Video Reviews

The final step in the FCS feedback loop is review of footage. Coaches should mandate some form of recording to ensure learning opportunities are not missed. After the competition, it's best to let athletes either relish their success or recover from their losses. Don't hassle them about results right away, even if they ask for it—give them the space to process what happened on their own first.

Once an appropriate interval of time has passed, it's a good idea to not just watch the videos on your own or with your student, but to do recorded reviews. In my experience, it's difficult to hold people's attention for long periods of time. It's also hard for students to remember much of the feedback given in live sessions, even when they take notes.

What works best is to open up a program like OBS (there are plenty of options out there, this is just what's familiar to me) and record a voiceover review of the footage. This allows students to not only watch it a pace they're comfortable with, but it's a permanent record of feedback they can reference at any point in the future. Rather than risk forgetting what was discussed, there is a permanent record of feedback.

Focus in these reviews should be on both the good and the bad. It's not constructive to ridicule students or come down hard on them for mistakes, as people in general react poorly to that kind of feedback. Make sure you highlight what they did correct as well, particularly if it relates to something you worked on during the Training Camp phase. This is a far more effective way to build upon the data gathered during the competition.