How to Choose a Skill Development Program

                Youth sports have become more and more competitive at the earliest of ages. Our culture has grown to demand winners out of the youngest of athletes and the desire for athletic college scholarships has sky rocketed. It has forced everyone to look for an edge on the competition. 

                                Because of these demands an increased need for skill development coaches in every sport has evolved.  Different programs for different sports are being created daily. This now makes it harder for parents to decide which the best program is for their player.

                Here are 5 things to consider when choosing the right program for your player.

1.)    What are your player’s major needs?  If they need to build all areas of their game then the selection base of programs because broader.  There are coaches that specialize in only certain skills; i.e. shooting in basketball or quarterbacks skills in football.  You have to decide what exactly your player needs to set yourself looking in the right direction.  If a coach does specialize in a certain skill it is wise to find out why that is their niche. 

2.)    Not every coach’s style is right for your player.  We may not have a choice of style in coaches when it comes to school teams.  However, when hiring a personal coach for your player’s development you have every right to be selective.  Most programs will let you experience the training once or twice free of charge to see if it is a good fit.  This is highly recommended.  It is always good to take a player out of their comfort zone, but you never want to be in a situation that doesn’t foster development.

3.)    What is the coaching and playing history of the programs leaders?  You really want to scrutinize this aspect.   A lot of players that had a successful career playoff of that to seem qualified in coaching.  Although there are many who make a great conversion from player to coach this is not always the case.  Coaching has a lot to do with how well one communicates.  It is one thing to know a skill and be able to perform it.  However, it is another thing to be able to verbalize and teach it to an unknowing student. 

On the other side of the spectrum, there are a lot of great coaches that maybe weren’t the best players.  This can usually be related to the fact that as players they were very attentive to the nuances of the game because they weren’t the most talented.  The best thing to do is research their history and sees how they apply that to what and how they teach.                      

4.)    Does the program have a structured curriculum?  You want a program or coach that has a structured plan for development of every player at every level.  They should have articulated stages in what process they will take to make sure your player reaches their maximum potential.  There are coaches out there that don’t understand this concept and/or are not as structured as they need to be.  You need to stay away from these types.  Think of it this way, you aren’t going to send your player to a school that doesn’t have a structured curriculum for education right?  Then why would you do that for skill development.  If they have a plan; they should be able to show you something in writing.  Understand that for proprietary reasons some may be a little reluctant to give away all of their content.  Using tact and helping them to understand your reason for request should get you past any objections.

5.)    The key to getting the most out of a skill development program is consistency.  Research the locations of training and the frequency of the training in your program of interest.  You want to find someone that can provide you year round training in one to two consistent locations.  This is for several reasons.  Whether or not you want to train year round in this specific sport, you want to make sure it is accessible.  Having to jump from coach to coach can become confusing for a player and hinder progress.  Two, if a program has year round training with a consistent location then they are looking to develop for the long run; which should be your ambition as well if committing to a program.    

Coach Tim Springer is the leading basketball skill development coach in San Antonio.  He is the founder of Spartan Basketball and Head Coach for the Varsity Girls Basketball Program at Castle Hills First Baptist School.  Coach Springer has worked with D1 collegiate athletes as well as international and WNBA players.