Cricket Coaching

COACHING FEEDBACK
Ineffective Feedback

INEFFECTIVE FEEDBACK

00:00 / 03:46

What is INEFFECTIVE Feedback?

Providing EFFECTIVE feedback is the one part of the coaching process that ALL coaches can look to improve.

Most of the feedback I hear being provided to players is well intentioned. The feedback is (generally) full of encouraging comments (for example – "good shot" , "well done" or "keep going" ). These comments are fine to use (I have used these comments as well), however, the feedback the player needs for Skill Development (or technique change) is often non-existent!

Usually the feedback given only tells the player what they have just done wrong (for example – you hit across that one!). Then, if corrective feedback is provided, it is often the wrong feedback and does more harm than good!

Examples of INEFFECTIVE Feedback

Isolated 'encouragement' feedback

EXAMPLE 1

00:00 / 00:56

Feedback such as "good shot" , "well done" or "nice" (each of which I hear a lot) may sound encouraging and 'positive' however this kind of feedback is just lazy coaching and tells the player nothing useful about their performance or how to improve their performance.

Telling a player 'well done' when, in reality, the technique was actually poor!

EXAMPLE 2

00:00 / 00:58

I hear this most often from inexperienced coaches with limited technical knowledge.

The player is told they have done well when, in reality, the technique quality is poor or incorrect.

This type of feedback can be harmful – the player thinks they have done well and will continue to practice the ineffective techniques. What a player practices they become good at – if they practice the wrong techniques, they become good at them!

Remember Muscle Memory – once a technique is made a habit it becomes hard to change - practice correctly from the start!

Using 'negative' feedback lauguage

EXAMPLE 3

00:00 / 01:04

We have already seen that Descriptive Feedback by itself is of limited use. When combined with a negative focus, the feedback is of little to no use to the player and only serves to make the training session unpleasant for the player.

Maybe you've heard some of these:

"You keep hitting across the line" (Descriptive and Negative) – the player can sense you are possibly annoyed

"Stop hitting the ball in the air " (Negative) – the player needs to know how to stop hitting the ball in the air

"Stop backing away" (Negative) – the player needs to know how to stop backing away

"You swing too early" (Descriptive) – the player needs to know what they should do instead

"Don't be scared of the ball" (Negative) – tells the player you think they are scared

6 COMPONENTS OF

EFFECTIVE FEEDBACK

BATTING ESSENTIALS

TM