“Players Need Fundamentals Before they Can Play the Game” This Twitter thread generated a lot of engagement from coaches across multiple sports. Most of the support…
Figure 1.1 - coaching education material used by a European Basketball Federation to educate their coaches. This is the information-processing model, a theory prevalent in the 1990’s before newer research highlighted its flaws. Coaches are effectively being taught material which is more than 30 years out of date.
Every solution in a game is different. Furthermore, as the game has evolved coaches remain married to fundamentals which no longer have much relevance in the modern game. For example…
Figure 1.2 - Newell’s constraints model and perception-action coupling. Movement (m) is a function of information in the environment (I). M = f (I)
Basketball Case Study to Understand CLA
Let’s now make basketball sense of this. We will use LeBron James, Nikola Jokic, Kyrie Irving and Ricky Rubio as case studies to specifically understand the role of constraints. This is not something which only applies to NBA players! One of the biggest misinterpretations is that non-linear learning concepts can only be applied to players who are already at a certain level. If anything, this approach can be even more effective with youth players and give them a more enjoyable experience of our sport. NBA players are only used for ease of understanding, given that coaches will be familiar with the players referenced above.
LeBron James dominates the court with his combination of size and athleticism. This enables him to do things which are simply impossible for other players. In other words, the affordances (opportunities for action) provided to him are very different when compared to a player like Ricky Rubio. LeBron could rebound the ball, break-out dribble and be at the other end within two or three dribbles ready to posterise any defender that lies in his path. The odds of Ricky Rubio doing this are much slimmer. His height, weight, wingspan and vertical jump are not the same as LeBron. Therefore, the rebound is more likely to fall to one of his taller teammates, so the affordances to rebound and break-out dribble occur less. If he receives the ball, it will more likely be from an outlet pass from one his teammates as opposed to getting the rebound.
Additionally, Ricky is confined by the expectations and role of his position. He is more likely to be the one finding his teammates and throwing them alley-oops for highlight reel dunks, as opposed to finishing the play himself. Furthermore, Ricky’s unfortunate recent ACL injury is going to affect his movement solutions when he returns to court. He will have to adapt his movement solutions as a result of the injury, potentially being less explosive. Psychologically this could lead to attempting less explosive movements in an effort to avoid another injury, so highlight plays such as dunks over defenders are less likely to be attempted. Individual constraints can change over varying timescales. Some factors could change very quickly (e.g. quality of sleep affecting perceptual skills), whereas others may take more time (e.g a youth player growing, or the impact of a strength and conditioning program over time impacting various individual constraints).
This doesn’t necessarily mean LeBron is more skilled than Rubio. Rubio, just like many other great guards such as Nash, Curry, Campazzo etc, has masterfully adapted to make the best use of the individual constraints he has. His vision, deception and general playmaking abilities enable him to be a highly effective NBA player. Now let’s use Nikola Jokic and Kyrie Irving to highlight the role of environmental constraints in shaping different movement solutions. I’ve picked Nikola and Kyrie because both are playmakers for their team, but have very different individual constraints as well as their environments being somewhat different.
Firstly, Nikola plays in the high altitudes of Denver, Colorado while Kyrie is in downtown Brooklyn. Regularly living and playing in Colorado has allowed Nikola to adapt to playing with lower oxygen levels. Furthermore, Nikola is playing this season while vaccine controversy has curtailed Kyrie. Less games leads to less opportunities to develop. While this is unlikely a problem for Kyrie, for younger players this is a big problem. This could hinder the development of a player, and lead to missed opportunities or losing minutes in the the rotation to other players.
