Part 3: Athletes as Their Own Coaches – Building Feedback Literacy

Part 3 of 3 in “Designing for Discovery: Feedback Loops in Ecological Coaching” Series
By Coach Barry Jones. IIHF Level 3. USA Hockey Level 3.

“Coach, I didn’t feel right on that rep.”

That sentence? That’s gold.

Because when an athlete notices and reflects without being prompted… you’re no longer just coaching skills, you’re coaching *awareness*.

And that’s what this part of the series is about:

“How to help athletes become their own best source of feedback.”

Feedback Isn’t Just Something You Give; It’s Something You Grow

In traditional coaching, feedback is often a top-down exchange:

Coach speaks. The player listens.

But the best athletes I’ve worked with don’t just “receive” feedback, they generate it.

They reflect, feel, question, and adjust.

That’s “feedback literacy”: the ability to detect, interpret, and apply information without always needing external direction.

And it starts from the inside out.

Internal Feedback: The Body Talks Before the Coach Does

The game doesn’t wait for you to finish your sentence.

That’s why “internal cues” (soreness, rhythm, timing, energy, and spatial awareness) They are often more valuable than anything we can say from the bench.

Here’s how I coach it:

·      “What did that feel like?”

·      “Could you feel the timing?”

·      “Did you know before the puck came that you were in trouble?”

These questions do more than prompt reflection; they” develop metacognition”, a skill that turns good players into smart ones.

Athlete Story: The Junior Player Who Solved His Own Net-Front Struggles

I worked with a high-performance junior who had all the tools, skating, shot, vision, but couldn’t read a play in front of the net. He’d lose track of players in the slot, get caught puck-watching, or mistime his stick lifts. It wasn’t a lack of effort. It was a “rate limiter” in this case: timing, positioning, and spatial awareness under pressure.

Instead of isolating him in reps, I paired him with another athlete and flipped the script.

His job? “Teach the very skill he was struggling with.”

We designed scenarios where he had to coach his partner through net-front battles, when to engage, how to scan shoulder-side, and where to position between puck and man. In teaching, he started solving his own puzzle.

Over time, he wasn’t reacting late; he was anticipating.

He wasn’t floating into space; he was owning it.

And the feedback wasn’t from me. It was from the task… and his own reflection.

That’s the power of “athlete-driven learning”.

He didn’t just fix the problem. He *understood* it.

Peer Mentorship: Your Leadership Group Is a Feedback Machine

There’s more than one voice in the room.

In women’s high-performance training, I’ve used leadership groups to decentralise feedback.

Not everyone needs to hear from me; sometimes they need to hear from “each other.”

Examples:

·      “Mini huddles” after reps: “What worked? What didn’t?”

·      ” Buddy feedback” between shifts: “Did I have a better option?”

·      “Captain-led video sessions” where athletes run the review

It’s not about handing over the whiteboard.

It’s about building “shared ownership of learning”.

Off-Ice Feedback Channels

Some of the most powerful feedback doesn’t happen at the rink.

Here’s what I’ve used off-ice to help athletes own their feedback:

·      “Video journals:” Watch your own game and voice your thoughts

·      “Training logs:” Rate effort, focus, soreness, and recovery

·      “Reflection prompts:” One sentence: “What did I do well today?”

·      “Team-based check-ins: ‘Who helped you be better this week?”

These aren’t tasks for compliance.

They’re “tools for awareness.”

Coaching the Next Generation of Self-Coaches

Whether I’m working with juniors, para-athletes, or high-performance men & women, the goal remains the same:

·      Don’t just coach them for the game.

·      “Coach them for the moments when no one is coaching them.”

Because that’s where confidence is forged.

That’s where smart players emerge.

That’s where hockey IQ becomes hockey “instinct”.

And if you get it right?

Your best feedback might just come from the player who says,

“Coach… I figured it out.”

“Coach’s Drill to Try: ‘Self-Coach Shifts”

“Set-Up:”

In a small-area game, assign one player per shift to be their own coach. They can’t receive feedback from teammates or you until after.

“Post-Rep Cue:”

“What did you notice? What would you do again? What would you change?”

“Watch for:”

Players are becoming more observant, more accountable, and more confident in their own decisions.

Final Thought: Feedback is a Conversation, not a Correction

Across all three parts of this series, the message is simple:

·      The “environment” gives feedback, let it speak.

·      The “task” gives feedback, frames success, and doesn’t just fix mistakes.

·      The “athlete” gives feedback, teaches them to hear it, trust it, and use it.

Feedback doesn’t start with you.

It starts with the “game”.

And when you build athletes who can coach themselves, the game becomes the greatest teacher of all.

“Designing for Discovery: Feedback - Loops in Ecological Coaching” Series
By Coach Barry Jones. IIHF Level 3. USA Hockey Level 3.

Part 1: The Ice Talks - Letting the Environment Coach

Part 2: Did It Work? Task-Based Feedback and Success Framing

Part 3: Athletes as Their Own Coaches – Building Feedback Literacy