Thinking after computing is nowadays a common practice encouraged by the availability of faster and more powerful computers. The question is if the computed results are really helping and solving the main questions posed by coaches, athletes and sport scientists. To make computers more useful it is time to focus on theory. Despite the complex nature of sport performance is recognised, traditional movement and training sciences rarely apply concepts, tools and methods designed to analyse the dynamics of complex systems. Current available research, based almost exclusively on a classical scientific paradigm, often offers a poor and sometimes confusing understanding of phenomena related to performance. One main consequence of this is an increasing distance between theory and practice that characterizes training science. Besides promoting the practice of thinking before computing the aim of this paper is to introduce some alternative concepts, methods and tools based on a complex understanding of performance. Some practical applications of recent research using these tools will be presented in order to encourage computer scientists to develop alternative modelling approaches.
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