Serious games for decision-making and team tactics training in sports: A conceptual framework and review of state-of-the-art

Abstract

Serious games have been in a variety of learning and training scenarios with promisingly positive results. However, their adoption in team sports have not covered all aspects. Training players in team tactics and decision-making is still limited to conventional methods such as pith training, flip charts and video analysis. These methods whilst powerful have limitations such as availability, cost and content rigidity. Serious games have the potential to complement these conventional methods with highly available, low cost, interactive and dynamic content that would allow players to continue their training off the pitch. This paper conducts a systemic review of the state-of-the-art, yielding 71 papers on serious games for training and the key aspects of decision-making training in team sports with a focus on Rugby Union. The literature has been collected and presented following a PRISMA inspired approach, and thematically analysed, leading to a conceptual framework named Headlights. This framework supports the design and development of serious games, incorporating two major elements bridged by Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), these are Decision-Making Training in Team Sports, and Serious Game for Decision-Making in Team Sports.