| Summary: | It is considered important to employ sound scientific principles of physical conditioning and coaching in order to enhance sports performance. One of the most critical of these principles is the rule of speci.city. In terms of key performance attributes such as physical capabilities, skill acquisition and cognitive learning a high degree of specificity of competition is desired in practice situations in order to elicit a high degree of transfer into competitive scenarios. To this end the speci.c requirements of the performance must be investigated. One method of investigating the physical requirements is that of time-motion analysis where various modes of motion are subjectively or objectively chosen and each are timed throughout the performance. To date, researchers have often chosen fewer than 8 modes of motion in their investigations, however it is arguable that this does not provide enough detail to report the high degree of specificity required to con.gure the physical demands of the sport. However, the Bloom.eld Movement Classification is recognized as the most comprehensive time-motion analysis method which includes a combination of 17 modes of motion, 14 directional categories, 4 intensity types and other specific instantaneous movement and sport-specific events including turns, swerves and on the ball activity. Furthermore, time-motion analyses have failed to report any interaction of movement. T-pattern analysis can be performed with Theme™ (PatternVision Ltd., Iceland) to identify hidden sequences of events and has been used successfully to identify complex playing patterns in soccer. The aim of the research is, firstly, to review and critique the current research into the physical demands of soccer and secondly to offer an alternative method of detailing the movements performed by the players with an objective of re-producing specific patterns of movement through T-patterns which can be used to enhance physical conditioning and coaching practices.
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