The Constraints Collective

This month's guest podcast: Ian Renshaw and Keith Davids are joined by Craig Harrison, who spent almost ten years running the long-term athlete development programme at AUT Millennium in Auckland and has just written a book, *Coach by Design*, about what he learned. Craig's central distinction splits environment design into two separate levers — structure (what the space lets a learner choose and perceive) and control (the force a coach applies to direct decisions on top of that) — rather tha...

Ian Renshaw and Keith Davids revisit Episode 72 with Mark O'Sullivan (Norwegian School of Sport Sciences) — why coaches are rarely taught to observe, a goalkeeping skill that transferred in from Gaelic football with no instruction at all, and the coach's compass and player's compass Mark built as a discussion framework for task design.

In Part Two of this milestone two-part conversation, Ian Renshaw continues talking with Professor Chris Button (University of Otago) — this time about water safety and drowning prevention. New Zealand has one of the worst per-capita drowning rates in the world, and Chris argues the reason isn't swimming ability: it's that people learn to swim in a pool, an environment that shares almost nothing with the open water that actually threatens them. Chris walks through a study that puts the proble...

In this landmark 100th episode, Ian Renshaw and Keith Davids are joined by Professor Chris Button from the University of Otago, whose research has ranged from ball-catching biomechanics to basketball free throws to, more recently, why so many people drown. Chris's route into research wasn't inevitable — he turned down a PhD scholarship for a job as a wine specialist before one line from Keith ("your PhD is your passport anywhere") talked him back onto the academic path. The conversation trac...

# From the Pitch to the Algorithm — with Ben Teune In this episode, Ian Renshaw and Keith Davids are joined by Ben Teune, Sports Scientist and Analytics Lead at the WTA (Women's Tennis Association), whose PhD work — embedded with the Western Bulldogs AFL club at Victoria University — tackles a problem every constraint-led coach runs into: you're told to "manipulate the task," but rarely given a principled way to decide what to manipulate. The conversation covers how to give representativeness...

Keith and Ian go back through Daniel Lycett's PE curriculum redesign from episode 81 — and pull apart what was really going on underneath it: context, donor sports, and designing tasks people can actually succeed at. Along the way: Lego therapy for autistic learners, team chess, a French badminton study, and why Keith won't smash newer players off the pickleball court.

#94 The Constraints Collective Podcast with Michael Richardson In this episode, Ian Renshaw and Keith Davids are joined by Professor Michael Richardson from Macquarie University, a specialist in ecological psychology and computational modelling. Mike's work sits at a fascinating intersection of mathematics, AI, and human movement — and this conversation explores what that means for how we understand and coach sport. The discussion covers how simple constraints generate extraordinary complexit...

In this episode we are joined by Zama Xolani Mofokeng a South African gymnast from Tembisa, Gauteng Province who has broken world records for consecutive one-handed back handsprings, performed not in a gym, but on public streets. Zama shares his lived experiences of perceptual-motor learning, intrinsic motivation, environmental adaptation, and the constraints-led approach. If you're getting value from our podcast check out our membership options and coaching community at www.theconstraintscol...

In this episode we are joined by Dave Keelty and Sam McKenzie, high performance practitioners working at the cutting edge of sport. We explore talent development and coach development and New Zealand's "Balance is Better" philosophy, discussing how coaches can individualise training within team sport environments. Link to Dave's Deep Dive platform https://the-deep-dive-coaching.beehiiv.com/ If you're getting value from our podcast check out our membership options and coaching community a...

Should you ditch the bowling machine? The hidden cost of "convenient" practice What if the tools coaches rely on most are actually making athletes worse? In this roundup episode, Martyn, Keith, and Ian unpack a deceptively simple problem, getting young cricketers enough quality ball-facing time, and follow the thread all the way from 13-year-olds in the nets to Jannik Sinner's warm-up routine at the Melbourne Open. Along the way they tackle some big questions: Why did Tim Paine's batting expl...

If you're getting value from our podcast check out our membership options and coaching community at www.theconstraintscollective.com where you can access podcast summaries, narrated presentations, early release podcasts and monthly online meet ups with experts from the Constraints Collective. Support the running of the podcast at patreon.com/TheConstraintsCollective In this episode we revisit and unpack key insights from our conversation with high-performance rugby union coach Tabai Mattson....

In this episode we are joined by Brendon Moy, an Associate Professor in Physical Education at Queensland University of Technology. Both his research and teaching are focused on the constraints-led approach (CLA), an alternative physical education teaching approach informed by contemporary motor learning theory. His research and teaching have primarily focused on developing Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) graduates as agents of change in physical education teaching practice. ...

In this episode we are joined by Brendan Moy and Adam Gorman to explore an important question for coaches: How can we help learners explore and improve their skills more effectively? We discuss how we can encourage athletes to explore movement solutions by manipulating aspects of the task, like the rules or structure, rather than telling them exactly what to do. If you're getting value from our podcast check out our membership options and coaching community at www.theconstraintscol...