High School Private Running Coaches

Well, what does she get for $400/month exactly?

$400 a month is a ton. If you are looking to actually make money by being a private coach, you are doing it for the wrong reasons. There are a LOT of private coaches out there who are total hacks and are just looking to make a buck from wealthy parents.

I work with a few runners over the summer and winter, and I charge $150 a season (summer or winter). I came to this number by looking up what's the typical cost for joining a local in-house basketball league for kids. Is this a realistic compensation for my time? Of course not. The only reason I charge anything is so there is some sense of worth / obligation. If I had a really talented kid who was not from a well-off family, I might charge him $1 a month if that's what it takes.

At least some states, including mine, bar skipping practice for private coaching. Having a private coach but being on a school team at the same time is a recipe for problems. Fortunately it's pretty hard for all but the worst coaches to actively screw up a runner who got good training in over the summer/winter. It sounds like private coaching is becoming more of an issue in running, but I'm sure we'll figure it out—plenty of other sports have figured it out before.

The sport of running has already been "figured out" if you look outside our domestic setup. The club system is much more advantageous and utilized extensively throughout Europe.

HS teachers should focus on their profession and craft of educating our youth. Allowing youth to pursue interests outside of their education should be encouraged and supported by the mutual interest of the child, parent, and professional coaches. This structure is more affordable and effective at identifying and developing talent, but does require a vested interest in the process by all involved parties.

Also, there may be some private coaches that are "total hacks" "just looking to make a quick buck", but there are also many that are quite proficient and deserving of certain rates of pay for their services while also harboring a genuine interest in the growth and development of athletes under their tutelage. There are also private coaches without extensive expertise as you noted; however, that is true of any profession, and especially one that is quite abstract with many uncontrollable variables (i.e. genetics)

I do applaud you for helping out individuals from families or circumstances that would prohibit them from utilizing your services. A commendable act that aligns with my views, and personal actions as well, when those situations arise.

It's okay to be or to be coached by a private outsider if you are in high school, but don't expect to run in high school races with the team. High schools support sports as part of the overall educational experience. If you don't want to run with and be

part of a team run open races.

Are you seriously applauding the UK for their developmental system. Lol.

It would be better, as America can put the money back into the classroom and education. However try taking American Football away. Ya, not happening.

I know of no coach on the planet who is worth $400 a month. Maybe James Li.

Thank you for the replies, coaches. I was afraid that I would get no serious responses. Please keep them coming.

If high schools and counties would allow or, heaven forbid, even ENCOURAGE athletic directors to hire coaches who actually know the sport and want to develop kids, instead of teachers who don't know the sport and just want the money (which amazes me, because it's not that much money!), then the situation would be better and parents and kids wouldn't need to seek private coaching. Our former coach didn't have a clue about training runners and the team stunk for the entire 4 years she was the coach. It was a jogging club where kids skipped practice all the time and snuck off to play frisbee during their runs.

I private coach all ages. What I charge:

MS/HS: 100% Free

Adult: $50-$100/month depending on how specific they want their training to be. Plus I give discounts to people I know.

When I was in high school I was private coached for $500/3months. He was a very good coach..put a lot into the training schedules.

as a high school coach. If my athlete does not trust my training and cannot do the workouts I assign then they can run for someone else. They will not race for me.

Had to fight for the job wrote:

Our former coach didn't have a clue about training runners and the team stunk for the entire 4 years she was the coach. It was a jogging club where kids skipped practice all the time and snuck off to play frisbee during their runs.

Obviously I don't know everything, but it doesn't sound like it's entirely the coach's fault they "stunk for the entire 4 years."

A top High Coach told me he made $14K.

Coaches, tell me, is $400/month the going rate? How do you manage the high school coach that your clients "run" for? How do you handle when kids get jealous? Do you ever worry about Association/Federation rules, or do you pretty much get to do what you want?

$400 is STEEP for coaching HSers. But if someone is crazy enough to pay...

The HS coach likely wants this girl on the team and has his or her reasons (RESULTS, one would presume). So many HS coaches are unskilled in the ways of guidance and expertise, so we cannot necessarily blame the girl or her parents for hiring someone more knowledgeable (despite the cost involved).

Kids are jealous? Why? Is she the fastest runner on the team? Does she stand out somehow? Or are they jealous they could never afford to pay a coach?

If the girl is 18 or older, she's allowed to make her own decisions; if she's younger than that her parents have that power. Assuming she's in the US, she lives in a (relatively) free country.

Cheapskate? wrote:

Coaches, tell me, is $400/month the going rate? How do you manage the high school coach that your clients "run" for? How do you handle when kids get jealous? Do you ever worry about Association/Federation rules, or do you pretty much get to do what you want?

My kid runs on a cross country team where one of the other kids goes to a private coach for workouts. It has caused a rift on the team because she's not always at school practice, and I'm not sure whether that's reasonable or not.

I use to charge $250 for an entire summer, which came out to about $100 a month and this was for technical events, like hurdles, jumping and throwing. I would be working with several athletes at a time, kind of like a camp. I ended up making a few dollars, but net of expenses (liability ins, assistant and a facility fee), I could have done a lot better working part time at Kmarts. I had one parent who offered me a lot more to work just with their child, this particular athlete is most you would know because she became she an NCAA star and world class. I ended up not charging this family anything because this kid simply ran with me on my runs about 2-3 times a week over the summer and for distance running there are almost no expenses.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with being a private coach and charging whatever you want to so long as you are adding value. Other sports do it all of the time. And, there is work involved because you have to write up training schedules and issue progress reports more detailed than you normally would. I think AlSal was Galen's paid private coach for a couple of years and it worked out well for him. A lot of people mainly southerners and mid-westerners might think $400 a month is a lot, but to some parents, it's about equal to their lawn service. Having also been a high school coach, one rule I always had was not interfering during the season and in some cases all I was doing over the summer was making sure athletes did what the coach wanted then to do.

Well, it was her fault in that she fostered an atmosphere of doing very little and the kids picked right up on that and behaved accordingly. She was also aware of these issues and did nothing about it. She missed over 20 practices herself last cross country season.

The atmosphere on the team kind of stinks because she's not always at practice. She practices with the coach's paying group a few days per week. And he coaches her on race day but no one else on the team, while he also coaches other area kids.