A new way. Developing technicians like athletes

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We need more technicians to drive our digital world! We will explore how to develop the next generation of future technicians like athletes. This will use the many great techniques and lessons from team based sports to create the next tech legends like Sheryl Sandberg or Elon Musk. Or better yet a whole world of them.

If you are a someone looking to develop in tech, we will show how this model can help provide more opportunities and guided instruction for you. Such as more access to teachers, higher future salary, getting into college or simply staying in school.

Also, if you are an educator we will show how this model can help build more efficient career and education development programs to better develop tech proficient students. This includes improving the shortage of available tech skilled teachers to instruct them.

So why would you develop technicians like athletes?

At the end of the day athletes really are technicians. They become highly proficient at using a specific tool such as a baseball bat or a soccer ball. Even more the case in team sports such as basketball, volleyball or soccer because everything in tech is also done in teams.

This is why at CyberForward Academy we have most closely aligned to best practice soccer development methods and run like a best practice technical soccer academy. However we develop technical professionals not soccer players.

We think this makes sense because, for example, in the United States, in soccer one of the four principles of development is developing technical ability. If you are a soccer coach reading this, how many times on the field have you said “hey she is really strong technically?”

Have you ever thought about why you are saying this, or why you heard it as a parent or player and the relationship to working with real technology? Hey maybe soccer coaches might even make strong technical teachers? We think so too.

How about some of the most gifted soccer players, such as Neymar when he named the five players in world football who had more technical skill than him. I don’t think he was talking about how Messi could configure a firewall faster then him. Though my guess is that Messi would still find some way to thread the needle, because well he is Messi.

Since technology in our lives has rapidly grown and is changing every day it can be confusing. As a result, many elements of how we develop technicians are still immature or broken when it comes to developing tech skills.

However, the world of athletics has many similarities to technical development but also has more mature philosophies. Of course for this to work it needs to be a win/win with the world of athletics. So why would the world of athletics want to partner with us?

How does the sports world benefit from helping develop people in tech?

We are not saying that all coaches in team sports should now just develop technicians. Or that athletes playing youth volleyball should quit and just train in tech. Or for that matter that math teachers should now only run soccer practices to teach math.

However we do think having the worlds of technology, education and sports work together is a good thing for everyone for a couple reasons.

• Individuals, parents, and coaches understand athletics. People get confused by tech however it is easy to present examples in terms of athletics. So by using this communication bridge everyone can be helped in all disciplines.
• Athletics needs technology anyway. All sports today are highly leveraging technology in the development of athletes. So having athletic administrators, coaches and players know how to better us it just makes sense.
• Coach availability and economics- Coaches are generally available during business hours and there are a lot of them in youth sports. Especially in soccer. They also generally work part-time so this can help them make additional money.
• Cross-training makes everyone stronger- Working in both a sport and tech development is a form of cross training that helps everyone get stronger. Especially considering many elements such as working under pressure, leadership, etc are exactly the same between tech and sports.

Ok, so lets see how this might work. What lessons can we learn from sports to develop athletes like technicians.

Some lessons from athletics to help develop tech professionals

Everyone should approach technology development like athletic development

If you remove the word “technology” from technology development and replace it with “athletic” things just get much easier. We understand how to develop athletes both in their youth and as adults, or at least better then how we are developing technicians.

We get lost in translation when it comes to technology. Simply looking at things from a sports lens just helps with everything in tech from how long it takes to how to teach it. Lets look at the top lessons.

You must be patient because technology skill development takes time just like in athletics

In sports, we recognize that becoming proficient or a professional in any sport takes time. Was Michael Jordan great in a day? No, he was actually cut in high school and it took years for him to achieve greatness.

In technology, we think we can take a bootcamp and then get hired for a senior level tech role at Google. It just does not work like this. So recognize it will take years to become proficient in technology.

Individuals, schools and businesses should plan accordingly and integrate multi-year development programs into how they train technicians.

You need to train more then learn in tech just like sports

In sports we are taught that learning the game is important but far less important and time consuming then the training phase of becoming a high performing athlete. The greats like Mia Hamm, one of the best female soccer players, for example, recognized that it takes hard work and training to become great over many years. It does not happen overnight.

One the best examples of the importance of training is by the great late Kobe Bryant, and his “Mamba method”. In a nutshell, you need to train a lot in the right practice environments and gradually achieve excellence one practice at a time through hard work and repetition.

However, in tech the mindset is different. We think we can get a technical certification, or play in a tech lab and become a professional. But technical certifications primarily teach and measure your knowledge, not proficiency. And tech labs do not replicate the pressures of the real world.

In tech we need to train like Kobe too in order to become a professional. Also, a professional in tech is simply getting a job, not making it to the NBA. However while the bar is lower in tech in terms of what is a professional, the training duration still applies.

In tech though it is just different. If you look at the common development pathways at a school it is also knowledge over training driven. The focus is on classroom courses for tech careers, followed by jumping into a technical job. Additionally, schools prioritize certification first, reinforcing this mindset.

What if Mia or Kobe spent most of their time in a classroom learning game rules then practicing on the sports field or court? Exactly. So recognize your role as an educator, business or individual in building the right training programs and then spend time putting in hard work training.

Technicians need to play in real games early just like athletes

In sports it is common to play in real games as you train. This lets you perform at game speed, or performing at the highest levels of speed and pressure. It takes time to learn to play in game situations and still perform at a high level. While it is common to play in games while developing in sports even at the youth level it is less common in tech development.

To gain technical proficiency, seek game time in development by working on real project teams or delivering presentations to large audiences. These experiences are essential for tech development and readiness for a professional career.

There shouldn’t be a minimum age to start in technology just like in youth sports.

Recently, Lamine Yamal became one of the youngest soccer players at 17 to help his national team by playing a major role in Spain’s 2024 European championship run.

Now he is an exception to make it to the top level so young, but there are many others in the Barcelona youth academy, where Lamine developed, that try and start at his age. Countless future soccer players both men and woman start very young on their development journey.

In technology, many do not start until they are adults. Further, those that do make it young early, such as Steve Jobs, or Bill Gates, drop out of school. This is because our schools do not support high proficiency tech skill development at an early age or pathways that let the very best still engage at the highest levels.

Individuals, schools, and parents should encourage early starts in tech development. As individuals, know that there should be no limits to when you start. Find a technology training academy that does not have any limits.

Developing technicians should use development tools and coaches just like athletes

In sports, it takes many tools and people to successfully develop a high performing athlete or someone trying to be one. Further, many of these tools are outside the lines of the game field or court.

These are things like performance measurement assessments and improvement planning tools. Or a focus on nutrition and mental health, as well as constant emotional and performance support from coaches as you train. Further, training facilities are just much better and more game realistic in athletics.

In technology development, these are harder to find. But they shouldn’t be! If you are someone looking to develop proficiency, seeks programs that offer tools such as work-readiness assessments, appropriate training environments and use of coaches. If you are a school, develop CTE frameworks that consider these things as well as effective CTE work centers for professionals to train.

Further, if you are an employer, look for individuals that have developed this way and support schools in building these environments to help the transition of talent.

Next steps to develop technicians like athletes

If you are someone looking to get into tech, it starts with understanding how to build technical proficiency. If you are a school and want some help building athletic minded CTE programs please talk with us.

Further, if you are a soccer coach or a teacher interested in learning how to use this approach here is more information.

At CyberForward Academy we develop technicians like athletes on a sports team. Like a soccer team to be exact. We are the CyberForward Wisdom.