Rugby Coaching Drills Video Library

Providing feedback to players - John Neal

Psychologist John Neal expresses the importance of giving effective feedback as a coach.

Video Subtitles

Kate the 8th world class basic of effective coaching is the ability to give effective feedback. Feedback it as they say is the food of Champions and quite Riley it is but let's think about why that is the case. I want you to imagine you're getting in your car and you're going on a long journey. And because you're such a successful coach you have sat-nav you type in where you want to go and the first thing your satellite navigation system will do is try and find out where you are. Now, it will triangulate your position. You see it can't work out where you want to go on the journey on the path. It needs to take and less it knows where you are right now. If for some reason your satellite navigation doesn't get the feedback and find out where you are right now. There is no way it can plot the journey. And so when we're working with players, we need to give them feedback. So they understand where they are right now, but the way in which we give feedback is critical. I think there is one coaching line which scares players and that is would you like some feedback because the immediate response to that is you're going to get something and it may not be what you want to hear. How about as a coach you create an environment where your players are asking you for feedback. Hey coach, how am I kicking? How am I passing? One other thing you might like to think about is when you give feedback, do you give it in the things they're good at all the things they're weak at typically if you constantly give feedback on what they're not good at you lower their self-esteem. Of course, it's a fatal flaw it needs to be dealt with but what all the Research indicates is that when you give feedback against what people are good, it enables them to progress and their self-esteem Rises as their self-esteem Rises funnily enough the things they're not so good at go up as well as their confidence increases. So feedback is absolutely critical because it tells you where you are the way we give feedback is also vitally important and you might like to consider feeding back more on the positives than negatives.