Private sessions

[Surfref]

Surfref, lets not kid ourselves.

She probably pays nothing for the facility use, and carries no insurance (other than your personal liability policy she's covered under as a student, perhaps).

I realize not all private lessons are done by coaches that carry insurance for the session or pay for the field use, but to say that your kid (student) feels ridiculous that licensed coaches charge $50~$60 is not quite fair. Just as a non-licensed ref saying the same for the games you do.

Frankly, I cannot believe its that cheap ($50-$60/hr). I believe making a living as a professional youth coach is a tough going. Long crappy hours coaching multiple teams and having to do privates to make the ends meet. I know many on this forum complain about DOC making 6 figures but most coaches don't, based on my knowledge. I am not a coach and would never do what they do for living. There are many, many easier way to make a better wages and living.

I recall paying $50/hr for privates for my kids few years ago. Coaches were both former USNT World Cup players. They were captains in multiple WCs in slightly different era. On of those guys is now a National Team coach in another country. It doesn't take much to figure out who these guys are in SoCal. I call this the dark side of youth professional coaching....

She does have a coaches license and went through a training program to learn how to effectively train youth soccer players. So, she is not just some college player that is "winging it" training players. She works up a training plan for each session and keeps a record of what the player worked on and what went good and bad, then she briefs the player and the parents. She does have insurance that is tied to the coaching license and secondary liability insurance.

She just does not think that young players should be paying $50-60 for private training. She feels that $30-$35 is sufficient and cheap enough to not discourage the parents that have to pay. $35 for an hours work for a 20 year old is good money. DD also claims the income on her taxes.

 

[Eusebio]

I train my own kids, but the big thing is repetition.

in my experience and observations, it generally takes players 6-8 weeks to have noticeable and lasting improvement in a particular area. Sometimes you'll see a "sugar-high" after a few days or week, but it usually it wears off if it's not re-enforced because no muscle memory was developed. It's also why I'm not a fan of expensive 3-day clinics. Unless the coaches are able to give players something they can take home and practice on their own, whatever they picked up will be lost in a week or two. The only real value I see with 3 day clinics and camps, is that it can help dust-off the cobwebs if the player has been idle for awhile.

So the advice others gave in this thread about having your child kick the ball against the wall or watch Youtube videos (and practice what they see) is excellent advice because those can be sustained. When I don't have time to train my kids because of work, I tell my kids to do wall taps for 15-20 minutes. They also do these pretty much on any non-team practice day. That adds up to about 90 minutes a week of extra touches. 6 hours a month and about 12 hours of wall touches over a 8 week period. It adds up, and it builds good muscle memory and it's free.

So if I was advising someone on doing private lessons, I'd say make sure you can do it for at least 6-8 consecutive weeks. Make sure the trainer is focusing on a particular area instead of doing a bunch of generalized drills. Doing a bunch of new unrelated drills every week may be fun for your child and it may get you to pay every week, but it does an inefficient job of actually developing. IMO, at least 50-60% of a training session should have some form of repetition from the previous session. Also your trainer should be giving your child some homework to do at home to re-enforce what they're focused on.

I know it's frustrating when you see your kid not getting that much playing time after all the time, energy, and money you're already putting into it. But don't feel pressured by these club coaches to just throw more money at it by doing privates without thinking it over carefully. Think in 8 week cycles for development and first see if there is a practice exercise your child can do at home daily for 10-15 minutes. Also if your child struggles to practice 10-15 minutes on their own daily, then they have bigger problems than private lessons with a trainer may not solve.

 

[timbuck]

My 11 year old has done a few privates off and and over the years. It was sort of a week by week thing. She showed up, she trained and she went home.
The trainers have all been good. No complaints.
She started up with a new trainer 3 weeks ago. 2 of her teammates also go. At the end, she gives them specific tasks to work on before the following week. She's firm but fun. She'll say things like "don't waste my time coming back next week if your not going to work on these things for a few minutes every day."
Team practice was cancelled due to rain today.
Caught her in her room doing planks, push up and wall sits. Then she went out in the rain and juggled for 45 minutes.
She'd monkey around here and there with a ball in the house before, but she's never done something this focused all on her own.
I texted the moms of the 2 teammates she's been going to sessions with and their kids felt challenged. Then they went out in the rain and did the same.
Excited to see how her game changes over the next few months.
I think the takeaway here is that your player needs to want it, but maybe the right trainer can help push her along.