Participatory Mechanisms

Observing how feedback is relayed to professional athletes, there are numerous ways feedback is given.  For instance, in football, to get prepared for an opponent on Sundays, NFL players watch film on the opposing team to discover weaknesses to exploit from the opponent.  If a professional player isn't playing up to the standards of the organization, then the player can be criticized by fans and by ownership/coaches. All of that is feedback.   Also, throughout a season, college players that are trying to be professionals get scouted by professional sports teams.  These scouts pay attention to the athlete's personality (yes personality is almost as important as talent or upside).  The scouts come to athlete's games and see how they perform under pressure and elite competition.  As the game is going on, the scouts write down what they like about the athlete and their weakness that they should work to improve.  The NBA and NFL have scouting combines at the end of a season to better assess athletes in a closed, up-and-personal setting.  The athletes go through various skills challenges like shuttle run, 40-yard dash, vertical jump, weight lifting, horizontal jump, etc to get graded and potentially improve their stock for the draft.  All of these things provide valuable feedback for the athlete on what they need to improve on.