Defining, assessing, and developing creativity in sport: a systematic narrative review

Abstract

Research on creativity in sport is gaining momentum, due to a growing interest from coaches and academics in developing strategies to increase unpredictability in individual and collective behaviour which may allow teams to gain an important advantage over their opponents. The purpose of this paper was to conduct the first systematic narrative review of the literature on sporting creativity, critically synthesising 51 years of published research (1967-2018) and proposing avenues for future research. Six databases were used, and 48 documents met search criteria. The findings are organised in four categories: (a) defining creativity, (b) correlates of creativity, (c) assessing creativity and (d) developing creativity. Creativity definitions and assessments have privileged thought processes over the ability to act. A distinction is warranted between creativity about sport and creativity in sport (in action) and aligned assessment methods. The literature does not support a single strategy for the development of sporting creativity but does support its trainability. Evidence of the effectiveness of programmes for the enhancement of sporting creativity is growing but is still limited. Furthermore, while it is recognised that coaches have a pivotal role in the development of sporting creativity, research involving them is still scarce.

Practical Group Defense Exercise Design in Football Game for 13-Year-Old Students

“…Besides, this study documented the creativity of the player in football playing. Because the effectiveness of sport creativy has developed but it is still limited with the role (Fardilha & Allen, 2020;Zahno & Hossner, 2020) and creativity is adaptation process on the environment (Oboeuf et al, 2020). It means that the players are allowed to make decisions about tactics should be used when facing different conditions in a match and unlike the theoretical concepts that are learned during exercise.…”

Kreativitetsfremmende hjemmetræning under Covid-19

“…Her skal det pointeres, at et stigende antal studier viser, at idraetsudøveres kreative kompetencer kan udvikles igennem saerlige traeningsaktiviteter. Dette fremhaeves blandt andet i systematiske reviews af forskningslitteraturen om kreativitet i sport (Fardilha & Allen, 2020;Rasmussen, 2019;Zahno & Hossner, 2020). Grundet fravaeret af studier om kreativitetsfremmende hjemmetraening er det følgende baseret på anbefalinger til organiserede idraetskontekster.…”

On the Issue of Developing Creative Players in Team Sports: A Systematic Review and Critique From a Functional Perspective

“…The demand for creativity has been emphasized in many training manuals, such as the FIFA guidelines that state: "creativity must remain at the nucleus of youth development" (Bénézet and Hasler, 2018, p. 10). This practical relevance in turn has attracted great interest to the concept of creativity in sport science over the recent years (De Sa Fardilha and Allen, 2019), where creativity has been described as a "critical attribute" of team sports players (Memmert and Roca, 2019, p. 203) or a "key to expert performance" (Roca et al, 2018, p. 1). As a consequence, research has sought to reveal ways to improve this desirable attribute (Memmert, 2015b).…”

“…Practically speaking, the discussed conceptual issues inherent to the notion of creativity pose additional challenges for developing well-founded programmes for creativity training in team sports. In this respect, De Sa Fardilha and Allen (2019) conclude that existing programmes-such as the Tactical Creativity Approach (6 D's; Memmert, 2015b), the Skills4genius programme (Santos et al, 2017) or the Creative Soccer Platform (Rasmussen and Østergaard, 2016) -"show some promise and suggest creativity is trainable" (De Sa Fardilha andAllen, 2019, p. 20). However, De Sa Fardilha andAllen (2019) point out that the definitions and assessments of creativity in the field are heterogeneous and pronouncedly emphasize cognitive aspects.…”

“…In this respect, De Sa Fardilha and Allen (2019) conclude that existing programmes-such as the Tactical Creativity Approach (6 D's; Memmert, 2015b), the Skills4genius programme (Santos et al, 2017) or the Creative Soccer Platform (Rasmussen and Østergaard, 2016) -"show some promise and suggest creativity is trainable" (De Sa Fardilha andAllen, 2019, p. 20). However, De Sa Fardilha andAllen (2019) point out that the definitions and assessments of creativity in the field are heterogeneous and pronouncedly emphasize cognitive aspects. Consequently, it still remains unclear exactly which measurable aspects of "creativity" presented in the current literature can be trained and, more generally, whether respective studies approach the same aspect or completely different entities subsumed under the same label of "creativity.…”