Private Lessons?

[taximom]

It sounds like there are many ways to accomplish the same thing. Everyone seems content with how privates are set at their gym. Perhaps the key is to establish a system that all parents understand and keep it consistent. That would allieviate any concerns of favourtism, since the process is outlined (aside from the crazy gym moms we all know) LOL

 

[gymnut1]

It sounds like there are many ways to accomplish the same thing. Everyone seems content with how privates are set at their gym. Perhaps the key is to establish a system that all parents understand and keep it consistent. That would allieviate any concerns of favourtism, since the process is outlined (aside from the crazy gym moms we all know) LOL

I think you are right. I like the idea someone said about a schedule that you could see when each coach was available and book a slot. I wish our gym did them.

 

[gymch34]

I have never heard of a parents board setting up/ organizing private lessons? Its my experience that its a perk set up by owners of the gym for their students/ staff. I'd be interested to hear how this works out.

I think you will have a very hard time getting coaches to do a private lesson for their regular hourly wage. It will need to be at least double that, if not more, since coaches do privates on days off/ non- gym time. Most gyms just have the coach pay $5 or $10 of what they charge to the gym, and let the coach keep the rest.

 

[BlairBob]

At my current gym, we have a book that sort of says when we have privates and so forth.

I've worked at gyms, where what I was paid at was simply my hourly rate, which IMO really sucked. My hourly pay rate was decent but for a jr coach that was making half what I was making means the gym was keeping 75 to 80 percent of what was being charged. That's unheard of in the PT field even at globogyms. I still enjoyed doing PL but I tended to only do them if I got along with the student and family and if they was a good reason for them and if they were going to work hard.

I've also worked at gyms where the rate was set by the gym and we recieved a cut. I can't actually remember that cut right now but I wasn't being hosed as much as the above gym. I want to say it was around 50-60/hr and 25-30 for a half hr.

Personally, I prefer it that the gym gets a per hour fee of 5-10/hr and I can charge whatever I want. In the past I didn't charge as much because I charged it relative to what I was making ( aka 10/hr ) so 25-35/hr was a big increase even if I payed the gym 5 or 10 dollars. Some gyms didn't charge the coaches anything for PL which is nice.

From what I've heard typical cut is 70 to the trainer, 30 to the gym to up to 85 for the trainer and 15 for the gym. Some globogyms run at percentages of 45-65 for the trainer though I have heard of clubs that pay personal trainers only 10-15/hr.

I don't mind groups of 2 as long as they will work well together. This becomes difficult if their skill level is too different. It also allows each gymnast to get a bit of a break in between. Even 3 can work out well, but anymore should just be a class. Having 2 or 3 come in for an hour instead of 1/2 makes a lot more sense.

Personally, I think the parent/child should be allowed to pick the coach. This only becomes an issue if that coach teaches something drastically different than their regular coach. This can be an issue if a parent/child is going to a different gym for PL than the gym they go to gym at. Sometimes, I just didn't have the schedule to be available for privates on certain days or at certain times.

I try to see to it that the gymnasts coming in for privates do their own warmup, one that I will typically show them so we don't have to utilize the PL time for that.

 

[taximom]

gymch34
We are a non-profit club so we don't have an owner. We are not a booster club. Our board makes adminstrative and financial decisions in the best interest of the club. Our head coach oversees the coaching techinque and staff training for all programs. We have never offered private lessons before so we were discussing if we wanted to offer them and what the cost should be.
I've discovered the method of delivery and cost vary greatly from club to club. In my mind I wasn't thinking a coach would travel to the gym to coach only 1 hour although I suppose they could. I had envisioned them either coming in early or staying late and the athlete coming in for an hour.

Blair Bob
I think there should be some sort of financial perk to doing the privates as well. As far as I know we would be offering lessons to our current athletes however we may get calls from outside. recently we had a national level figure skater want privates to learn a standing back tuck and our Head Coach referred him to a class.
I like idea of the athlete being warmed up and ready to go when the lesson starts seems like no wasted time there.
Thanks to all for your input.

 

[Tim_Dad]

I didn't read the whole thread, but we're big fans of private lessons because we've seen the results. To us, it's money well spent.

Our DD has a regularly scheduled 45 minute private lesson weekly with one of the three team coaches. Each coach as a specialty, so depending on what area DD needs to work, determines which coach (if available that is).

We pay the coaches directly. The fee is simple. $1 a minute. If the coach thinks she "get's it" in less time, they stop, and charge only for time served.

For my DD, doing the skills ins't the biggest challange. It's doing the skill - and moving and holding her shape and body nicely, all while showing confidence. Otherwise her routines look choppy and robotic. This is where privates have really helped as she has her coaches undivided attention to nit-pick and scrutinize. Coaches simply don't have enough time during the regular classes to provide this level of attention. Also Nastia's intraverted personallity prevents her from asking questions during regular class time. This ins't the case during privates. So much so that sometimes the coach has to shush her long enough to go though the routines.