An athlete may misinterpret the coach's message. For example, a coach may clearly instruct a swimmer to breathe every third stroke, but the athlete swims and breathes every stroke. This incident of miscommunication may have been prevented by having the athlete restate the coach's statement in the swimmer's own words to show full understanding of the new instruction.

Receiver Understands Content but Misinterprets Intent:
An athlete may understand the substance of the message sent by the coach, but sometimes the athlete does not understand the emotion or intent of the message. For example, deaf athletes cannot decipher changes in a coach's voice and are unable to make sense of sarcasm using this technique. A coach who uses sarcasm may confuse the athletes because he/she takes the coach's instructions literally. Inconsistency in messages may lead athletes to question if the coach is serious or being sarcastic. In order to prevent confusion, it is suggested that a coach is consistent in all messages by not using sarcasm or to make certain the athlete is aware of the sarcastic manner. In this way, athletes are able to know exactly the intent of the coach's message.