Category: Creativity in combat sports

This research project is about creativity in combat sports. We study creativity from an ecological dynamics approach. Our basic argument is that creative actions emerge during an athlete’s attempts to satisfy the dynamic constraints. The larger the variability in those attempts, the greater the likelihood that the athlete produces creative actions.

Georgii Zantaraia, creatively escaping a throw

Nicolai Bernstein, one of the pioneers of movement science, described motor skill as the ability to find adaptive solutions across circumstances that are never exactly the same. In fact, we all know that some athletes learn to successfully handle a wider range of problems across a wider range of circumstances than others; they are more dexterous problem solvers and tend to adopt not only more appropriate but also more creative solutions. We investigate motor creativity from an ecological dynamics approach. In it, it is argued that creative actions emerge from the dynamic interaction between individual, task and environment. We understand creative motor actions as functional movement patterns that are new to the individual and/or group and adapted to satisfy the constraints at hand.

In kickboxing, when hitting forcefully with the hands or feet, performance involves adapting to changes in conditions. For instance, with varying distances between athlete and opponent (or boxing bag), maintaining performance (e.g., high impact force) requires variability in the movements supporting a given technique. We argue that it is such increased movement variability from which new, creative actions emerge. In our research, we investigate striking and kicking actions in combat sports to examine how creative motor solutions emerge in the act.

28 February 202128 February 2021 johnvdkamp Creativity in combat sports

Search behaviours support the emergence of creative actions when striking a boxing bag

This study investigates the relation between task succes, working memory and creativity in novice participants. A modified boxing glove reduced the effectiveness of left-handed strikes. Yet, they were to hit a target at the left side of a boxing bag with criterion impact. Task success depended on search behaviours and creativity, but not on working memory. … Continue reading Search behaviours support the emergence of creative actions when striking a boxing bag

28 February 202128 February 2021 johnvdkamp Creativity in combat sports

Stimulating persistent exploration and creativity with augmented feedback in martial arts

This study examined how feedback about the impact force of striking and kicking actions structures a workout in elite karate athletes. It shows that feedback guides the athletes toward optimizing their strikes and kicks by inducing more persistent exploration. The study illustrates how coaches can use feedback to stimulate the occurrence of creative actions in martial arts. … Continue reading Stimulating persistent exploration and creativity with augmented feedback in martial arts

28 February 202128 February 2021 johnvdkamp Creativity in combat sports

Theoretical perspective: creative action emerge from movement variability

In this position paper, we lay out our theoretical perspective about the emergence of creative motor actions in general, and on actions in combat sports in particular. Following an ecological dynamics approach, we hold that athletes do not intentionally search for a creative action, but discover them in the act, while trying to satisfy the dynamic interacting constraints. … Continue reading Theoretical perspective: creative action emerge from movement variability