Need Advice for Private Coaching Lessons

I wish you well. Most coaches I know are not keen about their players receiving private instruction as there are simply too many opportunities for conflicts with technique, teaching progression, and loyalty. I'm sure you are highly qualified and have the best interests of the kids in mind, but those same kids are playing for a coach who already has a staff, a scheme, and a plan for his players. Adding an indepedent factor into the mix may not be welcomed with open arms.

lucassean2

IF you are dead set on making this happen, you should go to the area coaches and extend an opportunity for some input. I would also keep regular contact with them.

We had a guy in our community about 10 years ago that did something similar to this. He worked well with all and for about 4 years he was able to pull this idea off.

He has left our area and has established himself with another local community and he has been successful there too.

We run youth camps and teach OUR skills to the camps (ages 7-15). About 50% of the kids that come to our camp will go elsewhere to a different H.S. We always keep our fundamentals very basic but also tell the kids that if they play elsewhere, they MUST listen to their coaches when their season begins.

I would have to agree with the prior comments as they apply to specific physical techniques taught by an independent coaching organization. There are many different ways to accomplish certain assignments and each coaching staff will teach it differently depending on their scheme. I would find it difficult to come to a consensus on how to teach any particular physical trait.

However, I do believe that an independent coaching organization could find success in developing a program to improve the "Football IQ" of high school players. A program that teaches players on the basics of Defensive/Offensive structure could be very beneficial to players. For example, I cannot see any coach being put off by a defensive back learning how basic route packages are structured, and the concepts behind them. I would welcome my players being taught how the curl/flat, NCAA, or mesh routes are structured and how each route works together in the pattern package. Over the years, our best free safeties had a good ability to read pattern structure and were able to anticipate the QB reads based on this information. This is only one example that could be built on. There are so many different mental aspects to football that hold true across a variety of schemes, that an independent coaching organization should be able to structure a number of programs that could be economically successful. Just an Opinion

before this request for advise becomes a frutration-riddled pinata....


It would appear a little late in the game to start this up NOW, though.

Summer youth - MS instruction is a great opportunity to further the sport, create a 'camp' environment (where it wouldn't be available for kids this young), baby-sitting, and a nifty way to make some money on the side.

2-3 times a week at 1 1/2 - 2 hours of instruction, using a basic warmup routine, individual drills, agility/speed drills, with an emphasis on technique, with a climax of some type of position specific competition, then a cool down and some kind of 'homework' assignment (minor).

as little as 1 kid to as many as 12 would be normal.

lucassean2 - as Brophy pointed out, you asked for "advice" about how to go about starting a private instruction business and "what experiences you have had in this endeavor." As you can see, my first comments were to wish you well and I still do. As you can also see, most of the responces agree with my other comments, namely that coaches don't want their players getting private instruction. I also don't want this to turn into a locked thread but ... if you have to ask how to organize the practice sessions for length, # of kids, etc ... what does this say about you as a qualified private coach? It would be like me asking a Literature teacher to tell me how to organize my language lessons so I can market myself as a professional SAT prep teacher.

coachd - I do see your point. But I still feel if someone is going to present themself as a private coach (I read this as "expert"), particularly for football skills, I would expect them to know these kind of organizational details. Not saying there are not other explanations. Just my opinion.

In terms of "marketing", I think the BEST way would be word-of-mouth. What you could do is try to put an initial group of maybe 5-6 kids together, work with them for free, and then use them for references for your future business. The other thing you can do is to show up to local little league games or other organized sporting activities and look to hand out business cards or flyers. Your advertising costs would be relatively low yet you will have access to a lot of potential clients. Volunteer to coach a junior high sports team. This will give you access to the names of kids and their parents.

I actually think this is something that could be valuable for middle school aged kids...often, those kids, especially in the "golden boy" positions, don't get the technique-specific coaching that they need and often, they really have bad habits that are hard to break after 2-3 years of suspect coaching at the middle school level.

The other thing to think about is when you are going to run these sessions. It would tough to do them in the summer because kids have a million things going on. However, for many kids, their lives actually slow down considerably once school starts so you might want to shoot for holding these sessions in the winter or spring. That would also give you time to attend a bunch of middle school football games this fall and/or basketball games this winter to start building up a prospective client list.

Anyway, good luck.

Hate to say it but privatization isn't going away. The problem is that there are some knowledgeable people and there are scam artists. As HC's we have to be open to these operations because they are going to exist in the larger areas. You just have to do your homework and be careful who you endorse. If you are totally against it - that is your right. Try explaining that to a backup defensive back who wants to start next year for you.

Parents are going to wonder why a football coach wouldn't want his players to get better during the off-season. They'll invent their own truths and they won't be positive in your favor.

I was asked about 10 years ago to help start a FB academy where specific skills would be taught to age groups 10 through 18. I was going to get paid $20 an hour and the students/players would be paying $40 an hour. The academy had a few coaches who would work with specific position groups and pretty much run it the way the baseball guys have been doing it for years.

I backed out because I didn't want to use any of MY extra time on anything but my own program and my family. I already ran a summer camp and figured that was the best way for a H.S. coach to help out with this type of thing.

At any rate, if operated by knowledgeable people, what's the harm?

I send my QB's and Receivers to the local university during the winter to receive extra coaching from the Air Attack people. They may not teach the skills exactly like I do but I've seen my skill guys get better. But I did my homework and asked some respected coaches in our area before I endorsed it.

Thank you for all of the posts up to this point, they have definitely made given me marketing ideas to use and liability issues to research. Please continue with the advice if you have any.

Thank you

As you can see, this idea of being a trainer of athletes is a noble one, but there are endless perceptions that exist in the minds of coaches about the value of such training. I think the key to starting anything like that is word of mouth, and it doesn't hurt if you have credibility in your methods. Obviously, there are thousands of ways people try to differentiate themselves, but Coach Huey is right, if you keep the coaching around what matters most to serving the coach - it won't be a threat at all - it can be a blessing to them.

Coach Huey I am still committed to that project we discussed recently, and we are close to having something for you to look at - I will be in touch.