Introduction
Some thoughts prompted by a question asked on a recent webinar “Sitting in the Upstream” hosted by Gareth Wilson with contributor Craig Morris. Craig gave a great introduction to the Constraints Lead Approach (CLA) and how he can use it with his athletes, and one of the follow up questions from a very experienced coach and paddler was the one in the title. Is the CLA just one tool in a coach’s toolbox?
There are coaches who will use tasks utilising the CLA in their everyday coaching. Overall their coaching philosophy may not align with non-linear pedagogy (NLP, pedagogy is just a posh word for educating) and the CLA aspects they use may be viewed as “tricks” that help with the learning process.
The chances are though, if you asked a load of coaches their favourite “trick” for getting performers to learn a particular skill, they would all give you a different answer but most of those answers would involve a trick that is aligned with NLP and more specifically, the CLA.
So it raises the questions:
· If most of the tricks that we use to aid learning are utilising the CLA, should we aim to make it the main tool in our toolbox?
· Can we think of more “tricks” for more skills utilising the CLA, or gather together and adapt the “tricks” which other coaches like to use?
· Can we, after coaching a skill or technique and realising it was done in a more traditional way, think of a way of coaching which embraces NLP and help to increase the number of “tricks” in our toolbox?
· Can we get to a point where the “tricks” are no longer viewed as such but just the norm of our coaching?
Principles of Non-Linear Pedagogy
The Constraints Lead Approach is a manipulation of one of three constraints on a task: Paddler, Environment and the Task itself. By manipulating constraints within a task we can guide a paddler into effective interaction with the performance environment (skill). We are not leading them towards a single “ideal” movement solution, but a movement solution that works for them.
(Diagram take from perceptionaction.com the website of Rob Gray, movement skills specialist and author of the great book "How We Learn To Move")
The CLA fits within the principles of non-linear pedagogy which are:
· Representative Learning Design (the task should be as close to the performance environment as possible)
· Movement-Perception Coupling (skills are practised as a whole rather than decontextualised drills of component parts)
· An External Focus of Attention (this comes down to the language that we use when giving instructions)
· Manipulation of Constraints
· Variability of practice (“repetition without repetition”, “differential learning”)
These are the tenets that I try to base all my coaching on. I fail (a lot!) but essentially I am trying to make this my toolbox with constraints underlying every task that I set. It’s straightforward sometimes in canoe slalom as the constraints can be as simple as the sequence of gates I set. Then I may add other constraints in if I want to work on particular skills, or throw in some differential learning to increase the variability of practice.
So can the CLA be just one tool in the toolbox?
Absolutely it can. There are many great coaches out there who don’t align themselves with NLP and like the way they coach. They use the CLA for some skills, but generally they find themselves coaching effectively using a different philosophy. This is great if it works for you and your athletes. I tried the “traditional model” of coaching for years and found it didn’t work for me, and reflecting back, the times when I enjoyed my coaching most and felt the learners were getting most out of it was when I was unknowingly utilising the principles of NLP.
A lot of coaches when asked if they use the CLA will go with the “It depends” answer.
My view is that the more a coach plays around with the CLA, and tries using it for coaching various skills, the more ideas and constraints will come to them. This will increase the number of tools in the toolbox, which is surely not a bad thing. If they then find that the CLA isn’t working for a particular skill, they can always step in with a more traditional form of instruction or feedback and nothing has been lost.
I would encourage all coaches out there to have a go at using the CLA, see what happens. It can feel like stepping into the unknown at first, and it is messy and uncomfortable, but it is also rewarding and fun. If anyone has any tasks that have worked for coaching a particular skill please pass them on to me, likewise if anyone wants ideas on how to use the CLA to coach a particular skill then reach out and I may have ideas. But ultimately, you’re the coach, and you need to decide what works for you and what you feel comfortable with.