Giving out Feedback- Part one

Before I tell you how to give out feedback, we must identify the types of feedback. Once you identify the types of feedback, then you will know the importance of giving feedback and learning how to give out feedback.

Think about the time when you were beginning to learn a new skill. How much success did you experience on your first few attempts? Most likely, you were not very successful. Having a professional gymnasticsc coach to give you feedback to help you better understand what you were doing wrong and what you need to do to improve your skills.

The types of performance -related information that will "tell " them something about the outcome of the performance or what caused that outcome. There are two types of feedbacks.

One is the task-intrinsic feedback, which is the sensory-perceptual information. Sensory information is a natural part of performing a skill wheather its visual, audiory, proprioceptive, and tactile. For example a gymnast who is doing a roundoff  backhandspring double back tuck on floor, the gymnast is getting visual task-intrinsic feedback knowing where the floor is in relation to hieght so he or she knows when to land or how many flips he/she is doing. The gymnasts also knows the movement of his or her posture along with arm, head and legs when he/she is tumbling and taking off the ground. This feedback is the propioceptive task-intrinsic feedback. The auditory task-intrinsic feedback also comes in place when the gymnast hears the impact from the hand and feet hitting the floor while tumbling (you hear mostly from the feet).

The second general type of performance-related feedback information is augumented feedback. Augumented is refers to adding to or enhancing something. In this case enhancing the task-intrinsic feedback. The task-intrinsic feedback can be augumented in various ways. For example, a coach who is standing by can tell the gymnast to punch harder when taking off for the double back, which would augument the auditory task-intrinsic feedback. The coach may tell the gymnast to spot the floor for the landing to augument the visual task-intrinsic feedback. Or, the coach could tell the gymnast to stand taller on the take off to augument the propiocpetive task-intrinsic feedback.

There are two types of augumented feedback. One type is concurrent augumented feedback, which the feedback is being provided while the gymnast is performing a skill or making movements. The second type is terminal augumented feedback. This information is given after the performance, in which gives information about the outcome of performing the skill or about achieving the goal of the performance.

Its important to note that there are two catagories of augumented feedback: knowledge of results and knowledge of performance. The augumented feedback can be qualitive and quantitive. This will be further discussed in part two on how to give out feedback.

As a coach its always important to keep updates on your technical knowledge of the skills that you are teaching. Going to gymnastics camps, local clinics, regional congress, and USAG congress all help to educate yourself on training methods, drills, excercises, and technical knowledge. Without the knowledge of training, your feedback may not be as valid to help the athlete to understand what they did wrong and what they need to do to improve performance.

Good luck! Stay tune for part two!