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Jack Berggren Elers wrote a great article about two concepts he named “Loading Screen Feedback” and “Tool-Tip Feedback” - check it out here. I found this really helpful in putting a framework to some ideas I’d been implicitly using already when teaching. The idea of giving feedback to students in a way that doesn’t break the flow of their practice can be really helpful for teaching. Here are a few details I’ve found help do this as effectively as possible.

When explaining the exercise, explicitly communicate the key point. By getting this out to students during the introduction to the exercise, you can give feedback later by quickly referencing this, instead of necessarily needing to explain the point again. If I’m teaching a lunge, I can say “it’s critical that your front foot is pointed towards the target” and reinforce it by finishing the explanation with “remember to keep the laces of your front shoe pointed at the target”. Then giving feedback on this point is as simple as just saying “laces”.

You can also design exercises to give inherent feedback - for example, to teach someone the range of their direct attack, they can do an exercise where any time they hit they move slightly further away, while any time they get parried they move slightly closer. This exercise requires very little explicit feedback from the coach, since the simple act of performing the exercise (and succeeding or failing) gives direct feedback to the participant about what’s going on.

When actually giving feedback, use the reset time. Most exercises will require at least a moment for the participants to step back and reset to the beginning - this natural brief break in the flow can be used as the moment to step in and give a quick comment. This allows you to fit in a piece of advice without delaying or interrupting the practice time.

If the exercise design allows it, try to advise the coach. By having the participant acting as coach adjust the exact cue they’re giving, you can help guide the student to improvement without ever requiring them to take a new piece of advice on board. For example, if the student needs to make a compound attack more continuous, you can ask the coach to respond to the feint a little earlier, so that they’ll catch the student’s blade if they aren’t quickly continuing to disengage & attack. This does require a certain level of skill from the coach, so might not be possible in all situations.

Especially when giving advice to the student, keep verbal cues short. The more you’re saying, the more work it is for them to process. “Push out” is quick and easy to implement. “Try extending your arms a little further in the direction of their sword” says the same basic thing but will be more of an interruption to the student’s flow and requires more conscious thought for them to apply. That sort of more detailed cue is better for a ‘loading screen’ type situation.

It’s also often useful to mime the advice. If you want someone to have their arms straighter in an action, then while you say “push out” you can physically mime extending your own arms. If you want someone to be lower down, say “lower” and drop into a quick squat. An exaggerated mime like this can really help make it clear what direction they should be adjusting towards.

Finally and most importantly, give encouragement. Saying “great” after a rep during the reset, or just giving a quick thumbs up after they’ve shown improvement in the direction you’re looking for, is extremely effective in helping to reinforce the execution you’re wanting to see. When trying to give tool-tip feedback, I never mix encouragement with criticism or further adjustment See Giving Actionable Feedback. . Each piece of feedback is short and needs to be processed on a near-subconscious level, so mixing messages breaks the overall model. Save that for longer discussions during natural breaks in practice.

I welcome questions, comments or feedback on this article. You can reach me by email:

tea at fechtlehre dot org