I am trying to get an idea of how much the coaches of competitive teams charge their players to play/practice for/with them. My 12-year-old brother plays for an A-licensed coach and pays $400 directly to the coach every year. My parents think the cost is excessive, especially because there only experience in youth athletics involves volunteer coaches. Is $400/year excessive? What is reasonable?
Is he a trainer or a coach? He is at all practices and games? Every player pays him 400? What other fee's does his club charge the player. Beside having an A- license what experience coaching does he have? What was his playing experience? In some clubs it is very expensive to play, on other clubs the player can play for free. Depends how much money the club takes in from other sources. 15 playes at 400 per player is 6000 dollars. Some coaches get more then that, and some get a lot less so it depends. Richie
Also, are there additional costs/fees for your brother to play? Are your parents paying $400 to the coach in addition to league fees, tournament entries, travel expenses, etc.? It also depends on how competitive the team and league are. Bottom line: It's a free market. If enough parents are willing to pay $400 for the coach's services, then the price isn't too high.
Thanks for the responses. To answer your questions-- The $400 to the coach are in addition to association fees ($200/year), tournament entries (about $200/year), and travel expenses (vary). He is a coach who attends all practices and games. Every player pays him $400. I erred in my original post; he actually holds a B-license. He coaches at a community college. His playing experience is limited to high school and community college. The team is fairly competitive--they dropped from Division II to Divison III in the best league around last spring after losing players to other sports. They should win promotion this spring. I am just trying to get an idea of how much other coaches charge so I can make a relatively informed opinion on if the cost is too high.
Two other comments: you might ask someone from the league (i.e. kind of ask another player, fan on sideline) to get an idea of what other coaches charge, teams pay. Certainly, $800 a year for a decent travel team is not outrageous by any stretch of the imagination. Many cost more than $1,000 per player (up to thousands if it includes elite tournaments, travel to Europe, etc.) What is probably different in your brother's case is that apparently one check goes to the coach and other checks to the clubs. Many clubs collect the fee and pay the coach directly. Second comment: at one level licenses and playing experience are good. At another level, I would question whether they would be absolutely necessary for a U-13, U-14 club. Also, there are some very strong junior college teams, as well as some pretty crappy ones. As stated, neither alone make a good coach or a bad coach. I think what your parents should ask themselves is do we think that our son enjoys himself, is challenged by coach and level of play, is learning the game/improving over last season. The weighting of the three depends varies, but I think they're all important. jgw