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.

Pressure is an important constraint on sports performance and is typically measured through manual notational analysis. A continuous representation of pressure, along with semi-automated measurement, would serve to improve the efficiency of practice design and analysis, as well as provide additional context to player competition performance. Using spatiotemporal data collected from wearable tracking devices, the present study applied Kernel Density Estimation to estimate the density of players, relative to the ball carrier, at point of skill execution during elite Australian Football training. Two environmental constraints were measured (area per player and number of players) to determine the relationship between these training design manipulations and density. Density was also compared with existing notational analysis measurements of pressure. Results indicated that a higher density on skills was associated with successful skill executions. The opposite relationship was found between notational analysis pressure measurement and skill effectiveness. A strong inverse relationship was found between environmental constraint manipulation and density, whereby increasing field size and playing number decreased the density on skill involvements. The findings offer insight into the continuous measurement of pressure and encourage practitioners to utilize training design manipulations to influence density as a constraint on skills.

Duration is a key component in the design of training activities in sport which aim to enhance athlete skills and physical qualities. Training duration is often a balance between reaching skill development and physiological targets set by practitioners. This study aimed to exemplify change point time-series analyses to inform training activity duration in Australian Football. Five features of player behaviour were included in the analyses: disposal frequency, efficiency, pressure, possession time and player movement velocity. Results of the analyses identified moments of change which may be used to inform minimum or maximum activity durations, depending on a practitioner’s objectives. In the first approach, a univariate analysis determined change points specific to each feature, allowing practitioners to evaluate activities according to a single metric. In contrast, a multivariate analysis considered interactions between features and identified a single change point, reflecting the moment of overall change during activities. Six iterations of a training activity were also evaluated resulting in common change point locations, between 196 and 252 seconds, which indicated alterations to player behaviour between this time period in the training activities conduction. Comparisons of feature segments before and after change points revealed the extent to which player behaviour changed and can guide such duration decisions. These methods can be used to evaluate athlete behaviour and inform training activity durations.

Evaluating practice design is an important component of supporting skill acquisition and improving team-sport performance. Constraint manipulations, including creating a numerical advantage or disadvantage during training, may be implemented by coaches to influence aspects of player or team behaviour. This study presents methods to evaluate the interaction between technical, tactical and physical behaviours of professional Australian Football players during numerical advantage and disadvantage conditions within a small-sided game. During each repetition of the game, team behaviour was manually annotated to determine: repetition duration, disposal speed, total disposals, efficiency, and disposal type. Global Positioning System devices were used to quantify tactical (surface area) and physical (velocity and high intensity running) variables. A rule association and classification tree analysis were undertaken. The top five rules for each constraint manipulation had confidence levels between 73.3% and 100%, which identified the most frequent behaviour interactions. Specifically, four advantage rules involved high surface area and medium high intensity running indicating the attacking team’s frequent movement solution within this constraint. The classification tree included three behaviour metrics: surface area, velocity 1SD and repetition duration, and identified two unique movement solutions for each constraint manipulation. These results may inform if player behaviour is achieving the desired outcomes of a constraint manipulation, which could help practitioners determine the efficacy of a training task. Further, critical constraint values provided by the models may guide practitioners in their ongoing constraint manipulations to facilitate skill acquisition. Sport practitioners can adapt these methods to evaluate constraint manipulations and inform practice design.

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