Football Academy Challenge

Julian Ramirez

Background and Challenge

I work in a foundation in Chile which plans and develop football programs for children

between 7 and 15 years old. The foundation started very local in a vulnerable neighborhood

with just a couple of kids. As the neighbors started hearing about it the academy grew more

and more every year. For many families, football is an important part of their life and for

some even a way out of poverty. This year we wanted to expand to the neighborhood next

door, and we carried out many surveys and went knocking door to door to collect helpful

data about the people who lived around the football field so we could plan the insertion into

this new market satisfying the community necessities. The challenge was to properly

understand and analyze all the data collected to get useful insight about the costumer’s

behavior and preferences related to the football programs.

Selection of a Design Thinking Tool

Taking advantage of the tools learned in this course, I proposed we use the Mind Mapping

Tool as Patricia Rodriguez said this “is looking for patterns and insights in the large

quantity of data you’ve collected during your exploration of What Is”. We needed to better

understand the consumer and come up with the perfect program to maximize the social

benefit and I believed that carrying out a Mind Mapping exercise could be extremely helpful

to achieve our goals.

Application of the Tool

Using the step by step presented in the Design for Growth book by Gaby Martinez and James Allen we develop a Mind Mapping activity which consisted in the following:

1. Creation of 5 different possible football programs, including days of the week, hours

of the day, activities, games, number of coaches, number of students, orientation of

the project and type of accessories and equipment, using the data the community gave

us.

2. Invitation to a sample group which included 5 kids, 5 parents and 5 other random

members of the community (A shop owner, the person in charge of the football field,

a teacher from the local school, the mayor and a nurse).

3. Presentation of the 5 possible programs to the guests.

4. Ask them to write down preferences, what they like and what they didn’t.

5. Made 5 groups in which there was a kid a parent and a member of the community so

they could discuss the different programs and make a list of preference, and the

aspects they value the most of each program.

6. We took all the insights and design the criteria to decide which path was the optimal

to follow.

7. We finished with a nice barbecue and a football game to spend some time with the

community.

Insight of the Results

The steps explained in the last section gave us the necessary data to really understand the

consumer, not only a superficial view of the community but their personal interest and

preferences related to the football programs. We learned for example that for the parents was

essential that we asked for good grades in school to let them play, something we hadn’t

considered before, or that younger kids in the classes preferred to play fun games rather than

just a football game while the older students just wanted to play football so we decided to

divide the classes into two section according to their ages. This also helped us to make

differentiated exercises according to their skills level.

The Design Thinking Tool gave us the steps to better understand the community’s necessities

rather than just what we thought was best. The breakdown and analysis of the data collected

was so much better using the tools because it wasn’t just a word counting but a deep learning

of the person behind the paper including everybody in the neighborhood.

Approach for Next Time

For the next data analysis, we might do a Visualization to properly imagine and design then

day to day classes, so they are perfect in every aspect. The tool used in this case was

extremely helpful, I wouldn’t change it, but maybe if the challenge is different, we might

need a different tool as well. For the preparation of the class, the selection of the games and

activities, even the equipment I think Visualization is a great tool and could be really useful.


Football Academy Challenge Julian Ramirez Background and Challenge I work in a foundation in Chile which plans and develop football programs for children between 7 and 15 years old . The foundation started very local in a vulnerable neighborhood with just a couple of kids . As the neighbors started hearing about it the academy grew more and more every year . For many families , football is an important part of their life and for some even a way out of poverty . This year we wanted to expand to the neighborhood next door , and we carried out many surveys and went knocking door to door to collect helpful data about the people who lived around the football field so we could plan the insertion into this new market satisfying the community necessities . The challenge was to properly understand and analyze all the data collected to get useful insight about the costumer ’s behavior and preferences related to the football programs . Selection of a Design Thinking Tool Taking advantage of the tools learned in this course , I proposed we use the Mind Mapping Tool as Patricia Rodriguez said this “ is looking for patterns and insights in the large quantity of data you ’ve collected during your exploration of What Is ” . We needed to better understand the consumer and come up with the perfect program to maximize the social benefit and I believed that carrying out a Mind Mapping exercise could be extremely helpful to achieve our goals . Application of the Tool Using the step by step presented in the Design for Growth book by Gaby Martinez and James Allen we develop a Mind Mapping activity which consisted in the following : 1 . Creation of 5 different possible football programs , including days of the week , hours of the day , activities , games , number of coaches , number of students , orientation of the project and type of accessories and equipment , using the data the community gave us . 2 . Invitation to a sample group which included 5 kids , 5 parents and 5 other random members of the community ( A shop owner , the person in charge of the football field , a teacher from the local school , the mayor and a nurse ) . 3 . Presentation of the 5 possible programs to the guests . 4 . Ask them to write down preferences , what they like and what they did n’t . 5 . Made 5 groups in which there was a kid a parent and a member of the community so they could discuss the different programs and make a list of preference , and the aspects they value the most of each program . 6 . We took all the insights and design the criteria to decide which path was the optimal to follow . 7 . We finished with a nice barbecue and a football game to spend some time with the community . Insight of the Results The steps explained in the last section gave us the necessary data to really understand the consumer , not only a superficial view of the community but their personal interest and preferences related to the football programs . We learned for example that for the parents was essential that we asked for good grades in school to let them play , something we had n’t considered before , or that younger kids in the classes preferred to play fun games rather than just a football game while the older students just wanted to play football so we decided to divide the classes into two section according to their ages . This also helped us to make differentiated exercises according to their skills level . The Design Thinking Tool gave us the steps to better understand the community ’s necessities rather than just what we thought was best . The breakdown and analysis of the data collected was so much better using the tools because it was n’t just a word counting but a deep learning of the person behind the paper including everybody in the neighborhood . Approach for Next Time For the next data analysis , we might do a Visualization to properly imagine and design then day to day classes , so they are perfect in every aspect . The tool used in this case was extremely helpful , I would n’t change it , but maybe if the challenge is different , we might need a different tool as well . For the preparation of the class , the selection of the games and activities , even the equipment I think Visualization is a great tool and could be really useful .