Feedback

Feedback is one of the most significant tools at the disposal of the coach. It should be both positive and negative; unfortunately, too many coaches focus on the negative rather than complementing a student when they have performed a skill correctly. Particularly in the early stages of learning, paddlers need to be told that they are performing a stroke correctly.

Prior to giving feedback, it is important to have a working image of what the skill should look like and be able to analyse the demonstration, so that the errors can be identified. When providing feedback to a student, it is important to ensure that prior to starting to speak that you have their attention. If somebody is wiping water out of their eyes, then it is unlikely that they will be listening to your detailed analysis of the position of the blade whilst they were performing a roll. Also remember to position yourself so that the student is not squinting into the sun rather than listening to your pearls of wisdom.

In addition, it is important to try and make any feedback personal. Taking the student to one side and quietly explaining how to improve a particular stroke may be more beneficial, and is certainly more sympathetic, than public ridicule in the eyes of their peers. Telling somebody that their bow rudder was particularly dreadful, in front of their peers, is not the best way to boost their confidence and encourage them to improve their skills.

For feedback to be effective it needs to be specific. For example, when working in tidal races, paddlers will need to told what angle to approach the faster moving streams and how to position the body, as opposed to something rather general such as, "point further into the stream". In addition, remember to provide feedback to all the members in the group, as people don't want to feel left out.

A controlled environment for teaching moving water skills. Feedback is possible in the eddies.

There are a number of ways of giving feedback. A particularly powerful form is through the use of video. I had been a paddler for 17 years before I first saw myself paddling forwards on video. I didn't need a coach to point out my faults; it was plain to see that I had dreadful technique. I could paddle all day long but it was particularly inefficient. I am not recommending that we destroy people's confidence through indiscriminate use of video, but with controlled use, it is an effective tool. It can be useful, for example, in the swimming pool when teaching rolling.

When I am coaching a group of students I always use feedback from peers. This requires some prior preparation and I emphasize that the feedback should be positive, not just negative. This type of feedback is more effective when the focus is on just one or two key points, anymore than this and people start to lose focus.

For more advanced paddlers, we should be encouraging some form of internal feedback. Paddlers should be listening to their own bodies and analysing their performance. It may take time for paddlers, particularly younger ones, to be able to develop some form of internal feedback, but the results are well worth the effort.

The last form of feedback is not always the most comfortable to receive. As coaches we should always be trying to improve our performance with our students. It can be a useful exercise to ask some of the members of the groups who we operate with, for their opinion as to the effectiveness of our coaching, feedback helping us to become more effective coaches.

Feedback can take place on the land as well as on the water.

For a successful coaching session it is important that our students know what is expected of them, (clear concise instructions). They need to know what they did well (through feedback). They also need to know what they need to do to improve (through guidance and the setting of targets). Obviously not all of our paddling sessions will contain all of these elements but they are necessary if we are to increase our effectiveness as coaches. Effective feedback can impact upon the motivation of our students and enhance the quality of their learning. A more positive experience for all concerned.

Feedback can be a group activity as well as being on an individual basis

Kevin Mansell