First Year Collegiate Pilot: What We’ve Learned
The first year of The Next Play Pilot program is complete and we have some very encouraging and positive results to share. Our objective was to measure student progress against program goals and receive feedback on the program design and implementation. What we discovered was insight on what constitutes confidence and, also, how we can help women athletes more successfully navigate a multitude of daily challenges and demands.
The following highlights the learning, uncovered in a self-reporting survey with participants at Babson College, Wellesley, MA (Div III). All participants self-reported advances in 9 of 10 measured personal attributes, more specifically:
- The most significant advances were reported in self-awareness and self-compassion. We believe these are significant indicators of the students’ progress toward enhancing overall confidence. Why? Self-compassion can also be defined as resilience, or the opposite of perfectionism, and we believe that if you’re afraid to fail, you’re much less likely to ever get started. The world needs women leaders who aren’t afraid to raise their hands, lean in, and sit at the table. Self-awareness and self-compassion breed purpose and intention, and ultimately, confidence.
- In open-ended responses, participants most often cited improvement in confidence and self-awareness, where confidence is something other people can see and self-awareness is something you can feel, but perhaps other people aren’t necessarily seeing just yet.
- All nine respondents expressed The Next Play as beneficial in open-ended responses with two using the descriptor “life-changing.”
- The majority of participants want to continue Next Play pilot coaching and recommend it to their teammates.
To learn more and discover how to join the pilot, please contact us at [email protected]
