Comparing the traditional and constraints-led approaches to skill acquisition in tennis. By Luke Regan, The Sports Think Thank, United Kingdom. August 2021

Regan comes to the conclusion:
„Manipulating constraints is not new to coaching per se, coaches have always utilised tasks and environments in ostensibly similar ways. But in order to maximise their effectiveness, the CLA and its theoretical foundations provide a basis for using constraints in a way that assumes a model of behaviour profoundly different from the traditional, cognitive approach of transforming ‘one size fits all’ technical information into procedural knowledge will not be optimal if deployed as part of a prescriptive coaching style. The CLA is the use of interacting constraints to facilitate the emergence of functional behaviour through self-organisation, not to simply provide opportunities for a player to execute a pre-established technique dictated by a coach. Ongoing developments in psychological theory are continuously informing best practice in skill acquisition and, far from being locked into the assumption that skills can only be coached through the prescriptive transmission of expert information, coaches are encouraged to explore more ecological and implicit approaches to developing skill in tennis players.“