By Leo Isaac

One of the key tasks of coaches is to provide “error information”, that is feedback, to their athletes. Feedback is an essential element of learning. The athlete must receive on a regular basis information which enables a comparison to be made between their own performance and that of an ideal or a model performance. As a result of this comparison, the athlete will gain knowledge of their performance(s) and be able to work on correcting their error(s). It is therefore necessary that coaches understand the ideal or model performance otherwise there is no reliable reference point from upon which a comparison can be made.

To build up a picture of what is good technique coaches rely on their observations of countless thousands of lifts. In this regard the video camera/VCR is a powerful tool which enables repeated observation of performances and to see performances slowed down to a rate that makes the information more easy to process by the human brain. The video also allows athletes to view their own performances and as the saying goes “a picture is worth a thousand words”.