PERFORMANCE REVIEW AND GOAL SETTING
All athletes, players and coaches should regularly look to review their performance levels with a view to making improvements in the future. This is a fundamental part of the learning feedback system in which we ask individuals or teams to prepare, perform and then review their output objectively. In the cold light of day a successful or winning performance can unearth enlightening data, where a result can cover over the cracks. Or an unsuccessful one having little learning effects apart from ‘we don’t like to lose!’
Setting effective goals also relies on this review system and being honest and objective enough to recognise where the work needs to be done, how much of it must be completed and importantly, the priorities that need to be set in order to maximise the time and resources available. The first step is sitting down and completing an accurate and well-thought our Performance Profile and to this end for a large number of years I have used the Performance Profile Web in order to carry this out with players, coaches and teams.
PERFORMANCE PROFILE WEB
Completing the review is in essence pretty simple in execution! The first step is that the individual involved comes to the review with complete honesty – in an open environment, one dedicated to self-improvement, the athlete must be encouraged to have their say without fear of reprisal. We will discuss a great balancing exercise later in this article.
The Performance Profile Web is a simple tool, consisting of a series of concentric rings divided into sectors. Normally 10 levels are available per element for the individual to rate themselves in terms of the strength of their performance of that specific element at that point in time!
This point in important as the PP review is meant to look at the athlete in snapshot – not potential or past performance. Over time, by reviewing the reviews, and trending the scores, you can build up a in-depth profile of the improvements that are witnessed.
Below is an example of a Physical Performance Profile Web for an evasion sport athlete (football, rugby, hockey etc):
COMPLETING THE PERFORMANCE PROFILING WEB
Completing the PPR web is relatively simple.
- The Coach / Athlete defines the elements under review on the outside of each sector
- Athletes the Score the Optimal Performance Level of that element which is important to performance. For example, endurance may not be ranked as a 10 (extremely important) for a sprinter whereas Speed would be. The score may also have to balance with other scores given the nature of the sport or position(s) played.
- The athletes should now rate their Current Performance Level in each element over a specific time frame.
- The Athlete and Coach should now review each element in terms of prioritising available training time and resources in order to improve that element, setting specific timeframes for improvement and key elements and action points to be hit along the road to achieving the desired levels.
- Set the next date for your Performance Profile Review
GETTING THE COMPLETE PICTURE
The influences on the performance levels of a player or team are, of course, multi-variate and inter-related. Lifestyle and personal relationships can effect the result as much as the quality and quantity of training. Thats why it is important to have multiple reviews on specific aspects of performance (physical, psychological, technical, tactical, lifestyle, and time-management) or using regular inter-disciplinary snapshots (covering a number of elements from different aspects).
BALANCING THE PICTURE
A very interesting aspect of performance profiling is to do comparative reviews from a coach’s perspective. Using the same form the coach and athlete both review the performance of each other in order to find anomalies that might lead to disagreement and open the channels for agreement for the best way to address differences in opinion. For example, if the coach thinks that the athlete needs to work on their passing (rating if 5/10) while the athlete rates their current performance as 8/10, this discord could lead to issues between athlete and coach.
All in all a very interesting exercise and when combined with effective goal-setting and positive affirmation statements, can allow huge improvements in performances. Give it a try!
Below are examples of a Technical and Lifestyle Performance Profile Web