Enactive account of in situ mobilization: the case of volleyball players strongly committed

Résumé En

Introduction: Many studies based on cognitive framework focus on expertise-related differences in sport performance, none on criteria that would be common to the practice of some novices and experts. The defensive mobilization, a key aspect in volleyball (Selinger & Ackermann-Blount, 1987), seems to be one. Our enactive based study, conceiving cognition as a ‘teleological constraint’ (Weber & Varela, 2002; Laurent & Ripoll, 2009), aims to understand what underlies it.Method: We investigate 12 players regularly and strongly committed, with different levels of expertise (from beginner to highly skilled). Games were filmed and self-confrontation interview were realized. We bring primacy to various types of regularities identifiable about the action as it unfolds in situ. Analysis connects three kinds of regularities, related to: typical behaviors; discriminating circumstances of the game in which they are manifested; feelings and meanings expressed about these behaviors and circumstances.Results: Regularities pointed that there is a common convergence among these various players mobilized, between all of their discriminatory behavior (instantly oriented facing the ball, frequently manifest ready position, instantaneous spurts before giving up sometimes, extended attempts to contact the ball sometimes until fall or impact, frustration manifested when defensive failure occurs); and between these and feelings signified (defensive requirement been generalized, time and space always ever reported to the defending possibility, not reflected and impulsive rushes, prevalence of the defensive need on the bodily discomfort, pleasure felt in defensive success, dissatisfaction about inactive defending partners).Discussion: Despite their different expertise levels, players strongly committed in defense have in common an intrinsic teleology directed by their sensibility to the rally break. While this is at stake for them along the game, their domain of relevant interaction (Weber & Varela, 2002) is large: extremely attentive, they try to anticipate events, to be well positioned to save the ball and to avoid the rally’s breaking. This phenomenological assumption about proper world is consistent with Lazarus proposals on appraisal and commitment (2001). We claim the necessity to investigate such dimension to better understand sport performance.