Things to look for in a private trainer

Private soccer lessons have become a big part of youth player development in the past few years. There are so many private trainers, and each has their own personalities, training styles, philosophies, and coaching experiences. Figuring out what trainer is good for your kid can be a headache, especially if you are a parent who doesn’t know too much about the game. I’ve seen so many scam artist private trainers, and I’ve also gotten the pleasure to meet a handful of very good private trainers. I want to share with you some things that will help you in your decision when choosing the right trainer for your kid.

1. Cost relative to level of service

Service is huge for me. In any industry, excellent service goes a long way to a consumer. When you are choosing a private trainer, pay attention to what they are offering you in return for their compensation. Private training is an investment. A good trainer will not be cheap. Ask questions to determine if you will get excellent service and added value to your investment.

• Does my private trainer attend client’s games?

• Does my private trainer provide equipment and a space to train?

• Does my private trainer do written evaluations?

• Can my private trainer do film analysis?

• What experience am I paying for?

• What experience does my private trainer have as a coach and player?

• Would I be able to get advice from my private trainer outside of training sessions if needed?

• Do they show up on time?

• Do they spend a little extra time helping your kid?

• How often do they check in?

• Have they ever offered to do anything extra for you?

You’re paying for a person’s time, skill, and knowledge. That would be the bare minimum. You will also pay for the experience you receive. What experience are you looking for? If your private trainer costs $30 per hour, chances are he or she is not going to be going the extra mile for your kid. Now the private trainer that costs $100 per hour, only for training and nothing else added to the cost of the training, you should question if it is really worth it.

Price is subjective. What some people find expensive may be inexpensive to others. Don’t worry so much about the price. Be reasonable. Don’t break your wallet. Remember this is a youth sport, and there is so much free content on the internet.

2. Training environment

• Does your trainer have a consistent location to hold sessions?

• Is the location/field safe to use?

• Is the environment conducive to learning?

You can answer this question by paying attention to how your trainer speaks to your child. Good trainers are able to get players at any level to stay engaged and respond positively to instruction. Providing an environment where the player is comfortable making mistakes will allow them to see progress. When trainers can find a balance between challenge and fun, players will be inspired to grow.

3. Reliability

A trainer that makes availability for you is one that you need. Consistency and repetition breed improvement in skill. If it is hard to coordinate with your trainer or they have limited availability, it would be better to find someone who can make their schedule work with you. A pet peeve of mine is tardiness and cancellations. It is totally understandable if there are certain situations where a person is late or has to cancel due to things out of their control or honest mistakes. It is unprofessional and careless if it is a recurring thing. You are paying for a service which is more like an investment because private training can be done long-term. You have to know you can count on your trainer when it comes to the training schedule.

4. Reputation

Most of my clients have come from word of mouth. When I first started training, only a few came from social media. At this time of writing, I do not have social media. I deleted mine almost a year ago but now I’m back. You can check out @thebarefootplayer. Your reputation is everything. It is how people perceive you and how they decide to interact with you. If more people have negative things to say about a person than positive, it is likely that you would not want to work with them. When people love a product or service, they will talk about it. They will tell their friends, family, and coworkers about it. You want to work with those who have a positive reputation in their career and community. You want to work with those who have lots of positive relationships. What are people saying? Listen.

5. Are you seeing some results

The old saying “Rome wasn’t built in a day” puts things into perspective when mastering a craft. At the same time, after a few sessions, your child should see some improvement from day one. Performance and results are a shared responsibility between the trainer and player. Some players take longer to develop than others because of past experience, personality, attention, retention, and physical ability, while some are naturally talented and pick up details very quickly. Regardless of your child’s capabilities, if you have a good trainer, you will be able to see some improvement within a few sessions if done consistently.

6. Playing and coaching experience

There are so many scams out there when it comes to private training. It drives me nuts to see hard-working parents waste their time and money on training provided by people who have no idea what they are doing. Being a trainer is different from being a coach. A youth private trainer MUST be able to demonstrate every technical skill to their players. You are most likely going to a private trainer to work on technical skills like dribbling, receiving, passing, crossing, and shooting.

7. Do they care about your kid

This is probably the most important quality when looking for a private trainer. If your trainer really cares about you, he or she will go above and beyond in every area to help your child improve. You will see it in the way they approach teaching, accommodate for your child’s learning style, and the way they talk to your kid. It’s nice to know that the person you’re working with cares about you and shows it. Following up and checking in from time to time to see how your kid is doing in games and making time to see a game says a lot about your trainer.

I hope that this post provides you with new and valuable information. Money is a reward for service rendered. Never forget that. We live in a world of options, and you deserve the best options when it comes to the money and time that you are investing into your kid’s private training lessons. If you need assistance finding the right private trainer for the area you live in, shoot me a message, and I’ll see what I can find for you. I would love to help you in any way that I can.