If you're a coach or high-performance thinker getting value from this podcast, join our Patreon community at patreon.com/TheConstraintsCollective Even $5/month helps keep it going — and you’ll unlock bonus podcasts, presentations, monthly meet ups and coaching insights. Ross is a skill acquisition specialist who has worked collaboratively to support sports in areas of sport science, coaching, innovation, and research. He has built an applied career substantively in Paralympic contexts, with a fo...
Jun 28, 2025•1 hr 32 min•Ep. 50
Alex Sarama is the founder of Transforming Basketball. He is widely regarded as an industry-leading practitioner within the field of contemporary skill acquisition and more specifically, the usage of the constraints-led approach. Sarama's bestselling Amazon book, Transforming Basketball, was released in April 2024. He has delivered clinics in over 40 countries around the world and worked as a coach developer for numerous organizations and international basketball federations. This includes work ...
Jun 21, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 49
Dr Jonathon Headrick is a lecturer and researcher in the field of exercise and sports science. Jonny's expertise lies in skill-acquisition and learning design, where he continues to engage and collaborate with a range of sporting organisations and partners including the AIS, QAS, Paralympics Australia, Cricket Australia, Swimming Australia, Surfing Australia, and Basketball Queensland to support his impactful research. Bat-Weight Paper https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13414-012-0368- P...
Jun 16, 2025•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 48
In this episode Keith, Ian and Martyn discuss Gibson's theory of affordances. Level up your coaching game and join our Patreon community at patreon.com/TheConstraintsCollective
Jun 07, 2025•58 min•Ep. 47
As a sports science expert with a deep-seated passion for soccer coaching, Albert's academic and professional pursuits are anchored in a profound enthusiasm for enhancing sports performance. This journey has led him to specialize in the field of Ecological Dynamics, a framework that aligns with his approach to understanding and improving performance in soccer. In this domain, his primary focus lies in the investigation of “representative learning designs”. This research is pivotal in bridging th...
May 26, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 46
Matt Wigham is a Tennis Australia Master Club Professional and LTA Level 4 Tennis Coach. He also holds a master's degree in psychology. Matt has been a full-time tennis coach for the past 15 years, both in the UK and Australia, working as a private coach, as well as on behalf of the LTA and Tennis Australia delivering workforce development initiatives and coach education. He has also written and developed a number of educational resources for tennis coaches and P.E teachers, and his work has bee...
May 17, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 45
This week we are joined by Marco Perazzo from New Jersey Martial arts (www.njmaonline.com) and Scott Sievewright from Primal MKE. MMA and grappling coaches working through an ecological coaching approach. Enjoy! Check out our Patreon site patreon.com/TheConstraintsCollective
May 11, 2025•1 hr 37 min•Ep. 44
In this episode Keith, Martyn and Ian discuss the role nonlinear pedagogy can play in supporting intrinsic motivation in sports coaching. Link to paper https://opensportssciencesjournal.com/contents/volumes/V5/TOSSJ-5-88/TOSSJ-5-88.pdf The Constraints Collective Patreon site: patreon.com/TheConstraintsCollective
May 03, 2025•40 min•Ep. 43
Carl Woods is currently an Associate Professor of Skill Acquisition at the University of Queensland and the Queensland Academy of Sport. His research orients three primary themes: 1) theoretical developments to, and advancements for, the discipline, 2) applied insights to guide practice task design in high performance sport, and 3) environmental design to support exploratory physical activity and ecological literacy. He addresses these themes from within the ecological metatheory. Enjoy the show...
Apr 23, 2025•1 hr 11 min
Greg Souders is a jiu-jitsu black belt under David Jacobs who worked extensively with Lloyd Irvin and is the founder of Standard Jiu-Jitsu, one of the top no-gi jiu-jitsu/submission wrestling gyms in the sport. Greg is known for his novel approach to grappling based on Ecological Dynamics, a methodology he used to develop highly successful athletes such as Deandre Corbe, Gavin Corbe, and Alex Nguyen.
