Impact of the Awareness of the Secret Code “of the Game” to Develop Motor Creativity. An Illustration in Football for Children Aged 8-9

Anybody can know how to play a team sport, but players in those games use to find themselves on the pitch unable to make real those inspiring principles and foundations. In this sense, there is a code, intimately related to the laws of the game, that drives covertly how players communicate in situ (“Call for the ball”, “Crossing run”, “Supporting run”, etc.). This code is frequently acquired unconsciously by the players as they learn to play, experienced without realization, ”without being immediately available to conscience nor to verbal explanation” (Petitmengin, 2010). It is our hypothesis that becoming aware of this code can improve motor performance and creativity. In order to test it, two control groups and two experimental groups were defined (8-9 year old) and asked to take part. For a whole year, twice a week, control groups were coached accordingly to a traditional technical-tactical approach. At the same time, the practice for the experimental groups was focused on learning to play without the ball, on learning the motor signs of the code. All matches were thoroughly analyzed in order to report possible evolutions. Our results showed significative progressions in the experimental groups (p<.01) in the use of signs, clear evidences of the impact that new coaching strategies can have on the decoding competence and the motor creativity of youth soccer players.