How to Use the CLA with Beginners

This is the Transforming Basketball Podcast, and I'm your host, Alex Sarama. This is the podcast where we help coaches and practitioners change the way we think about basketball performance. Our goal is to create the ultimate resource to help make sense of how contemporary skill acquisition ideas can be applied within the basketball world.

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Enjoy listening to the rest of this podcast. Today's episode will be a relatively short but very practical one. Where I want to take a deep dive into how we can use the CLA with beginners. And I've done this because I've received numerous questions since starting Transforming Basketball about how these ideas could be applied with 8-year-olds picking up a basketball for the first time, under-10s in settings all over the world.

And my main takeaway is that all the ideas I share based on contemporary skill acquisition research, beginners are not exempt from this. So when I talk about things like perception-action coupling, affordances, self-organization, et cetera. This is all based on human movement. So a beginner, a 7-year-old does not move any differently.

And the process of human movement is not different to a professional level. Now, of course, their ability to successfully act upon an affordance is gonna be radically different, but it doesn't mean that they're learning in a different way or that this justifies using a traditional approach to coach them.

So the first area I want to look at is equipment scaling. And this is obviously a type of environmental constraint in terms of the equipment used, such as the baskets, the balls, the playing area, in terms of a smaller court versus a regulation-sized court with normal lines, et cetera.

So there has been a lot of research that has been done in this space in multiple sports, including basketball. Looking at the benefits from a skill acquisition standpoint when the equipment is scaled relative to the age of the players, aka the children. So this first research article comes from Buzzard et al., and it's titled Scaling the Equipment and Play Area in Children's Sport to Improve Motor Skill Acquisition: A Systematic Review.

So I picked a review paper because they summarized lots of the research that has been done previously. And put it in one place. So the researchers wrote, these benefits of equipment scaling, that is, include greater engagement with and enjoyment of the task, enhanced performance of skills, expedited skill improvements, improved match performance, the development of more desirable movement patterns, and increased likelihood of learning and performing implicitly.

So the research is very conclusive in this area. So that means if we are still having players kind of 12 years old and under practicing with regulation-sized basketballs, aka the adult size 7 ball, it's not gonna be conducive from a skill acquisition standpoint.

And it's actually gonna limit our ability to use the CLA well, just because of how the movements that they're naturally capable of and the affordances they're able to act on are very limited. They're not gonna be able to shoot 3s. They're not gonna be able to make skip passes.

So it's really just hindering their long-term progress. Within the same paper, the researchers looked specifically at basketball and many of the studies that have been done relative to our sport. So numerous conclusions here. I'll include this in the show notes. I'm just gonna read a few of them.

There are too many. It's gonna be too boring if I read them all. So Jose Arias has done a lot of research here. Quite a few studies come from him. And just some of the findings that he found were the number of attempted layups increased when children played with a lighter ball compared to a regulation ball.

Shot accuracy was greater when playing with a lighter ball compared to a regulation one. Children passed the ball more. They displayed more pass receptions and dribbled more with a lighter ball. Children experienced more one-on-one situations. It's very, very evident for us to see.

So we have to find ways to scale equipment. And that means, you know, if you're on a youth program, one of the priorities has to be trying to fundraise to get smaller basketballs, number one. And then trying to find ways to get hoops which are lower, because that is the most important constraint manipulation we can do at this age group.

It's the most important, and that's where we need to start. Let's assume we've done that. What can we do next? So I think this concept of optimal challenge point is very important, and this comes from Guadagnoli and Lee in 2004. Now, they had an information processing background, but when applied to an ecological approach, I still think this is very relevant.

And the idea is to get the optimal learning benefits from a practice The challenge point needs to be just right. That means that if the challenge point is too low, then, you know, it's gonna look really good in the practice, but the learning benefit's not gonna be there.

Vice versa, if it's too difficult, it's gonna be the same. As coaches, this means that we have to keep manipulating constraints until we find something that is just right. And this could be on a team-wide basis or maybe even doing it slightly individually.

So You might have 1 or 2 players who are really good within your under-12s team. Doing the 1-on-1 is too easy for them. So when they're up, you might be standing in the smile and it becomes a 1-on-2. Now you are not making it blatantly obvious that they are doing a different activity, but you are subtly increasing the challenge point without even making the kids conscious of it.

