When you are coaching your team what�s the balance of feedback like?Is it predominately negative or positive, or have you got the balance right?

Don�t know?

Well, in your next training session keep a mental note of the balance.

Players respond well to good feedback, it�s a quick and effective method of maintaining motivation. Use appreciative words when players play well.

On the other hand criticism does have its place as sometimes it�s important to correct bad habits. But be careful misplaced or badly delivered criticism can deflate players and make them withdraw.

Try not to criticise players but draw attention to what they�ve done wrong.

For example, we have a young player who is a great ball winner but panics once they�ve won it and then just clears the ball anywhere; a better option would be to put their foot on it and play a pass.

We started to shout �Hoof� when the player just kicked the ball, which got a glance over to the sidelines and a hand of apology.

After a couple of reminders, they then started to place a pass out to the wingers. Once this happened, we started to heap praise �That�s much more like it, nice pass, well done.� We didn�t deflate the player and achieved a positive outcome.

Think about this next time your giving your players feedback.