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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Private trainer here.

My take?

Most private trainers are not worth the money or time. Some are counterproductive and teach bad habits. A handful are step up from doing cone drills from YouTube. A few are very good.

The ones who are good typically are not cheap, have limited availability since players who start training tend to continue with them for longer periods of time, and are less flexible on location due to volume. I can tell you from my own experience it doesn't take that many players to completely fill reasonable training hours on a weekly basis when you don't have much turnover.

My recommendations for starting out:

First off, set realistic expectations. To see anything actually stick to the point it translates to the field consistently, you're usually looking at a minimum of 4-5 sessions. Think in seasons, not in weeks. If you think a few private training sessions is going to dramatically impact a player's performance in a game setting, it's time for a reality check. If a private trainer tells you 1-2 training sessions will turn your kid into Messi, run.

If you're serious about training, try a few trainers for trial sessions. Pay attention to how they communicate with you, how they structure and run the session, whether the drills are related/progressive at all, what they are emphasizing with coaching points, how they communicate with the player, etc. Ask them WHY they did certain drills and what the point is (you don't need to know enough to challenge them on it, you just need to use your BS meter to see if they know, or if they just give you a generic answer). It's shocking to me how few trainers can articulate this when I talk with them. Most importantly, ask the player what they think. They'll know pretty quickly whether they vibe with the trainer's coaching style and should be able to tell whether they want to continue and think it'll help them improve or not.

As others have said, a conversation with the team coach to understand what they are looking for from the player and specific areas they should work to improve on their own is the best place to start. Actively communicating this to the trainer as your starting point, and asking questions about how the trainer will teach this in an individual training setting will go a long way (and again, use your BS meter).

If the trainer is any good, they will start to identify things to work on going forward during the initial sessions and will talk with the player to find out how things are going, where they need work, what they want to improve, etc.

Hope this helps.

This actually has me thinking a dedicated thread that goes deeper into how private training works as an industry and more details on how to make it worthwhile, maybe even with a AMA component, might be helpful for parents. (Any takers?)

[/quote]

Yes, yes and yes.  Don’t stop here.  I’m interested in goal keeper training specifically.  [/quote]

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