A race or regatta should not be over for your team when you cross the finish line and there is plenty to be gained from the post-race debrief. We all need to know the format on How To Debrief After Every Race
Reason For a Debrief – How To Debrief After Every Race
After a successful result, our self-confidence gets a boost but after a poor showing on the water, we have to deal with the psychological fallout. All is not lost though and the team de-brief can allow us to learn from what went wrong to ensure that next time you race you won’t make the same mistakes.
If you have a coach, make sure that they are part of the team meeting. This should take place immediately after the race either on the boat or in the boat park. More importantly, it should be away from the after-race festivities.
Makeup Of The Debrief – How To Debrief After Every Race
Initial points for discussion are where did you lose places unnecessarily, and why. Other things that need to be discussed are the start, your speed around the course, and the day’s tactics.
The debrief is a good time to constructively talk through the crew management on the boat. Remember that these sessions are about how to improve not to lay blame.
Make sure that you talk about the positives that came out of the race as well as the negatives. Try to focus on the two biggest mistakes and talk through what went wrong. Add solutions so that you can avoid them next time.
Ways To Debrief
If possible have a whiteboard available and run through each individual part of the race and use a diary to make notes for future reference. Use the diary to note down information about the time of the day, wind speed, direction, sea state, current, and information about fellow competitors.
If you have model boats available, they can be very helpful in recreating on-water situations as part of the discussion. Many times observations from off the boat can vary from on-the-boat memories. All inputs need to be considered when arriving at a solution.
It’s amazing what a coach can see from off the boat. Many things may not be obvious to those on board so get involved in the discussion.
The importance of the de-brief is to learn so that next time you hit the water, you will not make the same mistakes and thus end up with a better result.
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