ABSTRACT
Debriefing athletes following deliberate practice or major competition is an organised process designed to accurately evaluate the performance outcomes, generate new information, and facilitate optimum recovery. The author will discuss how coaches and athletes of both individual and team sports can best interact in the post-performance setting to ensure lessons are understood and learned from both successes and failures, to establish plans for continued progress, and to initiate a full physical and mental recovery. In striving for sporting excellence, elite athletes need to be relentlessly self-disciplined, accepting of feedback, and prepared to finesse their skills until all flaws are recognised and eliminated.
