Skip to content

Coach Feedback & Evaluation

How coaches receive feedback, how we evaluate coaching quality, and how to give and receive feedback constructively.

Coaching development doesn’t stop after your training track. Post-class reflection, peer observation, and periodic evaluation should be ongoing for as long as you coach. Rob Gray’s research on coach development makes a critical distinction: most coach education focuses on knowledge about coaching (what to do), while very little focuses on knowledge of coaching (actually doing it, in context, with real athletes). Feedback and evaluation are how we develop knowledge of.

How Coaches Receive Feedback

Section titled “How Coaches Receive Feedback”

Post-class self-reflection

Section titled “Post-class self-reflection”

The most frequent and most important feedback loop. After every class you coach, take two minutes to reflect:

  • What went well?
  • What didn’t work?
  • What would I change next time?
  • Did I follow the entropy principle (chaos increasing, never decreasing)?
  • How much time did students spend playing vs listening to me?

This is the habit we start building during shadow sessions and carry for the rest of your coaching career. If you’re not reflecting after every class, you’re running practices, not learning from them. Gray points out that running practices is typically about making athletes more skillful, not making yourself more skillful. Self-reflection is the constraint that changes that.

See Coach Self-Review for a more structured version of this.

Peer observation

Section titled “Peer observation”

The most effective way coaches learn is by watching other coaches and having peer discussions. Research on coach knowledge acquisition shows that 55% of coaches rank interactions with other coaches as their preferred learning method, far above formal education, professional development, or reading.

How it works at GJJ:

  • At least once a month, sit in on another coach’s class as an observer (not as an assistant)
  • Watch the way you watched during your shadow sessions: game design, coaching language, timing, adaptation
  • Debrief together after class. Share what you noticed. Ask questions about their decisions.
  • This goes both ways. Invite other coaches to observe your classes too.

Peer observation isn’t evaluation. Nobody is grading anyone. It’s two coaches helping each other see things they can’t see about themselves. The most valuable feedback often comes from a peer noticing something you do every class without realizing it.

Head coach review

Section titled “Head coach review”

Periodic evaluation by the head coach. This is the formal feedback loop. It happens:

  • During training: At the end of each phase (shadow, assist, co-lead, solo) as described in the training protocols
  • After clearance: At least twice a year for active coaches
  • As needed: If another coach or student raises a concern, or if the head coach observes something that needs addressing

Head coach reviews follow the same observation framework as peer observation, but with explicit evaluation against the criteria below.

Evaluation Criteria

Section titled “Evaluation Criteria”

These are the dimensions we evaluate coaching on. They’re drawn directly from the pedagogy, the coaches guide, and the training protocols. There’s no separate “evaluation rubric” that introduces new standards. If you’ve read and internalized the coaching docs, you already know what we’re looking for.

Game design

Section titled “Game design”
  • Are games well-designed with clear, concrete, measurable win conditions?
  • Are all five elements communicated (starting position, objectives, constraints, win conditions, switching)?
  • Do the games create the learning environment the coach intends?
  • Does the coach adapt games when they’re not working (changing rules, adjusting constraints)?
  • Does the coach use the drill-to-game pattern appropriately?

Coaching language

Section titled “Coaching language”
  • Is the coach using external cues over internal cues?
  • Are concepts and metaphors used before resorting to body-part instructions?
  • Does the coach ask perception-building questions (“What do you see?”) rather than just giving answers?
  • Is the language appropriate for the audience (simplified for kids, more technical for advanced)?

Focused feedback

Section titled “Focused feedback”
  • One teaching point per stoppage, not five
  • Is the coach observing whether students use the feedback before adding more?
  • Is the coach choosing between the four responses after each round (sustain, link, fix error, increase awareness)?
  • Is live feedback during rounds quick and external, not disruptive?

Time management

Section titled “Time management”
  • Are breaks between games under two minutes?
  • Does each segment get its allotted time?
  • Is the ratio of playing to listening heavily weighted toward playing?
  • Does the class start and end on time?