Apr 15, 2025•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 41
This week we are joined by some of our Patreon members live from the 5th Movement Skills Acquisition Conference.
Apr 04, 2025•50 min•Ep. 40
In this week's episode Martyn and Ian discuss creativity in coaching. Check out our Patreon site at https://www.patreon.com/c/TheConstraintsCollective
Mar 23, 2025•50 min•Ep. 39
Michael is a skill acquisition specialist who has worked within the National Institute Network (Australia) as a practitioner and researcher since 2012. He has a PhD in skill acquisition in sport, with a focus on practice methods for skill retention and transfer. Michael has had industry appointments as a skill acquisition specialist at the South Australian Sports Institute and the Australian Institute of Sport where he was responsible for the support of coaches seeking to develop the skills of t...
Mar 11, 2025•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 38
Tom Coyd is an English rugby league player and wheelchair rugby league coach. He plays for Medway Dragons in the London and South East Rugby League and is the head coach of London Roosters and the England national wheelchair rugby league team. In the King's 2023 Birthday Honours he was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to wheelchair rugby league football. Tom Coyd's first coaching experience with the national side was in 2018 when he joined as an assistant coach. H...
Mar 04, 2025•1 hr 21 min
Rob completed his BA in Psychology at Queen’s University and his MS and PhD in Experimental Psychology at York University. After receiving his PhD in 1998, he worked as a Research Scientist for Nissan Motor Corporation in Cambridge, MA, USA. In 2001 he was appointed as an Assistant Professor in the newly formed Applied Psychology Program at Arizona State University. In 2006 he was appointed Associate Professor and Program Head. Since 2005 he has also worked part-time as a Research Psychologist f...
Feb 24, 2025•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 36
Pete Sturgess has dedicated his life to football coaching and coach development. Pete retired in March 2023 after working at the FA for 17 years. The majority of his tenure leading the way in coaching young children in the Foundation Phase. He has long been internationally recognised as an expert in his field and his retirement year saw him recognised formally for his contribution to football, coaching and sport. In honour of the influence Pete has had on coaches in the region, the Lancs FA rena...
Feb 16, 2025•1 hr 11 min
Adam is currently working as a Senior Lecturer in Skill Acquisition at QUT. Adam completed his PhD through the University of Queensland under the supervision of Professor Bruce Abernethy and Professor Damian Farrow. His thesis investigated the capability of expert basketball players to extract information from the patterns of play that exist in a typical basketball game. Adam's previous work experience includes 4 years as a Physical Education teacher in British and Australian secondary schools, ...
Feb 06, 2025•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 34
Jona Bronswijk is a boxing coach working with the Dutch Olympic boxing squad. He is interested in practice and training designs that are informed by the constraints led approach. Jona is also studying for a masters degree in sport coaching science.
Jan 30, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 33
Dr Kane Middleton is an Associate Professor of Sport and Occupational Biomechanics within the Discipline of Sport and Exercise Science and the Sport, Performance, and Nutrition Research Group. Kane also serves as La Trobe University's Academic Program Director for the La Trobe - Sheffield Hallam joint PhD program. He completed his PhD in Sports Biomechanics at The University of Western Australia and has previously held post-doctoral positions at The University of Western Australia and the Univer...
Jan 24, 2025•1 hr 5 min
In this episode with discuss learning and performing in sport. For too long, learning and performing have been viewed as separate processes—train, then apply. But is that truly how we skilfully engage in competitive situations? In this episode we suggest learning and performing are a symbiotic process. If you’re not learning while performing or performing while learning, are you truly progressing? We discuss this theme from a motor learning and skill adaptation perspective and explore how to cre...
