Faculdade de Motricidade Humana

🗓️ 4 de novembro de 2025 | 09h30 - 17h30 | FMH

🎾 Seminário “Abordagem Baseada nos Constrangimentos de Padel”

A Faculdade de Motricidade acolhe um seminário dedicado à aplicação da abordagem baseada nos constrangimentos (ABC) ao treino no Padel - uma oportunidade única para treinadores, técnicos e investigadores interessados em metodologias contemporâneas de treino desportivo.

🔘 Exploração teórica e prática da ABC aplicada ao Padel
🔘 Ação creditada pelo IPDJ (1 UC) para Técnicos e Treinadores
🔘 Inscrição presencial - 50€, vagas limitadas

A abordagem baseada nos constrangimentos permite desenhar ambientes de treino que desenvolvem a tomada de decisão e a transferência para o jogo real. Este seminário representa uma forma de ligar ciência e prática, alavancando a performance no Padel a partir de evidência científica inovadora.

Margarida Vaz de Carvalho, researcher at SpertLab and PhD student at CIPER, was recently distinguished with the Young Researcher Award António Paula Brito at the XXVI Conference of the Portuguese Society of Sport Psychology, held on October 3rd in Porto, Portugal.

This recognition followed her presentation of the experimental study “Focus on Perception-Action for the Development of Expertise in Rope Skipping”, co-authored by Henrique Lopes and supervised by Professor Duarte Araújo.

The event brought together professionals and scholars from diverse fields, including sport psychology, physical education, coaching, sport science and sport management.

👏 Congratulations to Margarida for this well-deserved recognition!

Nos dias 3 e 4 de outubro, o SpertLab apresentou o seminário “A integração do treino psicológico no processo de treino desportivo” durante o XXVI Congresso da Sociedade Portuguesa de Psicologia do Desporto”, realizado no Porto, Portugal.

O Professor Duarte Araújo abordou como o treino psicológico pode ser integrado na prática desportiva a partir da perspetiva da dinâmica ecológica. De seguida, Henrique Lopes explorou de que forma a tomada de decisão em desportos de combate pode ser desenvolvida através de práticas cuidadosamente estruturadas, e Catarina Belchior demonstrou como o treino de meditação pode potenciar o rendimento de nadadores de alta competição.

Esta participação reforça o compromisso do SpertLab e do CIPER em promover investigação científica que liga as ciências do desporto à otimização da performance desportiva.

How do coaches’ instructions shape the technical and tactical behavior of young athletes during the game?

A new article titled “The Influence of Coaches’ Intervention on the Technical-Tactical Performance Dynamics of Young Soccer Players”, co-authored by Professor Duarte Araújo, coordinator of SpertLab, and researchers from Brazil, has just been published in the International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching.

This study explores how different types of coach intervention influence real-time player behavior, highlighting the role of ecological constraints and self-regulation in youth football performance.

The findings contribute to advancing evidence-based coaching strategies and understanding athlete development.

On July 2nd, Daniel Carrilho, member of SpertLab, successfully defended his PhD thesis in Human Kinetics, with a specialization in Sport Training, and was awarded the highest honors - approved with Cum Laude!

His thesis, titled “Sports Teams’ Synergic Behavior: Integrating its Measures in Football”, provides an innovative scientific contribution to understanding and measuring team coordination and collective behavior in football.

This achievement reflects both individual academic excellence and the collaborative research environment fostered at SpertLab, where we explore dynamics of performance, learning and training in sport.

👏 Congratulations, Dr Carrilho!!

Athlete’s action is cognition - New Article by SpertLab

Duarte Araújo and Henrique Lopes, researchers at the SpertLab (Faculty of Human Kinetics - University of Lisbon), are co-authors of the recently published article “The Ecological Dynamics of Cognizant Action in Sport”, in the journal Psychology of Sport & Exercise.

Within the framework of Ecological Dynamics, the article presents a conceptual advancement in understanding performance in sport, arguing that cognizant action - intentional behavior to realize affordances - emerges from the irreducible coupling between perception and action, shaped by athlete’s skills. More than embodied cognition it argues for cognizant action.

This publication is the result of a long standing international collaboration with Keith Davids and more recently David Farrokh.

From Practice to Complexity: A PhD on Football Heading

Congratulations to Dr Jani Sarajärvi, who successfully defended, on July 1st, his PhD in Human Kinetics, specializing in Sport Training, and was awarded with distinction.

His thesis, titled “Header Skill in Football - From Linear to Complex Analysis”, offers a novel and rigorous approach to understanding perceptual-motor skills in football, contributing to the advancement of performance, science, skill acquisition, and ecological dynamics.

This achievement reflects both individual excellence and the collaborative research culture fostered at SpertLab.

⚽️📚 Well done, Dr Sarajärvi!

We are proud to announce that Professor Duarte Araújo, Coordinator of SpertLab and Professor at the Faculty of Human Kinetics (FMH), has been ranked as the 2nd Best Scientist in Psychology in Portugal, according to the 2025 edition of Research.com.

🔬This recognition reflects not only his outstanding individual contribution, but also the collaborative and innovative research environment cultivated at SpertLab - where knowledge is advanced in sport psychology.

💡At SpertLab, we are commited to producing high-impact science that bridges theory and applied practice in sport and human movement.

No dia 28 de junho, das 9h00 às 17h00, investigadores do SpertLab lecionarão o Seminário “Desenvolvimento de Talento e Formação de Jovens Atletas”, no Auditório Charlot, em Setúbal, promovido pelo Centro de Formação Edugep.

Os investigadores da Faculdade de Motricidade Humana - Henrique Lopes, Adriano Carvalho, Daniel Carrilho e Henrique Brito - vão partilhar conhecimento e experiência sobre temas essenciais no desenvolvimento desportivo:

• Processos de identificação de talentos
• Programas de formação desportiva para jovens
• Desenvolvimento físico e mental de atletas
• Mentoria e coaching no desporto