I'll give you another example. One of my favorite 1-on-1s in youth basketball is with the coach facilitating with a high 5. I got this from Mike McKay, and I think Mike got it from Renato Pasquale years ago. Mike's obviously made it very good by adding his ideas to it, really improved it, and I've tried to do the same and keep building on the ideas I've spoken about with Mike.

So started doing this years ago, and the offensive player starts in the corner with a defender. There's a coach on the wing. The moment the coach connects and looks at the player, they're passing the ball. Offense and defense sprint to the coach. The coach puts it on their inside hip for the offensive player to grab.

And then they're gonna put that outside hand up for the defender to high-five. Now we can change the optimal challenge within that one-on-one. If I want a player, if I think a player needs a bigger advantage, I'm gonna put my hand much further back and it's gonna be a much bigger advantage 'cause the defender has to touch that before recovering.

While maybe for one of our better players, the advantage is too easy. So I'm gonna give them maybe a very small advantage or even no advantage at all by putting my hand Much closer to a defender, and then they gotta create against neutral.

And maybe I even give them a shot clock and I start counting down 4, 3, 2, 1. So we can be smart as coaches without making the kids feel different and feel like they're aware of differences in abilities. We can just, if we're creative as coaches, design it into how we deliver our practice tasks through the CLA.

A key part, and this is connected to challenge point, the idea of task simplification. When beginners struggle, we want to avoid having to go to on-air practice. And my mission today is to show you how that's not even needed. Instead, we can just simplify the task.

So the first way we can do that is equipment scaling, which I've already mentioned. Use an even smaller ball, use a smaller hoop. One of the biggest things I'd love to see is a FIBA 3-point line that's relative for youth players. And I think that would be one of the biggest things for youth basketball on the 12s and under.

So If we could have a closer 3-point line, what that would do for spacing and developing players when they're older would be amazing. Again, try and think of what I've done in the past sometimes is I've used floor mats to try and stipulate a different 3-point line.

It's amazing the difference you see with the spacing. And then obviously I introduce my floor is lava constraint, and you see the kids automatically not bunching up, not all standing in the smile, in the paint. Okay, second way we can simplify and make it easier.

Play with numerical advantages. 2-on-1, 2-on-2. Even if you're doing 1-on-1, just make it a 2 against 1, but both offensive players still have the ball. You're simplifying it. It's gonna be a great task. So be creative. Think about, we don't always have to play with 1 ball.

We could use 2 balls. You could even have 2 baskets. So the offense has a choice on what basket they score on with a 1-on-1 or a 3-on-3. Great ways to do that. And one of the future guests on the podcast will be Francesco Rossi, who I had the pleasure of working with at college basket in Italy, one of the favorite games I saw him do was called cambio.

So he would sometimes yell cambio, and that would mean change in Italian. The team in possession would put the ball down and they must high-five the coach. What that does, it creates a temporary numerical advantage, and obviously lots of different ways you can do that.

So you can apply that same premise in anywhere from a 2-on-2 to a 5-on-5. Something else I got from Francesco, which I love, is Say you're playing a normal cross-court game, 3-on-3 or 5-on-5 at the youth level. Anytime the offense crosses the half line, they can choose to keep attacking or change direction and score on the basket they were previously defending.

It is an amazing game. It creates natural numerical advantages which aren't scripted, and they're always variable. And it makes them really understand space and understanding the shared affordances for and of their teammates. So Stuff like that. Again, we're getting extremely creative as coaches.

This is about far more than turning up to practice with a bunch of drills. Third one, larger space. This is a really simple one. Obviously, increasing the space available is gonna make it easier. And obviously that alludes to why that changing baskets game is useful because there's a larger space to operate in.

It's less bunched, the players are less bunched up. 2 baskets. So something I love is if you have, let's say you are playing a cross-court game and you've also got the middle basket. I love games where players can score on all 3 baskets.

It's great because it makes the challenge point easier for youth players, and it just fosters extreme adaptability. So again, start to think creatively. And the last one is increased advantage, not a numerical advantage, just the kind of positional one. So in your one-on-one, if you're just starting neutral with the defender in front of the offensive player with beginners, in all likelihood, the players aren't gonna have much success.

So you gotta think, how can we increase the advantage? So maybe the defender stands next to the offensive player and can only move when they dribble. So it's a small advantage, or maybe it's even an even bigger one. They might start 2 steps behind the player.

