The Constraints Collective
Our mission is to transform practice environments in sport by equipping coaches with the knowledge, understanding and skills to bridge the gap between skill acquisition theory and practice.
Episodes
100 episodes
#100 Use The Funnel, Not the Average Value: Chris Button on the PhD That Almost Wasn’t (Part One)
In this landmark 100th episode, Ian Renshaw and Keith Davids are joined by Professor Chris Button from the University of Otago, whose research has ranged from ball-catching biomechanics to basketball free throws to, more recently, why so many p...
The Video Doesn't Show What Happened — Ian Renshaw & Keith Davids Review Schütz, Betsch & Plessner (2026), with guest Scott Russell
An emergency episode: VAR was dominating the World Cup news cycle, and a paper had just landed asking the exact question everyone was arguing about. Ian Renshaw and Keith Davids review Schütz, Betsch & Plessner's "The Impact of Video Speed ...
#98 From the Pitch to the Algorithm — with Ben Teune
# From the Pitch to the Algorithm — with Ben Teune In this episode, Ian Renshaw and Keith Davids are joined by Ben Teune, Sports Scientist and Analytics Lead at the WTA (Women's Tennis Association), whose PhD work — embedded with the Western Bu...
#97 Round Up 11 — Your Team Was 29 Points Up. Here's Why That's the Dangerous Part.
The San Antonio Spurs led Game 4 of the 2026 NBA Finals by 29 points and lost it on a tip-in with 1.2 seconds left — the biggest comeback in Finals history. Ian Renshaw and Keith Davids use it to argue momentum isn't a mindset problem but a sta...
Episode #96 Daniel Lycett Guest Review
Keith and Ian go back through Daniel Lycett's PE curriculum redesign from episode 81 — and pull apart what was really going on underneath it: context, donor sports, and designing tasks people can actually succeed at. Along the way: Lego therapy...
Before the Ball Moves: How International Footballers Gain Their Advantage
#95 Before the Ball Moves: How International Footballers Gain Their Advantage In this episode, Ian Renshaw and Professor Keith Davids explore the tension between practice tools and movement variability. Using Ian's experience with a golf puttin...
The Constraints Collective Podcast with Michael Richardson
#94 The Constraints Collective Podcast with Michael Richardson In this episode, Ian Renshaw and Keith Davids are joined by Professor Michael Richardson from Macquarie University, a specialist in ecological psychology and computational modelling...
#93 Round Up 10
# Round Up 10 — May 2026 In this month's update, Ian Renshaw and Professor Keith Davids catch up on the latest from the Constraints Collective world before diving into a rich discussion on skill adaptation, movement variability, and the dangers...
#92 Zama Xolani Mofokeng
In this episode we are joined by Zama Xolani Mofokeng a South African gymnast from Tembisa, Gauteng Province who has broken world records for consecutive one-handed back handsprings, performed not in a gym, but on public streets. Zama shares hi...
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#91 Are you switched off from physical education and sport?
In this episode Ian and Keith discuss why millions of people are put off exercise for life by bad PE memories. The culprit? Traditional formats that reward the already-skilled and humiliate everyone else (the beep test being a prime offen...
#90 Dave Keelty and Sam McKenzie
In this episode we are joined by Dave Keelty and Sam McKenzie, high performance practitioners working at the cutting edge of sport. We explore talent development and coach development and New Zealand's "Balance is Better" philosophy, discussing...
#89 Exploring Niche Construction in Sport Coaching
What do beavers building dams have to do with coaching elite athletes? More than you'd think.In this episode, we dive into niche construction theory. A concept borrowed from evolutionary biology, and explore how coaches are consta...
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#88 Round Up 9
Should you ditch the bowling machine? The hidden cost of "convenient" practiceWhat if the tools coaches rely on most are actually making athletes worse?In this roundup episode, Martyn, Keith, and Ian unpack a deceptively si...
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#87 Tom Parry and Tyler Yearby
Dr Tom Parry is the Kinesiology Program Director in the College of Education and Human Development at Butler University, Indianapolis, USA. His area of expertise is motor-skill learning, and specifically the application of ecological dynamics t...
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#86 Podcast Summary 7 - Tabai Matson
If you're getting value from our podcast check out our membership options and coaching community at www.theconstraintscollective.com where you can access podcast summaries, narrated presentations, early release podcasts and monthly online meet ...
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#85 Making Physical Education Popular
In this episode Ian is joined by Brendon Moy and Adam Gorman to discuss a paper entitled ' Making physical education popular: the impact of the constraints-led approach on physical education students’ intrinsic motivation'. Link to ...
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#84 Brendon Moy
In this episode we are joined by Brendon Moy, an Associate Professor in Physical Education at Queensland University of Technology. Both his research and teaching are focused on the constraints-led approach (CLA), an alternative physical educati...
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#83 Round Up 8
In this episode, we explore how ecological dynamics continues to reshape the way we think about skill development. Keith shares insights from recent PhD research, including work examining whether virtual reality can help children develop risk a...
#82 Learning the Volleyball Serve
In this episode we are joined by Brendan Moy and Adam Gorman to explore an important question for coaches: How can we help learners explore and improve their skills more effectively? We discuss how we can encourage athletes to exp...
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#81 Daniel Lycett
Daniel Lycett is the Head of PE & Sport at St David’s College. He is an experienced physical educator working across primary and secondary education, bringing a practical, people-centred approach to education and learning. Daniel holds a BA...
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#80 Round up 7
If you're getting value from our podcast check out our membership options and coaching community at www.theconstraintscollective.com where you can access podcast summaries, narrated presentations, early release podcasts and monthly online meet ...
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#79 Podcast Summary 6 - Jia Yi Chow
If you're getting value from our podcast check out our membership options and coaching community at www.theconstraintscollective.com where you can access podcast summaries, narrated presentations, early release podcasts and monthly online meet ...
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#78 Tabai Matson
Tabai Matson is a globally experienced rugby coach with a career spanning elite club and international rugby across Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific, South America, and Europe.After playing and coaching Yamaha Júbilo, he moved ...
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#77 Developing Your Coaching Craft Pt2
If you're getting value from our podcast check out our membership options and coaching community at www.theconstraintscollective.com where you can access podcast summaries, narrated presentations, early release podcasts and monthly online meet ...
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