By Katie Drovdahl
In planning our Winter Program Slowing Down and Speeding Up, we had a few goals in mind:
- We wanted players to leave the winter program with knowledge about the concept of mindfulness and also with a few mindfulness strategies in their “toolbox”.
- We wanted them to improve their technical speed, or the pace at which they can connect two or more technical skills, and also to feel more confident in their overall soccer skills.
- And finally, we wanted them to feel more confident in their ability to train and practice on their own at home.
To measure the success and effectiveness of our mindfulness and soccer curriculum, we utilized a pre- and post-program survey. The findings were incredibly positive: there was growth in all areas!
- Most notably, in the area of mindfulness, the Academy showed 20% growth and the Junior Academy showed 38% growth in the metric for “I know quite a bit about mindfulness and even some mindfulness strategies”.
- In fact, 100% of our Academy participants responded that they “knew quite a bit about mindfulness and mindfulness strategies” by the end of the program!
- Both Academy and Junior Academy increased their confidence in their soccer skills, as well as their confidence that they could practice at home on their own.
- This simple survey showed that players grew not just in their mindfulness and soccer skills, but also in their confidence and how they feel about themselves as players, which in the end, is the most important part.
As coaches, we measure our success not in how we design a session or curriculum, but on its impact on players. We’re proud of the impact our mindfulness and technical skills curriculum had on players, and we’re excited to see how those skills transfer to the soccer field this spring at our open practices and ID sessions!
To learn more about specific questions asked and data points, see below.
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We asked players to respond to the following prompts on the first and last days of our seven week winter program:
1) I am familiar with the idea of mindfulness.
- I’ve never heard about it before.
- Academy Pre: 0%; Post: 0%
- JR Academy Pre: 10%; Post 0%
- I’ve heard about it but I don’t know a lot about it.
- Academy Pre: 20%; Post: 0%
- JR Academy Pre: 45%; Post: 17%
- I know quite a bit about mindfulness and even some mindfulness strategies.
- Academy Pre: 80%; Post: 100%
- JR Academy Pre: 45%; Post: 83%
2) I feel confident in my soccer skills, such as dribbling, passing, vision, and awareness.
- I’m just learning about soccer skills and am excited to practice more!
- Academy Pre: 4%; Post: ; 0%
- JR Academy Pre: 0%; Post 4% (this player was not at the first practice)
- I feel good about my soccer skills, but also acknowledge that I have room for improvement.
- Academy Pre: 84%; Post; 70%
- JR Academy Pre: 58%; Post: 35%
- I’m super confident and am happy with where I’m at skill-wise.
- Academy Pre: 12%; Post: 30%
- JR Academy Pre: 42%; Post: 61%
3) If I want to work on or practice soccer on my own, I feel confident in how to do that.
- I have no idea how to practice on my own! Help!
- Academy Pre: 0%; Post: ; 0%
- JR Academy Pre: 7%; Post: 0%
- I have some ideas of things to do on my own, but I’d love to learn more.
- Academy Pre: 36%; Post: ; 17%
- JR Academy Pre: 58%; Post: 35%
- I feel comfortable practicing on my own and have a variety of ideas of how to do that.
- Academy Pre: 64%; Post: 83%
- JR Academy Pre: 35%; Post: 65%