As a Responsible Coach, de-briefing a match is a great time to help your athletes  improve at their sports and learn life lessons. Improved performance stems from assessing the team’s progress against the backdrop of real competition, as opposed to the more controlled environment of practice. Life lessons may come in the form of you and your team overcoming adversity by starting to bounce back from a loss or re-committing to continual improvement even after a win.

Whether you conduct your de-brief immediately after the match or at the next practice, a favorite Responsible Coaching tactic is the “Winner’s Circle.” With your team in a circle, you can go around from player to player having each person say something specific and positive that a teammate did in the game.  Your players’ confidence will rise when they realize their teammates saw things they did well.

As coach, you should speak last, making sure to provide those specific positives for any players who were left out. This is a great time to draw on the results of your Positive Charting where you or your assistants, athletes’ parents or even the players themselves have tracked the positive contributions of each player.

Another way to conduct a de-brief is to invite wrestlers to review both positives and areas for improvement from the last match. As a guideline, you might ask your wrestlers to talk only about their own negatives, especially after a tough loss, to avoid finger-pointing. 

Watch an Iowa State coach talk about this principle at practice

The Liberty Mutual Responsible SportsTM program supports volunteer youth sports coaches and parents who help our children succeed both on and off the mat.  We offer many http://www.responsiblesports.com/resource_center.aspx?utm_source=usaw&utm_medium=a&utm_campaign=cta target="_blank">youth sports resources including $2,500 community grants, instructional videos, weekly tips, peer and expert advice, and coursework for those interested in improving the youth sports experience for all involved.