EFFECTS OF THE USE OF INSTRUCTIONS ON THE EXPLORATORY BEHAVIOR OF YOUNG FOOTBALL PLAYERS

Traditionally, the learning process in football has been governed by pedagogical models that consider the coach as the cornerstone of the process. In those models, the players are supposed to follow the coaches’ instructions to reproduce correct behaviors through repetition and the feedback given by the technical staff. The literature has criticized it, and one of the reasons is that the overuse of instructions can undermine players' exploratory behavior to the detriment of their creativity, talent, and intelligence. This study aimed to analyze the effects of instructions on young football players' exploratory behavior. 36 young football players (15±0.9 years old) participated in four 9vs9 games under the influence of coach instructions (INS) and without (N-INS). A Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and the variables qstat and α from dynamic overlap order parameters were used to determine how the instructions affected the team and players' emergent behaviors and the diversity and flexibility of those behaviors. Significant differences were found in α (p