TEST PHASE COMMENCES

After an intense first creation phase, many (physical and virtual) meetings and countless work sessions, we have reached a crucial step in the development of the toolkit. For the first time, the tools of the STARTING 11 toolkit will be put to the test.

The current product

In its current state, the toolkit contains 15 ready-made, yet fully customizable, tools. The toolkit is divided into the three service areas Manage, Train and Counsel. The scope, area of application and ability to customize differ for each individual tool. However, as a whole it forms an interrelated ecosystem of support that each dual career stakeholder can tailor to its own needs and unique circumstances.

Who is testing?

The ins and outs of the toolkit were explained to our external testing partners during a virtual kick-off session in October. It was fantastic to feel every participant’s energy and see the motivation to collaborate on creating actual change for elite athletes. In total,  eight organisations from across Europe now have exclusive access to the toolkit for the next three months. The organisations come from diverse backgrounds in education and sports from five different countries: Ireland, Iceland, Czech Republic, Serbia and Greece. During this time, the testing partners have the opportunity to apply the tools in their daily practice. Besides this first group of testing partners, each project partner will test a selected set of tools within their own organisation and with internal testing partners. These internal partners are organisations or individuals that are already connected to the project partners in their own country.

The goals of the testing phase are to ensure that the tools are comprehensible, applicable, have a positive impact on dual career practice and are relevant to existing situations and problems. These upcoming months will provide us with valuable feedback for the second creation phase in which we will use all gathered insights to refine the tools and produce the final European Dual Career Toolkit in 2021.