Danilo Arruda – About me
The catalyst for a meaningful life is passion. When people find their real passion and shape it towards the greater good, we really evolve as a community. Movement has been my lifelong passion, and I realized that quite early when I was introduced to sports and simply decided to be involved with that for the rest of my life. Therefore, I have been studying and pursuing education in motor control and learning to unravel the mechanisms involved in motor learning and control with an emphasis on sport skills.
I am a former volleyball athlete and have coached at several levels. Therefore, I use volleyball as a model to investigate motor learning and control. Currently, I am pursuing a PhD. in Kinesiology and I plan to investigate perception and action in volleyball. This area is embedded in the ecological approach in a way that the movement is investigated as a phenomenon that emerges from an interaction between the actor (performer) and the environment.
There is a huge gap between science and practice, and my goal as a scientist is to bridge that gap by developing studies with direct practical applications. This is the only way our field will evolve. I want to design experiments with ecological validity. In fact, we have to “bring the laboratory” into the court instead of bringing the athletes to the laboratory. In this way, the findings will be much more valid. In that regard, technology plays a major role, because measuring movement in the field requires sophisticated equipment, proper experiment designs, and complex data analyses. Which is one of the reasons I am highly interested in technology and data science.
Well, the best way to know a person is by looking at what that person has done or is doing, therefore, on this website you will find information about my work and study experience, as well as my current projects and future plans. Feel free to explore and/or email if you have any questions!