Field work, football and Tiki Taka
- Oct, 12 2011
- By Kamyar
- Reflections
- 7 comments
Many of those who follow international soccer are astonished by the quality of the team play demonstrated by the Spanish national team and FC Barcelona in the past couple of years. Not only it’s pleasing to the eye, but also very effective to an extent that they have won the World Cup and multiple European championships. Their style of play is known as Tiki Taka, commonly spelled tiqui-taca in Spanish. In Wikipedia is it shortly described as “A style of play characterised by short passing and movement, working the ball through various channels, and maintaining possession.” With Tiki Taka the ball is continuously passed between team members in a way that the whole team operates as one intelligent field, rather than sum total of talented individuals.
In the past couple of months I have been observing, listening and reading specifically about Barcelona Tiki Taka and here are some aspects of it that took my attention:
- Opening Space: Team players are continuously in movement, with the purpose of opening space for themselves and the player who holds the ball at the moment.
- Forming Triangles: They continuously form triangles by passing the ball to each other. Every player is aware of what other triangles are possible around him.
- A Core Player: At the centre of the team is a player with extraordinary capacities for continuously weaving the field. Xavi Hernandez who is known as the master of this role is also known as Chameleon Eye because of the 360 degrees awareness of the possibilities. Although it seems like he simply passes the ball to the closest person, he operates based on a deep sense of direction that the team needs to take on the next move.
- Knowing Each Other’s Strengths: In an interview with Xavi Hernandez, when he is asked about the key principles of Tiki Taka he talks about the importance of knowing the strength of each team member, so that one passes the ball to the other while having those strengths in mind, somehow knowing what might happen next. It’s within this context that the players open space for each other, a space suitable for their individual strengths.
- Playing the Team: Unlike many other teams, none of the stars in Barcelona play to stand out among others. Even the best football player of the world like Lionel Messi when plays at Barcelona, is fully at the service of the whole with humility, yet still performs his own individual artistry at the highest possible level.
- Maintaining the Collective Heartbeat: By continuously passing the ball to each other the team continuously maintains the collective heartbeat, because the liveliness of the team will be based on the quality of the relationships between the players, and not only the power of each individual.
You can see many of those qualities in the following collection of videos:
Sarah Whiteley
How beautifully you connect the power of the field with the power of the sports field metaphor. As part of my Sports Science degree, I studied psychology – and there was a important aspect called the Inner Game – and specifically how cultivating the inner field and the power of intention was deemed a critical component to grounding physical prowess. This was a key balancing point / interplay of the inner/invisible and outer/visible aspects to then amplify the ‘greatness’ of a player…team or field. Thanks for sharing Kamyar
Charlotte Millar
Thanks Kamyar, great insights. Your writing also really flows too, just like the players. Lovely to read.
I’m also inspired how Barcelona is one of the few football clubs that is owned by its fans and not by huge commercial interests. I really think organising from the passion of the fans, keeps the players in touch with their own integrity and their sense of service to the collective.
Mol bé (very good) as the Catalans would say!
Μaria ~~~
…It’s a dance… collective dance, just like the geese formations… Only football and all team sports have tangible focus, target that brings in more dynamism, strategy, intentional playing…
I used to play basketball & feeling the power of the team, its self~organising potential and the special magic that surfaced only in the interaction within the field was an incredible element to experience…
I would offer two more insights for further reflections in this context: a) the geometry of the field ground and b) the fact that in most sports “the strategic responses” on how the team should be set and unfolding in the game are called “systems”…
Also: a lot of coded communication is involved, sign/body language, the unique code developed and owned within each team that strenghtens the belonging and trust just like in tribes, discipline and freedom facets and interweavings, numbers (of players positions, “systems”, shirts…) play a key role and finally the body as core instrument of behaviour and performance.
Beautiful, insightful and clear piece, indeed. And I loved the video. Thank you, dear one.
With Love,
Maria
~~~
Helen Titchen Beeth
Fabulous post, Kamyar! Football will never be the same for me again…
shannon
Thank you! Kamyar! That was beautiful, and also an inspiring example of the merits of collective endeavor. Made my day to see this pattern of cooperation coming forward. This is the paradigm shift we need!
I am also inspired by the message in a book called Not-Two Is Peace that addresses our separative patterning and “us and them” conflicts and then advocates operating from “the working presumption of prior unity” — and that the way beyond the current global chaos is for “everybody-all-at-once” to awaken to our collective power to organize and deal with the issues that involve us all (i.e. food, water, shelter, health care, security…)
The book is free online at: http://www.da-peace.org
Thanks! again. And happy to have discovered your site. Now to explore further…..
Field work, football and Tiki Taka « Chris Corrigan
[...] work, football and Tiki Taka A brilliant post from Field work, football and Tiki Taka @ Dance of Unity: Their style of play is known as Tiki Taka, commonly spelled tiqui-taca in Spanish. In Wikipedia is [...]
Chris Corrigan
Helen, since Barça, football has forever changed. This is a great post!
Love it…