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I can still remember my first group training session for athletic development. It was in the summer of 1989. I had several high school athletes that wanted to be faster and stronger. They had contacted me to work with them to get ready for football season. I don’t believe I charged them for this service- especially because I was just hired by the school system and those were the very athletes I would be coaching during the fall season. It is now 2007 and I am still doing group training. I have developed a system over the past two decades that is extremely successful. There are many benefits of group training when dealing with young athletes and building a successful business.
Any time you are running an athletic development business there are several concerns that must be addressed. In no particular order they
are:
1. Making a profit so the business can sustain itself and the employees.
2. A business that is what people want. Offering something that sounds good but isn’t what the community wants is going to fail.
3. Offering a program that can be built on word of mouth. Working with young athletes is a great business to establish word-of-mouth advertising.
4. Having a product that is affordable for potential clients but organized in a manner that brings in enough money per hour. Training athletes in a group setting can keep the hourly fee low per athlete but the hourly income high.
5. Do your homework and understand the needs of a developing young body and how it needs to be trained.
6. Talk to the parents and let them know their child is being taking care of.
There are certainly more concerns and points to address when running this form of business but this is a great start.
Making a profit
This took me some time to understand when first running my business. I felt bad when someone couldn’t afford my prices. I tried to help everyone. What actually happened is it hurt my business and I lowered the value of it. I spent many years learning what I know and I needed to get compensated fairly for that. Once I established a system of charging it was much easier for me to stay consistent with my pricing.
Make it something they want
There is no doubt that people will look right past their needs and go right to their wants. Well, I have established a system that takes care of both. I make sure they get what they want but never sacrifice what they need.
The reason for this is because if I don’t give them what they need they will not get the results they want. So I have made my business a fun place for them to train, and at the same time, they are getting the things that their body needs to get results.
Word of mouth
Advertising is so important for a business to survive. If athletes don’t know about you, you will never survive. The real key to advertising in this form of business is to get the athletes talking for you. I have set my business up in such a way that one athletes will tell their friends and it starts to snowball. We have athletes coming in weekly that are best friends with another athlete that trains with us. An even more powerful proponent is when the parents talk to other parents. This form of advertising costs you nothing and builds a solid foundation of continuous referrals.
Affordable product
I have no doubt that my private coaching is worth much more than I charge. I even feel that my group training is worth at least twice as much as I presently charge. The point is that I want to help the athletes and if they can’t afford my service I can’t help them.
Years ago I found a way to make the business affordable but yet still make a good hourly wage. Group training has allowed me to meet the demand of the people and still meet my costs and profit needs.
Always remember that if you price yourself out of the range of your client base you really don’t have a business.
Do you homework
It is amazing how many youth training business are popping up all over the country, yet very few of the owners have real experience working with youth. They just see the potential income.
I think this is wrong. When you decide to work with young athletes you must do your homework and have a passion for this age group. I have always worked with young athletes and will continue to do so. I feel that they are the athletes that can be molded into safer more effective adults if I do my job when they are young.
When working with the youth, it is important to learn how they develop and what it is that they need to be successful in each stage of their development. They can’t be treated like college or older athletes. They don’t have the physical, mental, or motivational abilities. Take this age group seriously and don’t do it for the money. Do it to make a difference and the business will reward you in many
ways.
Talk to the parent
I can’t tell you how wrong it is to alienate the parents from a training session. If you have children yourself you know how concerning it can be when someone else is working with them. Let the parents see how you work with their child. Let them ask questions and be allowed to learn along with the child. Many parents cannot be there all the time but should be allowed the opportunity if they can be.
I always make it a point to talk to the parents so they can ask questions, get to know me, learn what I am about, and why I do what I do. Make them feel comfortable and they will support you and your business. Wouldn’t you do the same?
I hope these little tips give you some ideas on how a youth training business can be successful when you run a group format. I don’t really see how it can be done any other way in most communities. Embrace your community and do what you can to give back to them for supporting you.
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