Sociocultural considerations are a key part of environmental constraints. For instance, growing up in a country where basketball is extremely popular vs a country where other sports, such as football (soccer) may be more dominant. Back to the case study, Kyrie may prefer living in the centre of Manhattan with his close friends, making the most of what New York has to offer. On the other hand, picture Nikola living with his family close to the practice gym in a quiet suburban neighbourhood. The quiet area enables him to have great sleep every night, while his family life is smooth and comes without distractions. He has an amazing personal assistant who takes care of everything from nutrition, to laundry to PR. On the other hand, living with friends means Kyrie frequently likes enjoying the New York nightlife. With the notorious NYC traffic, it makes it hard to get to the practice gym easily to work with player development staff. Meanwhile for Nikola, the commute to the gym is a 10 minute walk.
Starting to understand the impact of environmental constraints? Let’s deepen this by reverting to the comparison between LeBron and Ricky. LeBron was raised by his mum in a single parent home. He has spoken in the past about what a great job his Mum did raising him, and how much he wanted to become a pro to pay her back for all the work she did in his younger days. I picked Ricky for this case study because I had the privilege of being around him and his family on numerous occasions to deliver camps and clinics with the Rubio Foundation. Ricky’s family is incredibly supportive, but tragically he lost his mum to cancer at a young age. What impact did this have on a young Ricky Rubio, and how did this shape his path to the NBA?
Additionally, LeBron and Ricky were developed in two completely different developmental systems. LeBron grew up taking the high school and AAU approach, skipping the NCAA to declare for the NBA draft. Did skipping the NCAA help make him a much better pro? A change in the rules shortly after prevented players of high school age taking the same steps as LeBron. How many players could have been star pros if they were drafted and played in the NBA instead of spending a year in College, where coaching, injuries and playing styles could have stifled their progress?
With Ricky, he grew up in the Badalona development system. The Spanish school of coaching is notoriously different to youth basketball in America. A much greater emphasis is placed on training and developing skills. Furthermore, I had the pleasure of watching Ricky play a EuroCup game at the age of 14 years old against my hometown team, the Guildford Heat. The opportunity to play at such a high level from such a young age undoubtedly shaped the development of his skills and his ability to handle playing at such a big stage.
Coaches may now start understanding the importance of this pyramid. This is why coaches at every level must understand the impact of constraints. These are not just applicable to professional or NBA players. Mark O’Sullivan makes the reference of a child living in the upper story of a 12 storey apartment, being raised by a frail grandmother without any siblings. Meanwhile, another child lives in a large house with a garden, basketball hoop and older siblings to play with. This child goes to a sport school, and gets to play basketball on the playground during every lunch break. Mark articulately highlights how players arrive at a practice with a whole bibliography of different experiences and opportunities afforded to them at that moment in time. The potential of the child who hasn’t had the same affordances may be amazing, but they haven’t received the same opportunity due to the constraints of their family situation. Listen to the full podcast with Mark here.
Well-Designed Task Constraints vs Teaching Fundamentals
Task constraints are the most important part to understand as coaches, and this is why they get their own section. Coaches who work with players at all levels, from beginners to NBA players, can design more representative practices and move away from using linearised coaching methodologies through having an understanding of how they can manipulate task constraints.
Task constraints can take basketball players away from potential movement solutions, but also create new ones (Gray, 2020). Many coaches believe that using the Constraint Led Approach (CLA) is just a case of setting a small-sided game up and letting the players figure it out. This could not be further from the truth. Many coaches commented saying that small-sided games aren’t brand new as handicap situations have existed for years. This is correct, however what coaches are referring to these with the use of these games is a different coaching methodology known as ‘Teaching Games for Understanding’ (TGFU). While this shares some similarities with the CLA, it is not the same. Coaches that use TGFU typically just set up the game and leave it at that. Task constraints are not manipulated, and when players use that game again in practice, they typically always play the same version of it.
Within the CLA, coaches may have a base small-sided game but they will frequently manipulate the task constraints within the game, leading to new situations and skills emerging. When players play the game, there will always be different outcomes based on the interaction of the individual, environmental and task constraints present at that moment in-time. They will not be attempt to problem solve the same situation every time.
What are some examples of common task constraints?
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