The influence of environmental and task constraint interaction on skilled behaviour in Australian Football

The design of sports practice environments can be informed through data collected and analysed according to principles of the constraints-led approach. In this study, three manipulated environmental (area per player, number of players and team outnumber) and two task (activity objective and disposal limitations) constraints were measured during professional Australian Football training activities (n = 112) to determine their relationship with skilled behaviour. Linear regression modelling of the five manipulated constraints explained 68% of the variance in disposal frequency but only 22% in skill efficiency. Activities with scoring objectives, limited to kicking or which permitted all disposals, reduced the disposal frequency per player. Activities which permitted all disposals were also weakly, negatively associated with skill efficiency. A Classification Based on Association analysis measured the interaction between manipulated constraints and their relationships with possession time and pressure. When compared to the null model, the analysis improved pressure classification accuracy by 5.9% and did not improve possession time classification accuracy. This indicates skills were often performed under varying spatial and temporal constraints during many of the training activities. This study presents multivariate analytical methods which consider constraint interaction, enhancing how practitioners can evaluate and inform training design in sport.