How Private Coaching Complements Team Training

Every fall I get some version of the same phone call. A parent tells me their son or daughter is already on the cross country or track team, already going to practice five or six days a week, and then they pause and ask me the real question: "Do they actually need a private coach too? Isn't that overkill?"

I get why parents ask that. Team practice looks like a lot of running. It is a lot of running. But team training and private coaching are not the same thing, and they are not competing with each other. They are solving two different problems.

What Team Practice Is Built For

A high school coach is managing a roster of anywhere from twenty to well over a hundred athletes. That coach has to write workouts that work for the front of the pack, the middle of the pack, and the back of the pack, all at the same time, all on the same track or the same trail. That is an incredibly hard job, and most team coaches do it well given the constraints they are working with.

But those constraints are real. A team workout can't be built around your daughter's exact fitness level, her exact injury history, or the exact event she is trying to peak for. It is built to serve the group. That is not a knock on team coaching. It is just the nature of coaching thirty kids instead of one.

What Private Coaching Adds

This is where private coaching fits in, not as a replacement for the team, but as the layer underneath it. When I work with a high school athlete, I am watching what they are doing at team practice and building around it, not on top of it. I am tracking their mileage so we don't stack too much on top of what the team is already doing. I am looking at their stride mechanics on video and catching the small form breakdowns that show up under fatigue, the kind that a team coach watching thirty athletes at once simply does not have time to isolate. I am talking to the athlete and the parent about how sleep, growth, and stress are affecting training that week, and adjusting from there.

The goal is never to add more. It is to make what they are already doing count for more. That is the difference between a runner who slowly breaks down over a season and a runner who is still getting stronger in October.

A Parent's Perspective

I want to share something one of my athlete's moms, Sharon, wrote about working together. Her daughter was twelve when we started.

"Coach Justin has been working with my 12yr old daughter on her fitness goals. He is amazing. He works well with kids, as my daughter really enjoys working with him. He provides a complete workout while making it fun. Justin is encouraging, motivating, and informative. Her plan is to work with him to meet her goals, and to continue training with him to keep her on track. From a parents viewpoint, I am completely satisfied. My daughter looks forward to training with him, asking when her next training session is. We found a great coach in Justin. No regrets."

That last line is the part that sticks with me. "My daughter looks forward to training with him, asking when her next training session is." That is what I want for every young athlete I coach. Not another obligation added to their week, but something they actually look forward to, on top of the team they already love running for. You can read more stories like Sharon's from other families and athletes on our testimonials page.

What This Actually Looks Like Week to Week

Private coaching for a middle or high school athlete isn't a second training plan running alongside the team's plan. It is one plan, built with the team schedule as the foundation. We talk through race goals and strategy before big meets. We build in strength and mobility work that most team practices don't have time for. We stay in touch by text and email so nothing falls through the cracks between now and the next call. And when something isn't working, whether that's nagging shin pain or a race that didn't go as planned, we adjust that week instead of waiting for the season to end to figure out what went wrong.

If you have questions about how this works alongside your athlete's current team, I'd rather just talk it through with you. You can reach out here or check our FAQ page for answers to the questions parents ask most.

Is This the Right Fit for Your Runner?

If your athlete is working hard at practice but you're not seeing that translate into confidence, health, or results, that gap is usually not about effort. It's about individualized attention, and that is exactly what private coaching is built to provide. I wrote more about the small things that separate good high school runners from state qualifiers in this post, and if your athlete's season is just getting started, here's what I'm watching for in the first two weeks.

I coach middle and high school athletes from 800m through the 5,000m, in cross country and track, both in person and online for families outside the Indianapolis area. If you'd like to talk about whether private coaching makes sense for your runner this season, you can learn more about the program here or reach out to set up a free consultation. No pressure, just a conversation about your athlete.

Coach Justin