The Magic Feedback Formula

This week I had the opportunity to coach at an NPBA camp hosted at the Mamba Academy!! The energy was unreal—the kids got to learn from Kyle Kuzma, Phil Handy, Lethal Shooter, and Nneka Ogwumike, and nothing beats watching young athletes light up when they see their heroes.

Among the 120+ athletes were 22 players from Japan who spoke minimal English. Three of them—Takado, Arato, and Mii—were assigned to my squad. With the help of Google Translate and my weirdly amazing memory from 7+ years of bartending, we learned how to communicate through basketball, gestures, and vibes. :)

(Bri: Insert photos with the Japanese athletes here)

The Squad 🇯🇵

Takado (13) — Tall, lanky, full of FIRE. Got elbowed in the face on Day 1, stumbled, smiled, gave me a thumbs up with a giant bump on his forehead, and got right back on defense. Beast.

Arato (12) — Pure chaos in the BEST way. Little AND1 Mixtape energy. Loved breaking ankles, scoring, and then pointing at the defender while thumping his chest. 😂 I know we “shouldn’t encourage it,” but MY GOD it was entertaining.

Mii (12) — The only girl in the group. Her off-ball movement was ELITE. When I said “Ohayo” (good morning) to her on Day 2, she lit up like a lantern.

Basketball keeps expanding my universe.
Places I’d never imagined.
People I’d never imagined meeting.

What a journey. :)

The Work Continues

I’m gearing up for my next 4-Day Intensive in Buffalo, NY, while sprinting on Instructional Design work for Shooters Shoot Training App.

Our mission is to give athletes worldwide access to:
💬 Real feedback
🎥 Real mentorship
👟 Real training
…from coaches they know and trust.

Part of my role is coaching the trainers on how to give better feedback. Because “Great job!” is nice… but transformational coaching requires more.

So I took master teaching principles, coaching research, and skill acquisition science and created a simple, powerful, repeatable framework.

The Magic Feedback Formula

Scenario:

Jordan submits 50 pound dribbles with each hand.

LEVEL 1 — Good Job!

Example:
“Great job, Jordan!! I see you out here putting this work in — keep going!”

Nice. Encouraging.
But not helpful.

LEVEL 2 — Good Job + Be Specific

Example:
“Great job, Jordan! I love that you’re letting the ball come all the way up to your shoulder so we can get good at handling the ball at all heights. Keep going!”

Now they're learning what they did well.

LEVEL 3 — Good Job + Specific + Do This Better

Example:
“Great job, Jordan! I love that you’re letting the ball come all the way up to your shoulder. Next time, dribble HARD—like you’re trying to break the floor. Keep going!”

Now they know exactly how to improve.

LEVEL 4 — Good Job + Specific + Do This Better + WHY

Example:
“Great job, Jordan! I love that you’re letting the ball come all the way up to your shoulder. Next time, dribble HARD—like you’re breaking the floor. We want this because hard dribbles build your handle muscles. The harder you dribble in practice, the more the ball will feel like it’s on a string in games! Keep going!”

Level 4 is the gold standard.
It takes less than 30 seconds.
And it changes lives.

Simple.
Repeatable.
Effective.
(Shoutout PGC Basketball. 👑)

If you are a coach, leader, manager, parent, or human who ever gives feedback—use this.

Until next blog. :)

Shooters Shoot,
BriAnna