US Youth Soccer
Growth & Retention Impact Program (GRIP)
In 2019 US Youth Soccer hired Adam Kuhn and Adam LeFevre ( from https://www.satori.soccer/) together with Robin Russell (www.sportspath.com) to capture and analyse registration data from State Youth Associations in order to support State Associations to grow youth soccer participation.
The project concentrated on two key Metrics :
- “Growth” = new players to the club and/or state association
- “Retention”= players who returned for another year within the club and/or state
The project was committed to the following aims :
- Creating a Growth & Retention report for any state association that submits registration data
- Creating a Growth & Retention report for every club over 200 players in each state association that signs up; the state associations decide whether or how to distribute
- Creating a training program to help users interpret and analyze the reports
Starting with four 'Pioneer States' ( Indiana, Minnesota, Tennessee and South Carolina ), 22 State Associations joined the project in 2019 with a further 13 Associations committing themselves to the project after meetings at the US Youth Soccer Workshop during January in Baltimore. With 34 State Associations, the GRIP Project now has approximately 60% of all State Youth Soccer Associations involved.
The data analysis to date has tracked the individual registration history of over 600,000 players over two seasons to provide the following benefits for Associations and Clubs :
- Feedback on the effectiveness of recent initiatives and programs to impact growth and retention—State, Club, and USYS
- Initiate growth & retention conversations with clubs
- Information to support AGMs and other events
- Identify and share ‘Bright Spot’ practices
- Assist in Grant Aid Application from US Soccer, State and Local Government
- Help in presentations for potential sponsors
What some State Associations have said about GRIP :
- Dave Guthrie, Executive Director, Indiana Soccer :“I can’t say how much these reports are of value to us."
- Hans Pauling, Executive Director, South Carolina Youth Soccer Association: “The Club Standards Project has provided our state association with valuable demographic information we can use to improve the growth and retention of soccer players at the Club level in South Carolina. It is more than just the numbers. The Reports provides the data in an easy digestible manner that gives the Club what they need to know. Every business benefits from gaining new customers and keeping its current customers. This data helps tremendously in measuring the Clubs' program successes and improving those other areas that require it.”
- Hans Hobson, Executive Director, Tennessee State Soccer Association: “The project has been eye opening. Many of our clubs don’t know how to use the data they currently have. Through this project and their expertise our clubs have been able to gain valuable information that they can turn into club transforming actionable standards.”
- Matthew Madeira, Executive Director & Integrator, Minnesota Youth Soccer Association: “Youth Soccer has turned in to a very competitive business fuelled by the need for excellent Customer Service. The program that Robin and Adam have constructed will go a great distance in helping USYS state associations add value to our membership base. The information derived from this new program will assist us in helping our clubs grow and prosper…which in turn will help our state grow and prosper”
For further information about GRIP contact Adam Kuhn (adam.kuhn@satori.soccer )