ABSTRACT
Feedback comes in a range of forms, via various media, at different times, delivered for a variety of reasons, by different people and with disparate consequences. According to Gilbert (2002) only 7 per cent of the sports coaching science articles written in the past thirty-two years have focused on feedback. In contrast, Solomon et al. (1998: 300) claim that the research that has examined feedback in the coaching context is ‘extensive’. One possible explanation for the discrepancy between Solomon et al. and Gilbert is that discussion on feedback in coaching science has occurred under many different guises, such as coach-athlete relationships, leadership style, communication, or motivational climate. While Gilbert (2002) and Solomon et al. (1998) differed on the amount of research that has focused on feedback, they did agree that much of the research was undertaken in the 1980s when effectiveness research was very fashionable. An aim of the coaching effectiveness research was to ‘identify specific behaviors exhibited by coaches and to determine their influence on various achievement and psychological outcomes’ (Amorose and Weiss 1998: 396). One behaviour that received attention was the feedback, in particular the verbal feedback, a coach provided to athletes. In other words, the discussion has largely focused on feedback as a form of coach intervention strategy (Knudson and Morrison 2002). This may have been a consequence of Schmidt’s (1982) claim that feedback is one of the more important variables to affect the learning of motor skills.
