Learn to Win talked with Eric Seideman, the head men’s lacrosse coach at Mount Saint Mary College in New York, about his experience using Learn to Win. Coach Seideman has been the head coach at Mount Saint Mary’s for nine years and has spent sixteen years coaching collegiate lacrosse.
Sharing Institutional Knowledge
Coach Seideman first heard about Learn to Win in the summer of 2019, when his program had faced a rough season following the graduation of a large senior class. Realizing the loss of institutional memory with the large graduating class, Coach Seideman returned to the basics of teaching, saying, “Learn to Win came along at the perfect moment for me.”
The first lessons he created weren’t skills-based but instead focused on the team culture with topics such as program values, history, and style of play. Once he created those in 2019, he shared them with the incoming class in 2020 so freshmen could understand the program’s philosophy before arriving on campus.
Similarly, with basic skills-based materials, Coach Seideman shares those lessons and quizzes year after year to refresh the memory of returning players.
Using Analytics to Coach More Effectively
During the preseason, the team takes weekly quizzes using Learn to Win, which Coach Seideman uses to evaluate both the players and coaches. If individual players score low on a quiz, Coach Seideman will bring them into his office for additional instruction. Learn to Win’s quiz analytics gives him insights into which questions might be more difficult for certain players.
On a larger scale, if only a tiny percentage of the team got a question correct, Coach Seideman knew either the question was poorly structured, or the coaching staff needed to teach the concept differently. Later in the season, players took short quizzes on the bus rides to away games. Those quiz results gave the coaches insights into the last-minute instructions they needed to give right before the game.
“I feel more confident that, as a coach, when I say something, they know what I’m talking about.”
- Eric Seideman, Head Men's Lacrosse Coach, Mount Saint Mary's College
Improving Player Engagement
With years of coaching experience, Coach Seideman had created teaching materials, like paper playbooks, that he thought were effective. But after testing and talking with players, he realized that they weren’t doing any good if the players weren’t using them:
Players also liked using the app: they were excited about bringing their phones to meetings and competing against their teammates. In building the lessons, Coach Seideman integrates video clips of current players demonstrating good examples of skills or scoring, which the players find motivational.
A Better Way to Teach and Learn
Using Learn to Win has changed how coaches approach teaching and quizzing and how players interact and engage with the material. With insightful analytics into players’ progress, Coach Seideman can trust that his team is prepared for gameday.
