Performance evaluation is perhaps one of the most important parts of your skill development. It is important to take a balanced approach to your evaluation, considering the things that you did well and the things you could have done better. You can then identify any changes or adjustments that you need to make to enhance performance. It is important that you try and get feedback and information on your performance from a number of different sources. This will help you become more objective when evaluating yourself. 

Did you know that you can evaluate your performance through:

• Feedback from significant others – receiving feedback from observers such as coaches or teammates can help you evaluate how you are progressing and what adjustments you need to make. This type of feedback is most effective if it is given immediately following a skill or action. In some situations, like a team drill, you may have to wait a bit to receive the feedback you want but be sure to ask when a break allows.
• Objective measures – using some objective measure to evaluate your performance can be very helpful. Is there some way to measure time, distance, power, strength, or accuracy of the skill or strategy you are working on? This type of feedback can help raise your awareness and track your progress.
• Self-Monitoring – monitoring your actions or the effects of your actions can help you identify important links to performing a skill well. Take note of what you feel during the execution of the skill. Be aware of kinesthetic or muscular changes. Also listen to the effect of your action, like the sound of the ball hitting the bat or your blades on the ice. This strategy helps you associate certain elements with successful actions and allows you to identify and adjust errors.
• Rating your actions – rating your own execution or performance immediately afterwards can help you develop your awareness of proper execution. Pick a technique (e.g., start of race) or decide how you want the action to feel (smooth, fluid, powerful). Then rate yourself out of 10 right afterwards; 10 being the exact execution you desire.
• Video analysis – using video can be a very effective way to help you evaluate one aspect of your performance or a short clip of your performance. It can also help you develop your ability to rate your actions. You might want to watch the video with coaches or teammates, these are individuals who can help you with your evaluations during practice and competition.

All these elements can be recorded in your diary so you can review and learn from them.

Monitoring your progress throughout your training and competition helps you determine your progress towards goals. Using different sources of evaluation including others, objective, video, and self gives you many perspectives of how you are performing. Ultimately, this helps you get an overall picture and aids you in making an accurate evaluation of yourself.

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