How to Know if a Private Coach Can Help an Athlete Jump Levels
Group coaching is instrumental in the process of identifying skills an athlete needs to jump levels. However, group coaching rarely helps athletes gain those skills. It takes private coaching to realize those gains.
The reason why is that every athlete is different. In a group coaching session, there is just not enough time to customize the training techniques for those differences. Conversely, this is exactly what makes a private coach capable of helping an athlete jump levels. A private coach’s job is specifically to customize their training techniques to push an athlete to the next level. Yet, all private coaches aren’t successful in this process.
So, the question is how do you know if the private coach you have working with your athlete will be successful or not. With all things being equal, it comes down to how you answer four questions.
Four Questions to Evaluate if Paying for Private Coaching is Worth it
- Does the private coach have an assessment methodology to identify the specific skills an athlete needs to improve to jump to the next level? If no, then stop here. Paying for the private coach won’t be worth it. If yes, go to question 2.
- Is the private coach using their one-on-one time with the athlete to teach him or her how to improve based on those assessment results as well as assigning related “homework” for the athlete to do on their own time to help them improve? If no, then stop here. Paying for the private coach won’t be worth it. If yes, go to question 3.
- Does the athlete “buy-in” to the coach’s philosophy for improvement and do the assigned “homework” assignments with full effort using their own self-motivation? If no, then stop here. Paying for the private coach won’t be worth it. If yes, go to question 4.
- Does the private coach periodically reassess the athlete’s skills and periodically adjust the process to encourage continuous improvement? If you make it this far, and this is the only area in which the private coach is missing, then it may still be worth it to pay for the coaching. However, you should have a talk with the coach to see if this is something the coach can add to their process.