A Private Trainer Only Works If Your Kid Wants One
Liron tells this story on the show against himself. His son came out of a session with Brian Chun, a private trainer in Brooklyn, miserable. His wife called to book the next one anyway. Brian's answer was no. "You have to ask your son if he wants to be here at the next session."
Brian's training partner Edson Elcock says it more bluntly: if they do not want to be there, "what's the point? We're wasting time." Both trainers say the players who improve with them are a specific type, the ones who are obsessed and show up on their own. The ones who are driven there by a parent's plan do not.
Does My Kid Need a Private Soccer Trainer?
The people who make a living from private training are the ones most skeptical of it as a default. Parents ask Brian how their kid gets better. His answer is not another session: "he needs to train on his own." Then, "All he needs is a ball, really." A wall, both feet, shoes for markers, repetition. Edson adds that a generation of kids is being taught to take on cones rather than players, and it shows in games.
Chris Mueller, who played more than 150 MLS regular-season games, says he never had a technical trainer growing up. He is careful to say he thinks technical training is good. What he questions is the ratio, the idea that a 12-year-old "needs to be doing three technical training sessions a week." What developed him was hours of street soccer in a hockey rink with friends, and having to find solutions with his head up.
The pattern across all of them is the same. Extra training works when it comes from inside the kid. Filippo Giovanoli, a former Met Oval director, puts it in one image: when the parent decides the kid should do more, "your kid is a soldier and he's gonna execute what you want." A soldier can get better. A soldier rarely falls in love with the game.
What parents can do
Ask your kid if they want the next session before you book it
Give them a ball and a wall before you give them a trainer
If they are not asking for more soccer, do not add more soccer
Adapted from Episode 26. Too Much Noise in Youth Soccer: What Actually Builds Players (Brian Chun and Edson Elcock), with Episode 41. Chris Mueller on What the Soccer Dream Demands and Episode 28. Youth Soccer Keeps Changing. Can Your Player Keep Up? (Filippo Giovanoli).
Watch the Mueller episode: https://youtu.be/PLiDKaPs5OA