So as soon as they drive from the 3-point line on the half line, they gotta try and recover back, and it's gonna be easy for the offense. Now, a key part of this is manipulating constraints in relation to the Defense when you're working with beginners.

So I want to give you some very practical examples. Now think about these being applied to any small-sided game, not just 1-on-1, but even 3-on-3 and even 5-on-5 at the youth level. So number 1, the defense can't jump. As easy as that. If they do, you award points to the offense.

Can't jump. Imagine in a 1-on-1, that's gonna make it much easier. Secondly, the defense can only play with one hand. It's still more representative than removing the defender, and it's gonna allow that offense to have more success and use solutions that might not be possible if the defender is fully live with 2 hands and they're able to steal the ball.

You could also do things like holding a bib or even having the defender hold a basketball or dribble a basketball at the same time. I love stuff like that. And obviously you are promoting the development of functional solutions and dribbling at the same time.

And the last one is limited steps for the defense or applying a spatial constraint. For instance, maybe they can only play defense inside the paint or outside the paint, or maybe they choose a starting position and they only have 3 steps, or they can only move for 4 seconds.

Lots of different things here you can do to be creative. So let's finish with some practical ideas. And I would say this, I am delighted that over my last kind of 10 years coaching, I've worked with a lot of beginners, a lot of professional players, and everything in between.

And that is one of the biggest reasons I'm so confident in my coaching today. It's because I've had that opportunity. And working with beginners has made me a much better coach at other levels of basketball because I've had to figure out how to observe well, how to manipulate constraints.

And if you can do this, AKA the CLA, with 10-year-olds in any environment, it's gonna appear so easy in comparison. I would really recommend as a coach, you try and work with beginners and see if you can use the CLA. And you'll be thankful for it because not only is it satisfying, it's the best coach development program you can ask for.

So let me leave you 4 examples. Dribbling, dribble tag, one-on-one. Both players have a ball. You might put them in a particular space or have no spatial constraint. They get a point every time they touch their opponent's knee. The first player to 3 points wins, and then they have to go play another partner.

So if they win, they put the ball above their head. Maybe if they lose, ball below. And then they find someone else who won, find someone else who lost. And what we're doing there is we are respecting the role of individual constraints. So even at that level, we want them playing with and against different people.

Finishing, big advantage one-on-one. I've already given a few examples in this episode, but let me give you another one. We could do a game where both offensive players are constantly passing the ball back and forth. Imagine it's, I call it hot potato. At any moment, the player who is designated as offense can drive, and it cues a one-on-one.

And critically, the defender should not be in front of the offense, but constantly orbiting them. What this is gonna do is create highly variable situations, and it's also gonna create a bigger advantage. Shooting, really simple. I would take a ball on the back start and say the constraint is you cannot finish in the paint.

You have to score a jump shot. Great example. Or just have some type of closeout with a big advantage. And the last one, principles of play. Well, this would be— I'd refer back to the episode I did on Stop Running, Pass, and Cut.

In there, I shared some principles of play, and this would be introduce concepts such as floor is lava, aka can't loiter about, can't stand and catch the ball in the mid-range unless you're on a deep cut. Introduce one can't guard 2, so stand somewhere where you don't allow one defender to guard yourself and a teammate.

And then we're just playing through one-on-one. And what I love doing is at this age group, play with a short shot clock immediately. Create a 3-on-3, lower baskets, smaller balls, create the space. Maybe one defender on that 3-on-3 team can't use their hands to play defense.

Maybe 2 defenders can only use one hand. Maybe they all can't jump, whatever you feel appropriate. And you're just gonna give the offense a different shot clock every time. See what they do, and you will be surprised. I guarantee it. So I hope this left you with some good takeaways.

And, you know, I'm definitely gonna share more resources and more practical ideas for how I've used the CLA with beginners over the years. I'd love to hear from you. So if you are working with beginners or under-12 players right now, send me your examples, send me your favorite activities, and we're gonna share those on the Transforming Basketball website and social media pages.

Thanks again for listening. See you on the next episode. Thanks for tuning into this episode of the Transforming Basketball Podcast. If you would like to learn more about the work we do, head to www.transformingbball.com to access our free resources and help spread these ideas throughout the basketball world.

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