Planning Now for the Student-Athletes of the Future (Part 1)
Earlier this year, I surveyed nearly 400 College Coaches and found that 88% spend less than an hour per month focused on their long-term strategy - 55% spend no time at all. Developing a long-term strategy prepares a Coach for the evolving needs of student-athletes.
Earlier this month, I completed research on 1,050 student-athletes to identify areas that are trending upward and will become key issues in the future. Based on these results, I recommend considering a long-term strategy beginning with:
Technology for Tomorrow’s Student-Athletes
Coaches should consider using the next few years to close the gap between what they understand about tech and what student-athletes see as an every-day part of their lives. When the time comes for additional technology adoption, what student-athletes have the most interest in includes:
IOT (Internet of Things); 78% of student-athletes say that they expect that there will be a suite of connected products and services to make student-athlete life more efficient, such as scheduling a time to see an Athletic Trainer or having AI driven digital assistants to provide “customer” support
66% say they expect to have an on-going digital record of athletic accomplishments, skill development, and soft skills training that will serve as a summary of their experience over four years - that they can use to log their college journey and show potential employers
81% think Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality (AR), and Virtual Reality (VR), will be integrated into their experience (for example VR and AR will be used by Coaches to simulate on-field scenarios for which the student-athlete must plan)
Creating Flexibility for Student-Athletes
I can hear the collective groan from the Coaches who are reading this. You’re a team. This is not a democracy. Structure is critical. All of that is true, but it doesn’t change the fact that student-athletes are evolving and that flexibility is becoming an increasingly important factor for how they choose and engage with a program.
Student-Athletes want Coaches to acknowledge that they don’t all learn - on or off the field - in the same way or at the same pace. Like it or now, differentiated learning is likely to become much more the norm. 73% of student-athletes want support from their Coaches and/or support staff to help them develop a flexible and personalized plan.
44% want more tutoring
41% want more aspects of their academic and athletic meetings to be virtual
40% want more leadership development
Creating Value in Your Program with Soft Skills
While not a new topic, student-athletes continue to emphasize that what’s important to them is a complete college experience. 88% of student-athletes say that experiencing all that their campus offers is important to their achieving success after graduation.
Despite many colleges and universities spending on resources to help develop soft skills, student-athletes say they want more help on a range of issues from deciding their major to career guidance.
51% want more support for career planning
46% want more engagement from Student Life
34% say that the academic support they receive is not sufficient