Coaching takeaway
Watch a 2-on-1. If the defender takes the ball, the pass opens. If they stay home, the layup opens. Design practice so players face that choice, then change one constraint and see how they adapt.
Read the guide: Skill Acquisition in BasketballEcological dynamics in a 2-on-1
Two offensive players play one defender at the basket. If the defender steps up to the ball, the pass opens. If the defender stays with the receiver, the ball handler has room to finish. Every move the offense makes changes what the defender can cover.
| Term | What you see in the 2-on-1 |
|---|---|
| Affordance | A passing window that exists for this passer, given their reach, the receiver's movement and where the defender is. |
| Perception-action coupling | The drive draws the defender, and that changes what the ball handler sees next. |
| Self-organization | The two players time their movement together without the coach calling every step. |
| Constraints | The players' size and skill, the court and the ball, and the rules of the game decide which chances appear. |
If a young player can't make the pass across that distance, telling them to decide faster won't help. Bring the receiver closer or limit what the defender can do, then watch again. Episodes 2 and 28 cover how these chances depend on what each player can actually do.
EP2: Why Should All Coaches be Using Methods Backed by Science?
EP28: How Should You Adapt Constraints in Practice
Ecological dynamics is a theory of how humans move and learn skills, built by combining dynamical systems theory and ecological psychology. In sport coaching, it explains how athletes learn, adapt their movements, and perform through the interactions between the player and their environment. It is also the framework behind the constraints-led approach (CLA).
What is Ecological Dynamics?
It’s a theory to make sense of human movement and how humans move. Professor Keith Davids is widely regarded as one of the founding figures of this approach. Keith and colleagues draw upon research from two different fields to create an ecological dynamics framework:
Dynamical Systems Theory + Ecological Psychology This is a great diagram from Alex Sarama’s book, explaining the key terms within both fields.
Self-organization is a key part of dynamical systems theory. Instead of players following pre-programmed movements, self-organization is the idea that basketball players organize their bodies naturally to solve movement problems. In other words, they are not recalling stored techniques in the brain in order to move. The irony is that many coaches coach their players out of effective self-organizational techniques by trying to impart “the correct technique.”
Perception-action coupling comes from ecological psychology. It's the idea that perception informs action, and action is always shaping perception. This continuous loop shapes a player’s interactions within the game environment.
So where does the Constraints-Led Approach (CLA) come in?
A CLA is a way of coaching that is based upon an ecological dynamics framework. Therefore, you have to understand an ecological approach if you want to be an effective CLA coach.
A CLA challenges traditional coaching methods that rely heavily on isolated drills and repetition without context. Instead, using CLA principles means creating “representative” learning environments where players experience live opponents to develop their skills effectively.
The Role of the Coach in Practice
An ecological approach has implications for the role of the coach in practice. The coach’s job is to design activities which contain specific affordances. An affordance is, simply put, an opportunity for action. The coach manipulates the constraints (see Newell’s constraints model below) to create varied affordances for the players to act on. The idea of constraints is that they may make some affordances enticing, and some less so!
By manipulating constraints, it creates varied environments for the players to perceive and act on the new affordances that present themselves.
An effective CLA coach manipulates constraints well enough so that players are seeing the attractive affordance available to them, while finding ways to act upon them with functional solutions. A common misconception of a CLA is that the coach just creates live games and let’s anything happen. This couldn’t be further from the truth!
Free resource
21 SSGs for your next practice.
A free PDF of small-sided games you can run right away. A practical first taste of the approach.
Implementing Ecological Dynamics in Training
These five principles can be effective in helping you use a CLA in your next practice…
- Representative Learning Design (Representativeness): Make practice more game-like to improve transfer performance. Do players encounter the varied affordances they will encounter in competition?
- Manipulation of Constraints: Adjust constraints to shape player behavior without prescribing highly specific movement solutions. Manipulate constraints for a reason.
- Encouraging Exploratory Behavior (Functional Variability): Promote creativity by letting players discover movement solutions on their own.
- External vs Internal feedback (Attentional Focus): Focus players’ attention on outcomes, not internal mechanics. For example, shoot the ball higher instead of bend your knees.
- Task simplification: Adapt your activities to meet each player’s unique needs. If too challenging, simplify the task with constraints instead of removing the opponent.
What Ecological Dynamics Is NOT
- Not About Using Breakdowns and Rigid Techniques. Unlike traditional models that promote the coach as the master instructor and a one-size-fits-all approach to techniques, ecological dynamics recognizes that different movement solutions can be equally effective depending on the individual and situation.
- Not a Free-For-All Approach. While this approach values exploration and adaptability, an ecological framework does not suggest that athletes should just figure things out randomly. Coaches guide the process by manipulating constraints to encourage learning.
Conclusion
The coach's job is to design games that hold the right affordances, then shape them with constraints. Keep the opponent in the task, change one constraint for a reason and watch how players adapt.
To take these ideas onto the court, see how Newell’s constraints work in practical basketball terms and read our basketball skill acquisition guide.
If you would like to learn more about Ecological Dynamics and the CLA in basketball check out the Amazon best-selling book.
Read the guide: Skill Acquisition in Basketball
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