Guidance and feedback on performance

• What is feedback?


  Feedback is simply information that the performer receives based on their performance. It can either be intrinsic or extrinsic
• Intrinsic feedback


  How something feels, seeing the ball fly when you hit in cricket, a hockey player will know from the feel of their shot at goal if they have struck it well. Feeling the contact of the ball in tennis (kinaesthesis).
• Extrinsic feedback


  Feedback that comes from things that are external, e.g. reaction from the crowd, what your coach/team mates/parents say.
• Knowledge of results


  Focuses on how successful you have been to achieving what you set out to do.

  It is factual and is given to you by a coach or teacher, although you may be able to set it yourself
• Knowledge of performance


  This provides more detail about how well you did irrespective of the result. It may relate to technique used or specific aspects of the movement you produced
• Positive feedback


  Used to inform the athlete on what was correct about the movement.

  The performer needs to know if the movement is correct as this provides the reference point for future attempts.

  Positive feedback is essential to motivating athletes.
• Negative feedback


  Negative feedback is used to inform the athlete what was incorrect about the movement.

  Negative feedback must include information on the action required by the performer to achieve the correct movement.
• Feedback for beginners


  Results - May be obvious to elite performers but a beginner may need this type of feedback to understand whether what they did was a success or not.

  Extrinsic - Beginners struggle to understand or interpret the success of their movement, they rely heavily on feedback from others.

  Positive - This is essential for motivating athletes, necessary for beginners to keep them involved and practising when things go wrong.
• Feedback for Elite athletes

  Performance - Elite can use information relating to technique or specific aspects of movement. Beginner performers won't understand or be able to use this type of feedback as efficiently.

  Intrinsic - Elite performers have developed the ability to interpret intrinsic feedback, use kinaesthesia, they know what feels right, a beginner is still learning this.

  Negative - Elite performers are more accepting of negative feedback and can use it constructively.
• Visual guidance 


  For beginners, visual guidance is important. beginners will benefit from seeing how the skill is meant to be performed first. Examples:Demonstration of technique or skill shown by a coach, Footage of performance via DVD.
• Verbal guidance


  Commonly used with visual guidance. It involves another person, usually a coach or teacher, telling the learner what they are doing right or wrong. Examples: verbal guidance may involve: a coach talking to a performer highlighting a technique. A coach highlighting a key trigger point for example a push when a performer hits the trampoline.
• Manual guidance


  Is physically moving the performer. for example a coach supporting the movement through physical touch. Examples: The coach moving the learner's arm through the correct motion for a forehand drive. A coach supporting the performer for safety so that the required movement takes place.
• Mechanical


  Is using mechanical aids to assist a performer, for example using a float in swimming or a harness trampoline.
• Guidance for beginners


  Need visual guidance so they can see what a skill looks like. They also need verbal guidance that is not too long or complex and they need manual/mechanical guidance so they have support with the technique.
• Guidance for elites


  Need verbal guidance because they already know how to physically do the action but they need to be told where they can improve.