What Is The “Constraints-Led Approach,” The Hottest Thing In Sports Training, & Can It Be Applied To The Classroom?

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Recently, The NY Times published a massive article on the Constraints-Led Approach, pointing to it as just about the biggest, most innovative, and best new approach in sports training.

You can read article here, What is CLA, the revolutionary coaching method used by Victor Wembanyama and other top athletes?

I read the article twice, and then asked ChatGPT to explain to me how it could be applied to the high school classroom (you can download its explanation here).

However, I’m still not sure I understand it.

I think it’s similar to the Green Eggs and Ham hypothesis, though I also think it’s more than that.

I’ve written about the the Green Eggs and Ham hypothesis before. It’s a label given to what has commonly been called the “constraints principle” – an instructional strategy to help promote creativity.

In my classroom, this strategy has included limiting words (story told in seven words), time (one minute to summarize lesson to partner), or materials (small groups are given six pieces of tape, six paper clips, and six pieces of paper to build the tallest tower—while only speaking only English with each other or using gestures—and write a description of the process).

Again, though, I think CLA is more than that.

The Times published a follow-up piece on CLA, I developed NBA players for a decade. This new training method can help anyone. Though I think it did a better job that the first article explaining it, I certainly wouldn’t say it was crystal clear.

This second article emphasized more the idea of CLA simulating multiple real-life conditions: