How to review fight footage: a seen, expected and unknown worksheet

Choose the viewing condition before you start

Your notebook needs to say how much of the ending you already knew. Choose one of these two routes.

First viewing of an unfamiliar exchange: Before pressing play, choose the clip's start, a pause point and an end point from the available timestamps. The pause point may turn out to be uninteresting; keep that fact in the record. Do not move it afterward to make your expectation look more perceptive.

Play to the chosen pause point. Write the visible movement, an expectation if you have one, and what remains unclear. Then reveal the rest. If the title, commentary or someone else's description has already told you the ending, record that exposure. This is a note-taking exercise, not a blinded test.

Replay with a known ending: Put “known ending” at the top. You can describe what is visible and ask what another explanation would need to account for. If you write what you think you would have expected, mark it retrospective. You cannot recreate an unexposed first viewing simply by hiding the final seconds.

Record playback speed too. Slow playback can help you inspect the sequence in a recording; it does not establish what you or the athlete could perceive at live speed.

Copy this record into your notebook

Use one record per exchange. A plain document or paper notebook is enough. No account or purchase is needed.

• Record ID and date:
• Source or private file name:
• Permission and privacy notes: may I view it, and may I share it?
• Athlete I am observing:
• Question for this exchange:
• Clip start / planned pause / clip end:
• Viewing condition: first viewing / known-ending replay:
• Prior information from titles, commentary or earlier viewing:
• Playback speed on each pass:
• Seen, with timestamp:
• Expected:
• Expectation recorded before reveal, or reconstructed afterward?
• Unknown:
• What followed, added after reveal:
• Later interpretation and date:
• Comparison exchange, or “not yet found”:
• One question for a coach, and what extra view or context it needs:

Keep the original entry. Add a new dated line when your interpretation changes instead of editing the earlier expectation to fit the result. Keep private training footage and identifiable notes private unless the people involved permit sharing. Access to a clip is not permission to republish it.

A fictional record, filled in twice

This invented example illustrates the paperwork only. It is not footage of a real athlete or evidence of improved performance.

Setup: Record F-01, 23 October 2026. Imaginary private training clip, not for sharing. Observe athlete A. Question: “What happens after A's lead hand begins to move?” Planned segment 00:08–00:15; pause at 00:10, chosen before playback. First viewing, no prior description, normal speed.

Pass one, written while paused at 00:10:

• Seen: A's lead hand has moved away from the face. A's feet are below the frame.
• Expected: The hand will continue forward. Written before revealing 00:10–00:15.
• Unknown: Foot position, distance between the athletes and the reason for the hand movement.

Pass two, added after revealing the ending:

• What followed: A's hand returns toward the face; the other athlete moves out of frame.
• Later interpretation, 23 October: My expectation did not match the visible continuation. The clip does not show enough to explain why.
• Comparison: Not yet found.
• Coach question: Would a wider view show whether the athletes changed distance during the hand movement?

On a later replay, retain that first entry and add “replay, ending known.” Do not replace the expectation with “A was about to reset.” The point is to preserve when each note became available.

When the recording cannot answer

• Feet cropped out: Leave base and foot placement unresolved.
• Contact hidden: Do not turn an obscured grip or impact into a definite event.
• Camera cut: Do not assume the missing movement connects the two visible positions in a particular way.
• Unusable timing: If speed changes, edits or missing frames make timing unclear, do not calculate a precise response time.

Choose one unresolved note someone else could challenge. Ask your coach what evidence would settle it, rather than requesting a technique based on your guess. The next useful step may be a wider view, more context or simply leaving the question open.

Why keep the original expectation?

In classic experiments, Baruch Fischhoff found that knowing an outcome affected people's retrospective judgments. That hindsight research concerns judgment under uncertainty, not combat training. Keeping separate entries makes the history of your notes inspectable; this worksheet has not been validated as a way to eliminate bias or predict attacks.