Debriefing After Practice or a Game

The Thunderbirds, the elite aviators for the Air Force, practice and perform near impossible aerial stunts and techniques.  They travel 450 mph, 50 feet above the ground, 3 feet apart and sometimes inverted. They also debrief after every practice and event. This is crucial for improvement and to prevent catastrophic results.  It’s a critical time to analyze performance, identify areas for improvement, and ensure everyone is on the same page.  This is an intense team meeting.  The goal of the debrief is not to assign blame but to create a learning environment where everyone can contribute to improve the team’s overall performance.  There is no blaming, only what went right and what did or could have gone wrong.

I encourage your softball team do the same thing. Although softball failures are not life or death events, an openly discussed team debriefing is necessary to improve team performance.  Players have to have open minds and willing to express their concerns openly.  It isn’t just fielding and mental errors.  It is mistakes that didn’t cause harm but could have.  Try to sandwich the good with the bad.  The good is what went right and the bad is what went wrong during the course of the game.  Don’t hold back, this is a time we work to improve.  If we don’t debrief properly, we will continue to repeat the same results and the good should continue but so will the bad.

Albert Einstein had a quote “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.” During the debrief, now is the time to ask for help. Retired Colonel Nicole Malachowski was a Thunderbird and 21-year veteran of the Air Force.  There was one maneuver she was struggling with and during the debriefing, she had the courage to say “I need help”.  That broke the ice. It got out what everyone knew to be true but was afraid to address.  Nicole’s teammates immediately rallied behind her and in a judgment-free effort, they went out and practiced that one maneuver for Nicole’s benefit over and over and over until she got it perfectly.

Wouldn’t that be beautiful if we had that level of honesty and openness as players on a softball team. Most baseball and softball teams on college, high school, and club team levels debrief after every game. For us, it isn’t only what the coach sees, debriefing involves the entire team.  Make it a requirement to stay for the debrief and give it a try.