Decision-making refers to “the process of making a
choice from a set of options, with the consequences of
that choice being crucial” (Bar-Eli, Plessner, & Raab,
2011, p. 6). Decisions can also be viewed as judgments.
In psychology, more than 250 theories have been identified,
of which about a dozen have been applied to the
sports context. Current taxonomies used to classify decision making vary widely. For instance, one set of
taxonomies classifies decisions as inferences (the best/
true outcome is known) versus preferences (best/true
outcome is unknown) (Koehler & Harvey, 2004).
Others distinguish decisions under risk (probabilities of
each outcome are known) from decisions under uncertainty
(probabilities are unknown or not reliable). Still
others refer to decision-making competencies, an
umbrella term that covers the set of abilities and skills
that expert decision makers develop over time.
Empirical evidence on decision making in sports comes
from research on expertise and heuristics, in different
stakeholders such as athletes, coaches, referees, and
managers. Decision-making processes are often related
to perception, attention, anticipation, memory, and
learning. These processes are often studied with multimethod,
multiconcept designs. Various empirical and
experimental methods are used in decision-making
research in sports, although longitudinal studies and
neuroscience studies are still quite rare. Routines for
decision making and training have also been studied in
the domains of cognitive and mental training, and
recently specific approaches such as Situation Model of
Anticipated Response-consequences in Tactical decisions
(SMART), ball school, decision training, and
Teaching Games for Understanding have established
practical guidelines.
