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Congress History

Brief history of the Complex Systems in Sport Congress

The science of complex systems has been fastly spreading and evolving on different fields during the last decades and sport could not ignore it. This is why in 2000 the first idea to organize a congress on Complex Systems in Sport was born. In this period only few scientists were working specifically on the field and it was a real challenge to join them. The first Complex Systems in Sport congress was planned in INEFC, University of Barcelona, the 14-15th September 2001. Unfortunately, the congress had to be cancelled due to the twin towers attack (11th September) and the small number of participants. In 2003 (14-17th May) Natàlia Balagué from INEFC, University of Barcelona, and Amadeu Delshams, from the Center of Mathematical Research, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), chaired the first International Congress of Complex Systems in Sport, which was joined by the 4th edition of the International Conference of Computer Science in Sport. It was held in INEFC Barcelona and the short name of the event was COM & COM.

Five years later Duarte Araújo succeeded to organize the 2nd edition in Madeira (Portugal). The 2nd International Congress of Complex Systems in Sport and the 10th European Workshop on Ecological Psychology, were jointly held in Funchal, Madeira Island, from the 4 to 8th November, 2008. The conference was organized by the Faculty of Human Kinetics of the Technical University of Lisbon, the Department of Physical Education and Sport of the University of Madeira, and the Sports Institute of the Autonomous Region of Madeira. Spostscience published a report: Croft, JL., Button, C. & Dicks, M. (2009). The Second International Congress of Complex Systems in Sport. Sposrtscience, 13, 15-23; see http://sportsci.org/2009/jlc.htm. The abstracts of the congress were published in a special issue of the International Journal of Sport Psychology, 41 (Suppl. 4).

The 3rd InternationaI congress, under the theme Complex Systems in Medicine and Sport, was organized in Kaunas (Lithuania) from the 29th to the 31st October 2010. It was chaired by Alfonsas Vainoras, supported by Kaunas University of Medicine (KMU), Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) and the Lithuanian Academy of Physical Education (LKKA) and held in the Europa Royale Hotel Conference Centre of Kaunas. Selected presentations of the congress were published either in Medicine journal or in Education, Physical Training, Sport journal. In turn, the book of abstracts was published in Vainoras, A., Balagué, N. (Ed.) (2010), Abstract book of the 3rd International Congress of Complex Systems in Medicine and Sport, KMU: Kaunas. ISBN 978-9955-15-187-6.

The 4th edition, under the theme Complex Systems in Sports and Healthy Ageing, was chaired by Harjo de Poel and organized in the University Medical Center of Gröningen (Netherlands) from the 29 to the 31st 2014. The book of abstracts is available online.

The 5th congress was held again in Barcelona, FC Barcelona stadium, the 5-6th October 2017. Carlota Torrents and Pedro Passos were the chairs, the Complex Systems in Sport Research Group of INEFC was the organizer and the Football Club Barcelona hosted and financed the event. The abstracts were published in Torrents, C., Passos, P. & Cos, F. (2017). Complex Systems in Sport, International Congress: Linking theory and practice. Lausanne: Frontiers Media 978-2-88945-310-8 DOI: 10.3389/978-2-88945-310-8.

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