Exploring Movement-Modifier Facilitation in Movement-Based Sports, Health, and Game Design

This paper examines how facilitators use MeCaMInD Movement-Modifier cards, a set of roughly 300 prompt cards designed to provoke divergent thinking in movement-based sports, health, and game design. Its central argument is that the cards are most valuable as supportive tools rather than the core of the design process, and that their effectiveness depends heavily on the facilitator's sensitivity, timing, and skill in managing the flow of group movement. The study is framed as a phenomenological multiple-case study grounded in 4E cognition (embodied, embedded, enactive, and extended), Laban's BESS framework, and design-thinking and bodystorming literature.

The empirical basis comprises three cases: a two-day high school innovation camp with 80 students, an inclusive exergame workshop with 15 participants at the Nordic Sports Innovation Summit 2022, and a university acrobatic-performance course involving 65 second-year sport science students, which produced 17 performance and facilitation videos. Eight interviews and observations across these settings form the core data. The findings indicate that poorly timed or excessive card use can disrupt group movement flow, while effective facilitators balance controlled direction with shared participation.

From these findings the authors derive facilitation strategies organized across three phases and offer practical guidelines for designers of movement games and movement activities. Their recommendations emphasize thorough planning, adaptable facilitator roles, and attention to physical space and time constraints. The paper's contribution lies in translating phenomenological observations of facilitation into actionable guidance for movement-based design practice, though its conclusions rest on a relatively small, context-specific set of cases.