Transform Your Game with the CLA

The constraints led approach (CLA) is coaching methodology that is underpinned by ecological dynamics. By taking into account three categories of constraints (task, environment and individual), basketball practitioners can analyze emergent behavior and then manipulate variables to invite new behaviors to emerge. The CLA can be used to make sense of basketball performance by looking at how movements emerge to satisfy the interaction of constraints.

Constraints are boundaries which shape how movement behaviours emerge. Constraints are placed into three categories (Karl Newell’s Constraints Model, 1986): task, environment and organism. Task constraints are readily available for manipulation with examples such as rules of the game, coach instructions, or equipment. Environmental constraints are more global in nature and include crowd noise, surfaces, lighting as well as sociocultural values and beliefs. Individual (aka organismic) constraints refer to an individuals personal characteristics like their height, cognitions and physical capabilities. Constraints are omnipresent and always shaping what actions occur.

Ecological dynamics is a theoretical framework aimed at studying the behaviors that emerge between neurological systems (extending to human beings and basketball players) and their environment. It comprises of ideas from dynamical systems theory and ecological psychology. Dynamical systems addresses the emergent coordination patterns we see in on the court. Ecological psychology on the other hand explains how players pick up information on the court to regulate those behavioral patterns.

Invitation or opportunities for action embedded in the environment. These properties are individually scaled and time dependent. A teammate is only open so long and capable of receiving a pass before an opponent recovers and take away that opportunity, while simultaneously, the passer must be capable of throwing to and perceiving that opening in order to exploit it.

The level at which the information in a practice activity is representative of the performance environment. Questions to ask may include: Does this look, sound, and feel like a basketball game?

Repetition Without Repetition' (Rep w/o Rep) is where skilled performers don’t repeat movements, they repeat successful outcomes. This is about developing adaptable players who can solve movement problems in different ways, rather than just repeating the same action over and over. For Rep w/o rep to work, tasks need to present slightly different versions of the same problem, encouraging players to adjust their solutions to achieve the desired outcome. In basketball, rather than repeating the same layup drill, we can modify starting positions, defender positioning, or angle of approach so players practice different finishing solutions while still working toward the same outcome. Skill isn’t about repeating movements or techniques, it’s about constantly adjusting to achieve the right outcome.

Small sided games (SSG) are modified games played often in a reduced space, with smaller number of players and with specific constraints. Different SSG formats (e.g. 1-on-1, 2-on-2, 3-on-2 etc) allow for the principles of representative learning design to be adhered to by creating small slices of the game in practice. While SSG’s form a key part of the CLA, they are not the CLA in their own right (see “what is the difference between a games based approach and the CLA”).

Differential learning (DL) is a coaching methodology proposed by Wolfgang Schollhorn. DL is based on the notion that through exploring a wide variety of solutions for a particular task (different stances, ball sizes, etc.), the individual will sort out what elements of the solutions space are critical and what elements can vary. Stochastic resonance is a key theory underpinning DL.

They’re not inherently ‘bad’. They don’t have cruel intentions. However, they can have cruel consequences as many of these activities are not designed to cultivate the skills they intend to. These traditional drills miss critical aspects of the environment (e.g., defenders, consequences, teammates, time and spatial elements, shared cognition, etc.) which shape how skills emerges in competition.

Beginners are treated the same as any other individual: we want them to spend time in representative learning environments. The difference lies in the level of complexity they face. Instead of taking away key elements such as defense, teammates, or other critical variables, coaches can decrease the complexity beginners are encountering in the task to match their current skill level. This is a concept known as task simplification, which can be achieved by scaling equipment, increasing or decreasing space, number of opponents, constraining the defense etc.