Satori-Participation-Analytics

THE OPPORTUNITY: Across the country, millions of children will play in a youth soccer club next season. Some will try the sport, enjoy it, and continue playing & benefiting from it for years. Others will try, have a negative experience, and either quit the sport altogether or switch clubs–often bringing additional cost and inconvenience to their family.

Until recently, the questions posed in this section were most often answered with gut feel or shoulder shrugs. Now, through a partnership with a fellow nonprofit Satori Soccer, we have a growing ability to systematically answer these questions. We call this initiative Participation Analytics.

Questions We Ask To Improve:

  • How common are these bad experiences?
  • Are they more common at certain ages, genders, or competition level?
  • What are some possible root causes?
  • What actions can we take to increase the number of great experiences?

Our goal in Participation Analytics is to use data and technology to help staff, coaches, and membership increase joy, participation, and performance within the Colorado Rapids Youth Soccer Club! To learn more about our Participation Analytics, check out the breakdown of the initiative below or contact us at [email protected].

Quality Data & Feedback:

At the heart of every analytics insight is quality data. To ensure quality player and team data, we carefully set up and maintain our registration platform (we use PlayMetrics).

To ensure quality parent and coach feedback, we use Satori Soccer. We also task Satori Soccer with integrating our data from multiple platforms and providing interactive reports. This integrated reporting platform enables us to scan across the organization to find the types of insights we describe in the other sections (Clear View, Multiply Bright Sports, etc.).

Clear View:

Deeper insight into club participation and player experience align staff around what matters most, starts conversations, and leads to positive action.

The example below (using fake data) is the simplest of the reports we use to analyze our participation trends. Other reports we use help us study important aspects of the club such as retention, recruitment, relative age effect, parent feedback, coach feedback, and game results.

ParticipationSummary

*sample data, not representative of current CRYSC survey results

Multiply Bright Spots:

Another thing we use analytics for is to Identify coaches and staff members doing great work so their success can be acknowledged, their approaches studied, and learnings shared with others in the club that might benefit.

Below is an example of an interactive report we use to review coach performance and help guide coach development conversations. The coach and team name below has been changed but the data is a real example of a coach that is doing a great job.

BrightSpotCoach

*sample data, not representative of current CRYSC survey results

Improve Strugglers:

Just as we can use this data to identify where things are going well, we can also use it to identify areas of the club that need to improve. We use these insights to better prioritize the time of our staff members.

With coaches, for example, this makes it easy to find those who need more support from our Technical Directors. Given the shortage of coaches in youth soccer, we strongly prefer to help coaches grow rather than let them go–this data helps that process. That said, this has also proven helpful in the unfortunate circumstances where we need to kindly yet promptly remove a coach that isn’t the right fit for Rapids Youth.

Below is a real example (with team and coach names changed) of a coach who had a challenging first season with Rapids Youth. This information helps us identify opportunities for improvement–such as improved coach communication–so we can help them coach grow.

StrugglerCoach

*sample data, not representative of current CRYSC survey results

Measure Progress:

We continue measuring ourselves, each season, to see what is working, what needs to change, and what needs more time to unfold. The faster we learn from our actions, the better decisions we make for the benefit of club players, families, and staff.

The below example of measuring progress over time shows postseason parent feedback averages for all Travel teams (excludes recreational players) in the Satori benchmarking database (includes Rapids Youth but we are one of many clubs in their data).

NPSTrend

*sample data, not representative of current CRYSC survey results

Bi-Annual Net Promoter Score Updates:

Over the years, Rapids Youth Soccer has focused heavily on getting our member’s feedback and holding ourselves accountable to our members and the service we provide. A few years ago, we implemented a Net Promoter Score system which allowed our members to essentially give us a grade at the end of every season.

Net Promoter Score is the gold standard for indicating a positive or negative customer experience, as well as an organization’s potential for future growth. The higher the number, the better that organization has served its community throughout the year and strengthened its standing within the industry. It’s a number that businesses can take pride in, as nearly every Fortune 500 and major company in the United States participates.

The continued mission of the Club is to offer a terrific soccer experience where “The Heart Behind the Crest” can be felt beating in all that we do. We can’t thank our community, coaches, and staff enough for making that vision a reality. Check out some of the statistics from the 2022 Spring Postseason Survey below!

Spring22NPSScore

Participation Analytics | FAQ

Which data is anonymous and which is disclosed to staff?

In order to get the most value from our surveys, there are some that are entirely anonymous and others that coaches and staff have access to the results. Our postseason survey is confidential for players and coaches, which allows for accurate NPS scores. Our exit survey to players that do not return to the Club is also anonymous. Our preseason, game recap, and pulse survey results are all accessible to our staff to better understand the player experience within our organization.

When do surveys go out and to who?

Every year, CRYSC sends out targeted surveys to gather data on our participants and help us evaluate how we can better serve our communities. Below, is our current list of surveys and who they are sent to:

  • Fall Preseason ‘Getting to Know You’ Survey —  July  I  9/10 Select, Competitive, and Elite Players
  • Fall Preseason ‘Getting to Know You’ Survey —  July  I  9/10 Select, Competitive, and Elite Coaches
  • Fall Game Recap Surveys — Weekly During Fall Season  I  All 9/10 Select, Competitive, and Elite Coaches
  • Exit Survey —  September  I  CRYSC Players That Have Not Returned for the Fall Season
  • Fall Pulse Survey —  October  I  All Fall Competitive Participants
  • Fall Postseason ‘How Did We Do’ Survey —  November  I  All Fall Season Participants
  • Fall Postseason ‘How Did We Do’ Survey —  November  I  All Fall Season Coaches
  • Spring Game Recap Surveys — Weekly During Spring Season  I  All 9/10 Select, Competitive, and Elite Coaches
  • Spring Pulse Survey —  April  I  All Spring Competitive Participants
  • Spring Postseason ‘How Did We Do’ Survey —  May  I  All Spring Season Participants
  • Spring Postseason ‘How Did We Do’ Survey —  May  I  All Spring Season Coaches