growth of sports performan≥e for the past 50 years (4). Traditionally, methods of analysis have used the frequen≥y of o≥≥urren≥e of events (e.g., num≤er of passes made in a ≥ertain area of the δeld or how many times a team ≥ommitted an error) as an in- di≥ator of performan≥e. This analysis ≤ased on the analysis of the frequen≥y of ≥ertain performan≥e pa- rameters provided and ≥ontinues to provide impor- tant information for ≥oa≥hes and athletes, ena≤ling advan≥es in training pro≥esses (5). However, the game of foot≤all is ≥hara≥terized ≤y great ≥omplexity of ≥onstraints that make it difδ≥ult to o≤je≥tify its o≤servation and analysis. Therefore, in order to a≥hieve a greater similarity to the o≤- je≥tiδ≥ation of the a≥tions o≤served in this type of games, underpinned ≤y the ʯ≤ondʰ or invarian≥es on the one hand, and variations or ≤y ≥haos 1 and disorder (i.e., the randomness and varia≤ility that ≥hara≥terize the game), on the other hand, the stri≥t delimitation of models to guide the a≥tion of the o≤- server gains fundamental importan≥e. These models ≥annot ≤e ≥onδned solely to the mere registration of the o≥≥urren≥e of events. Although the ta≥ti≥al ≥onstraint plays an im- portant role in the performan≥e of foot≤all teams, the history of the s≥ientiδ≥ analysis of this game has ≤een driven ≤y ≤iome≥hani≥al and physiologi- ≥al approa≥hes, paying little attention to the ta≥ti- ≥al ≤ehavior of the players and team organization. For ≥oa≥hes and resear≥hers, ta≥ti≥al analysis ≥an ≤e helpful, sin≥e they offer the opportunity to iden- tify mat≥h regularities and random features of game events (6). The s≥ientiδ≥ analysis of sports performan≥e aims to understand the ≤ehavior in the game in or- Key words: match analysis; football; T-patterns; observational methodology. Summary. The most striking change within football development is the application of science to its problems and in particular the use of increasingly sophisticated technology that, supported by scientiςc data, allows us to establish a ʽcode of readingʾ the reality of the game. Therefore, this study describes the process of the development and validation of an ad hoc system of categorization, which allows the different methods of offensive game in football and the interac- tion to be analyzed. Therefore, through an exploratory phase of the study, we identified ႢႡ vertebrate criteria and the respective behaviors observed for each of these criteria. We heard a panel of five experts with the purpose of a content validation. The resulting instrument is characterized by a combination of ςeld formats and systems of categories. The reliability of the instrument was calculated by the intraobserver agreement, and values above Ⴁ.ႪႦ for all criteria were achieved. Two Fž Žarcelona games were coded and analyzed, which allowed the detection of various T- patterns. The results show that the instrument serves the purpose for which it was developed and can pro- vide important information for the understanding of game interaction in football. 1 Chaos Theory attempts to explain the phenomena of character- istics of order and stability on the one hand and accompanied by disorder and irregularity on the other. It refers to the origin and nature of matching patterns of uniformity and variety in the behavior of systems (6).