Room reading and adaptation

Section titled “Room reading and adaptation”
  • Is the coach watching during games (not on their phone, not zoning out)?
  • Can the coach identify what students are struggling with?
  • Does the coach adapt based on what they see, or deliver a pre-planned script regardless?
  • Is the coach an adaptive coach (responds to what’s emerging) rather than an adapted coach (does the same thing every time)?

Entropy

Section titled “Entropy”
  • Does chaos increase within each segment (drill to constrained game to less constrained game)?
  • Does the coach resist the urge to reverse direction (stopping a game to demonstrate)?
  • Does the block progression increase in chaos over weeks (for advanced)?

Energy and culture

Section titled “Energy and culture”
  • Does the coach set the tone at the start of class?
  • Are culture issues addressed when they arise (intensity, ego, bad training partner behavior)?
  • Does every student get individual attention (positive reinforcement and constructive feedback)?
  • Is the coach engaged and present throughout the class?

Program-specific (kids)

Section titled “Program-specific (kids)”
  • Are partner pairings deliberate (timidity, size, social dynamics)?
  • Is boundary enforcement consistent (“strict but silly”)?
  • Are instructions under 30 seconds between games?
  • Is the closeout personalized (specific praise for every kid)?
  • Are parents managed appropriately?

How to Give Feedback to Another Coach

Section titled “How to Give Feedback to Another Coach”

The same principles that apply to giving feedback to students apply to giving feedback to coaches. Lemov’s focused feedback principle doesn’t stop at the mat’s edge.

One thing at a time

Section titled “One thing at a time”

If you observed a class and noticed eight things, pick the most important one. The coach can work on one thing between now and next class. They can’t work on eight. “When you chase five rabbits, you catch none” applies to coach development too.

Be specific and actionable

Section titled “Be specific and actionable”

“Your class was good” is not feedback. “I noticed your breaks between games were running about three minutes. If you cut them to under two, students would get an extra six to eight minutes of playing time per class” is feedback.

Start with what they did well

Section titled “Start with what they did well”

Not as a manipulation tactic to soften the blow. Genuinely identify what’s working and name it. Coaches need to know what to keep doing, not just what to fix.

Ask before telling

Section titled “Ask before telling”

“What would you change about that class?” often gets the coach to identify the same thing you noticed. When people identify their own areas for improvement, they’re more likely to act on them. If they don’t see it, then you tell them.

Separate observation from interpretation

Section titled “Separate observation from interpretation”

“I noticed you stopped the game twice to demonstrate techniques” is an observation. “I think you’re over-coaching” is an interpretation. Start with the observation. Let the coach interpret it. If they don’t connect the dots, help them.

How to Receive Feedback

Section titled “How to Receive Feedback”

Listen first

Section titled “Listen first”

Your instinct will be to explain why you made the choice you made. Resist it. Listen to the full piece of feedback before responding. The explanation might be valid, but it doesn’t matter if you don’t first understand what the other person saw.

Assume good intent

Section titled “Assume good intent”

The person giving you feedback wants you to get better. Even if the feedback stings or feels unfair, start from the assumption that they’re trying to help.

Don’t take it personally

Section titled “Don’t take it personally”

Feedback on your coaching is not feedback on your character. “Your breaks were too long” doesn’t mean you’re a bad coach. It means your breaks were too long. Fix the breaks.

Act on it

Section titled “Act on it”

Feedback that doesn’t change behavior is wasted. After receiving feedback, identify one specific thing you’ll do differently in your next class. Tell the person who gave you the feedback what you’re going to work on. Then do it.

Gray draws a distinction between coaches who are adapted (adjusted to one way of doing things and stuck there) and coaches who are adaptive (continuously responding to new information and evolving). Receiving feedback well is one of the most direct ways to stay adaptive. If you stop listening to feedback, you stop growing.

Resources

Section titled “Resources”