10 Mistakes Parents of Athletes Make in Choosing a Sports Performance Trainer

10) Picking the first “trainer” or “coach” who comes along as promises fitness results.

There are plenty of want-to-be sports performance trainers out there that want to work with youth athletes. Yes, we all have to start somewhere, but take a moment to look into the trainers experience and also their results for sports performance in youth athletics.

What we have found in our experience is there are just some trainers who are not fit for youth athletics. Finding a trainer who is motivating to your athlete is key. When you are working with youth athletes its vital that we don’t treat training as punishment. Your child is a kid after all. Sports are fun. Winning is fun. Training should be fun too and not something that you should be dragging them to.

Interview the trainer and shop around for the best fit for your child.

9) Signing up for Pop Up Classes.

Often times these pop up classes are renting space from schools, community centers etc. where they can’t store proper equipment to offer a full athlete development program. So what do they invest in? light weight cones and ladders and a few sports performance staples which are easy to transport. Pop ups are just that by definition. I’m not bashing popups (we were once a pop up until we got so good at developing athletes that we became a proprietary franchising powerhouse). Know this, your athlete is limited by the 3rd or 4th class and will get bored using the same equipment.

We have over 2000 workouts designed for hundreds of pieces of equipment so your athlete will never experience the same workout twice.

8) Enrolling your athlete in a training camp.

Really this is a mistake? Let us explain. Typically these camps are seasonal (also known as pop up camps) so, at most, you may only be training for 6 weeks? In that time the organizers have a vision for making your athlete improve by the end. A good goal to have for them but not for your athlete. just be mindful that they have a lot on their plate in a short amount of time with little to no game plan for the long term development of your athlete.

7) Falling for the illusion that more athletes enrolled must = top results.

Just as it is in school with teachers the ratio of the instructor to student is very important. In the gym it should be even more important to have a good trainer to athlete ratio as there is immediate risk to the athlete if not properly instructed and overseen.

We recommend no more than an 8 athlete to 1 trainer ratio for programs like ours with plyometric exercises, resistance band and safe weight training and instruction.

6) Everyone Says Speed and Agility.

Know that if you sign up for this class that is what you will likely walk out with more speed and more agility, that the goal. Speed and Agility will only get you so far. Yes on average we make athletes 10% faster and 8% more agile in just two months with us however we also find that power, explosiveness and reaction make athletes comprehensively elite in their sport.

5) Wasting your $ on Social Hour.

We all like to get the most out of our time and money. one of the consistent measurables when comparing trainers should be the amount of time your child is actually developing. Maybe the class is too full for the amount of equipment available or maybe the program allows you to go at your own pace and your child gets caught up chatting up with friends more than working to become better. Most trainers time is often limited to a 1 hour sessions sometimes less. We recommend sitting in on trainings every once and a while and really understanding how much time you are paying for your child to wait in line.

At Pro Day, athletes are part of a proven program where they are never waiting for equipment and when they are resting it is only for 30 seconds or 1 minute designed rests.

4) Sending you athlete to Back-to-Back-to-Back Trainings

Rest and Recovery particularly after a strenuous workout is vitally important to allow your body to be ready for the next challenge. Sign up for programs that have rest days and therefore not just a week long camp as your athlete will burn out.

3) Choosing a Coach to Train Your Athlete.

Trainers Train Athletes and Coaches Coach Players. There is a vital need for both in the development of today’s player athletes. Coaches understand the need to send their kids to trainers so they can focus on the fundamentals of the game and not spend half of their practices getting their kids in shape and ready to play.

Look at Lebron James. He was an early adopter of this strategy and has had his coaches through the years but only one trainer, Mike Macias. These athletes understand they need to look out for themselves and develop themselves as an athlete. The team isn’t receiving the college scholarship. The individual athlete is!

2) Judging how training is going based upon how your child is doing in their sport.

That success you see on the court or on the field is subjective and there are a lot of factors that go into that like the coach, your teammates, the competition level, etc. etc. We can safely say that we have no idea how your athlete is progressing under a trainer if you don’t test them when they walk in the door for the first time and then periodically to monitor progress.
We recommend picking a trainer/program that has been proven to deliver results.

1) My Son is a Basketball player so he needs to train with a basketball specific trainer.

Don’t select a program that will only develop the skills necessary for your sport. Medical professionals agree that sport specialization is likely the #1 mistake our youth athletes and parents make.