Jan 15, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 31
Christian Thue Bjørndal is an Associate Professor at the Department of Sport and Social Science. He has a Master’s Degree in Sports Coaching and Sport Psychology from NIH and received in 2017 his PhD from research focusing on the dynamics of talent development in Norwegian handball. Christian is interested in interdisciplinary perspectives on athlete learning and development in sport with a special emphasis on sociocultural perspectives and ecological dynamics. He has extensive coaching experien...
Jan 09, 2025•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 30
Returning for a second time this week is Craig Morris, who has been a British Canoe Slalom performance coach for the past 20 years. Craig started his career as a pathway development lead in the Olympic sport of Canoe Slalom, he found a home in coaching at the age of 23. The process of co-creation in the pursuit of growth and performance enthralled and drove him to work tirelessly to learn more of himself, others and the concept of learning itself. Many years later as personal coach to multiple O...
Dec 21, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 29
Sion has been involved in futsal since 2004. As a player he represented Great Britain at two World University Games and played International futsal for Wales for 5 years. Captaining his country and scoring at international level are his proudest playing moments. He has also had the honour of coaching the England & Wales U19s as well as the England U21s and being assistant coach for the Men’s senior team over the last 5 years. Sion has worked in the sport sector for the past 15 years; with th...
Dec 13, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 28
This week we are joined Timo Jaakkola, Sami Kalaja, and Pauliina Vastamäki, organisers of the The International Motor Skills Acquisition Conference. We discuss the forthcoming conference that will run from March 26th to 28th, 2025. Full conference details in the link below. Link to conference registration Event Registration - Kisakallio
Dec 05, 2024•29 min
Eric Brymer is an AHPRA registered psychologist, endorsed sport and exercise psychologist and board approved supervisor. He is also a chartered psychologist with the British Psychological Society and Associate Professor at Southern Cross University. Eric is interested in the psychology of performance, wellbeing and learning in adventure and nature-based contexts. His research is particularly focused on the impact of adventure and the human-nature relationship on health and wellbeing and the desi...
Nov 29, 2024•1 hr 12 min
Georgia Askew is a skill acquisition specialist with Para Table Tennis, Australia. She is also a Ph.D. candidate at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, studying the integration of skill acquisition with paralympic coaches and athletes. Georgia is also a Melbourne Storm fan! Links to Georgia's academic publications https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sports-and-active-living/articles/10.3389/fspor.2022.848735/full https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/iscj/11/1/article-p154...
Nov 21, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 25
Jim McKay is an Australian professional rugby union football coach. He has held head coaching positions across the world including Brisbane City (Australia), Cornish Pirates (UK) and Kobelco Steelers (Japan), and assistant coaching positions with the Queensland Reds (winning premierships in 2011 and 2021), and the Australian Wallabies Rugby Union Football team. Jim uses theory and data to inform his coaching practice and is a lifelong learner. Links to Jim's papers are here: Practicing Unstructu...
Nov 15, 2024•1 hr 21 min
Dr Alex Lascu is a skill acquisition amateur (lover of) and researcher at the University of Canberra and Victoria University. Their love of learning and development is currently being explored with WA Cricket, in the hopes of helping every coach start, and continue, their own learning journeys to help young people love sport for a lifetime. Dr Alex also runs the https://skillacqlascu.com/ website. Enjoy! Check out the The Constraints Collective Patreon site at patreon.com/TheConstraintsCollectiv...
Nov 07, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 23
In this episode we introduce our Patreon site. The site will be updated on the 1st of every month with access to a range of education materials. In addition to education materials we will also be hosting a monthly get together on Zoom. Check out the site at patreon.com/TheConstraintsCollective
Nov 01, 2024•15 min•Ep. 22
Ana Ramos, Ph.D., is a Lecturer at the Faculty of Sport, University of Porto, and a member of the Centre of Research, Education, Innovation, and Intervention in Sport. Ana is also a European level volleyball coach and coach educator. Within the area of Sports Sciences, her research interests are related to the topics of sports training, sports pedagogy, practice design, didactics, action research, long-term athlete development, and performance analysis. Enjoy the show!...
Oct 29, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 21
