Reminder: in the constraints led approach, coaches do NOT teach skills. They create environments that let players discover them.
There are three, separable, not mutually exclusive, functions of practice:
Learning.
Transfer.
Maintenance.
Learning… solving problems one is not familiar solving, is the most important function of practice. It therefore underpins the majority of practice design decisions.
For this example, let’s say we have two players learning net play. There’s a ton for them to figure out. How to get in. Spins. Pace. Geometry. Ideal positioning. Offense and neutral are inverted…
When learning, these players will obviously make more mistakes, be more “out of sorts” than when they’re doing things they know how to do. It follows then, that an effective learning environment is one where the athlete feels comfortable sacrificing performance… or parts of it, to maximize learning.
Accordingly, the coach designs a practice that encourages them to explore the solution space… in this case, getting to the net, in a minimally invasive way. That is to say, the coach doesn’t have them play a challenge match where they’re forced to attack the net on every point. They instead create some games focused on net play. Then let the players explore the new space. No instruction. No expectations of competitive play.
Failure is encouraged. A lot of it happens. Aspects are learned out of sequence. Noise to signal ratio is high. The process is messy. It looks and feels chaotic. Paradoxically, the chaos and failure are signs of max learning. As the great Niels Bohr said, “an expert is merely someone who has made every possible mistake.”
The second most important function of practice is transfer. Obviously, skills learned in practice are useless if they don’t show in the competitive environment. We know that the best transfer is achieved in practices that are as alive, as random, and as uncertain as the competitive environment is. The game teaches itself.
As the players become more competent with the skill they’re learning, we ease them into the competitive environment. They play mildly competitive games with constraints that encourage… and reward net play. Maybe a shot is taken off the table. Or maybe it’s an area of the court. Perhaps scoring is changed to reward a desired play.
Increased proficiency is met with increased demands. The coach keeps the learning curve steep by increasing the competition and modifying the constraints. The idea is to maximize the decisions that players must make. The more in-context decisions… the better the practice.
The third function of practice is maintenance. Here the goals are to maintain the key skills players already have, to motivate and encourage the athlete, and to develop additional automaticity with the skills they’re comfortable with.
Think finishing a difficult and challenging practice session with a 10-15 minute hit. Maybe some crosscourts. A few serves and returns. The players are reminded that the sky is not falling. They still know how to hit the ball. Perhaps they even gain a little more automaticity. That’s the plan, anyway.
Practice Plan
Here’s a detailed example of an excellent evidenced based practice for players learning net play.
Warm up:
2 slow laps around the court.
5 mins of tag, inside the singles court.
5 mins GS (groundstrokes) to GS.
3 mins GS A to V (volleys) B.
3 mins GS B to V A.
Learning:
Game 1: Player A starts a few feet behind service line. They drop feed ball any where they want to opponent (player B) and charge the net. Sudden death game to 11.
Switch to Player B attacking.
Repeat sequence one time.
Game 2: Back court is lava. Player A serves and must follow it to net. If they’re forced back to baseline to retrieve a lob… one shot and they must return to net. Sudden death game to 7.
Switch to player B serving.
Repeat sequence one time.
Transfer:
Game 3: Game to 21. Switch serve every 5 points. Points won at the net are worth 3 points.
Game 4: Play 2 ten point tie breakers. No constraints. Does the new skill work it’s way in?
Maintenance:
Finish with a couple mins of serves+returns for each player, 5 mins of cross court GS + 5 mins of GS to V for each player + a couple mins of overheads for each.
Too much, or too little challenge sabotages the functions of practice. Throughout practice the coach modifies the constraints, as needed, to keep the athletes in their optimum challenge zone. Which, I don’t think I need to tell you, is different for everyone.
PS. If you liked this post there is an 91.2% chance you’ll love my book: The Art of Holding Serve. Four out of five pros recommend it.