The Transforming Basketball Podcast EP136: Traditional vs CLA Drills
Oct 22, 2025
Discover the revolutionary idea that practice should mirror real game scenarios for effective skill transfer. Delve into the pitfalls of decontextualized drills and how they can lead to poor performance. Learn about the 'Representative Dial' to balance isolated drills and full games. Explore practical ways to create representative environments by layering decision-making and incorporating more game-like challenges. Find out how to blend traditional coaching with constraints-led approaches for maximum adaptability in players.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Keep Perception And Action Coupled
- Representative design means practice must keep perception and action coupled so players act as they would in games.
- Stripping defenders, decisions, or time pressure creates false learning that won't transfer to competition.
Simplify Tasks, Don't Decompose Them
- Use task simplification, not decomposition, to maintain game context while lowering difficulty.
- Adjust constraints (e.g., limit steals or use guided defense) so players still make decisions under scaled pressure.
Use A Representative Dial To Scale Practice
- Use a 'Representative Dial' from 1 (props) to 10 (full game) to scale representativeness progressively.
- Increase player numbers and complexity as representativeness rises to avoid overloading learners.