HOW TO GIVE FEEDBACK DURING A TRAINING SESSION

Question 1

We know there are 5 different teaching methods a

coach can use in his or her intervention:

Answer 1

• Giving feedback (providing extra information to the player during and after the task)
• Showing (making a demonstration of how an exercise is to be done)
• Stepping back and reflecting (helping players to find out by themselves the action alternatives and to foresee their possible consequences)
• Giving guidelines (pointing out to the athlete on how to perform a movement or action to be successful)
• Knowing how to design tasks for the players to work them out (adjusting space, time, number of players, the rules…). Not all of them are equally useful, it depends on the characteristics of the players you train.

Question 2

As coaches what do we want to achieve through feedback?

Answer 2

• A feedback can congratulate the athlete, inform them about what

they are and are not doing correctly, pointing them out the achieved

distance, time, speed, the percentage of times they achieve it, etc.

• What the coach wants is that the player associates the proposed behaviour

to its consequence. It is about reinforcing the action chosen by a player

to solve the situation in which they have been successful.

• If the coach has told me what I have done is right because I have achieved

what he wanted, I will repeat it, the athlete seems to think. When highlighting

how well they have done it, we help the athlete understand what they

must do in the match. We are helping them to find out the solution.

Question 3

The practical applications of this work indicate that coaches should

very much take into account some aspects at the time of

providing information to the players:

Answer 3

1. It is very dangerous to provide too many messages (feedbacks) to

the athletes during the tasks. Attention is limited and providing much

information usually produces that a good part of the instructions received is forgotten.

2. The design of the sessions should include a few objectives to reach.

The lower the age or level of the athletes, it is recommendable to

include only 1 or 2 objectives in each session; when the level is higher,

some more can be added.

3. Coaches should have previously prepared the feedbacks they are

going to provide to reinforce the achievement of the

objectives planned in the session.

4. Short, concise messages with an understandable language

usually reach players more effectively.

5. It is recommendable to use an image or an example to reinforce

what the coach wants to obtain in the execution.