Private vs. Team Training: What’s Worth Your Time (and Money)?

Private vs. Team Training: What’s Worth Your Time (and Money)?

Why consistency — not choosing one side — is what actually moves your player forward.

Let me start with a player named Josh.

Josh came to me after being cut from his high school team.
No club team.
No minutes.
No real direction.

He was fast — incredibly fast — but that was the problem. Speed was the only tool he trusted. If he couldn’t outrun a defender, he didn’t have another answer.

His parents were frustrated because they saw how athletic he was. They saw flashes of what he could be. But in games? He was stuck. Not bad… just stuck. And if you’re a parent reading this, you probably know exactly what that looks like:

A player who should be dominating their level…
A kid who’s “almost there”…
But something’s missing.

For Josh, the missing piece wasn’t talent.
It wasn’t desire.
It wasn’t effort.

The missing piece was consistency — the right kind of consistency.

Team Training vs. Private Training: Parents Get This Part Wrong

This is where a lot of parents get tripped up.

They look at the “team vs private” debate like a battle:

• Which one is better?
  
  
  

• Which one should we invest in?
  
  
  

• Which one gets results faster?
  
  
  

But here’s the truth — the one most parents don’t hear enough:

Team training is for the team. Private training is for your child.

And those two things are not doing the same job.

Team training teaches:

• Positioning
  
  
  

• Tactics
  
  
  

• Game moments
  
  
  

• How a group moves together
  
  
  

• How players solve problems as a unit
  
  
  

That’s what it should teach. A team coach has 15–18 players and only so much time. They are preparing for a season, a style, a system.

Even the best team coach cannot — and should not — try to fix every individual’s technique, mindset, and habits in that environment. They simply don’t have the bandwidth.

But parents look at team training and assume:

“They’ll work on my kid’s technical skills there.”
“They’ll get the extra reps they need.”
“They’ll get better touches because they’re on a good team.”

No — not consistently.
Not in a group of 15.
Not with the demands of a season.
Not at the depth required for real growth.

That’s where private training comes in… but not the way parents usually think.

Private Training Is Not a Magic Fix

Here’s my other honest truth:

Private training once a week won’t save anyone.

Even the best trainer in the world can’t turn a “good but stuck” player into a confident, dominant, mentally stronger athlete without consistency off the field.

Private training only works when:

• A player builds habits
  
  
  

• A player trains between sessions
  
  
  

• A player learns how to set goals
  
  
  

• A player begins taking ownership
  
  
  

This is where I see the biggest mistake parents make:

They treat private training like a quick fix, not a system.

They do one session a week and call it good.
Or a summer camp.
Or a month of training.

Then they wonder why the improvement doesn’t stick.

Josh’s turning point wasn’t a single session.
It wasn’t even a month.

It was consistency.

Doing the work.
Repeating the fundamentals.
Building confidence brick by brick.

And after about three months, his parents started seeing it:

• His first touch softened.
  
  
  

• His decision-making slowed down — in a good way.
  
  
  

• His speed became an advantage, not a crutch.
  
  
  

• He stopped panicking with the ball.
  
  
  

• He started to look like someone who belonged on the field.
  
  
  

By the end of his time with me, he wasn’t the kid who got cut anymore — he was the kid who understood the game, controlled the ball, and knew how to play at different speeds.

The Stuff You Don’t See in Team Training

Let me tell you something simple:

A player can go through years of team practices…
…and never learn how to genuinely control the ball with their pinky toe.

I had a player come to me who was dribbling entirely with the inside of her foot or her toe. She had never been taught to turn her toe slightly inward and use that “pinky toe push” — the foundational touch for moving at speed.

Not because her coach didn’t care.
Not because she wasn’t trying.
But because in a team environment, coaches cannot pull one kid aside to fix details like that for 15 minutes.

That’s why players leave team practices looking the exact same months later.

Private training digs into:

• First touch technique
  
  
  

• Ball mastery
  
  
  

• Speed of play
  
  
  

• Balance and body control
  
  
  

• Mindset
  
  
  

• Confidence habits
  
  
  

• How to train outside of training
  
  
  

These are the things that actually unlock a player.

These are the things team training simply doesn’t have time for.

The Real Battle Isn’t Team vs. Private

This is the part that might surprise you:

**It’s not “Team Training vs. Private Training.”

It’s “Consistency vs. Occasional Effort.”**

Your child needs both environments — but the key is how they use them.

Team training shapes the player in the system.
Private training shapes the player as an individual.
Consistency connects the two.

When a player learns a skill in private training and repeats it throughout the week, they start showing up differently in team training.

They’re sharper.
More confident.
More prepared.
More valuable to the team.

The players who grow the fastest?
They don’t just show up once a week.
They build habits.

They train smart.
They ask questions.
They want feedback.
They take ownership.

Those are the kids who get unstuck.

If You Remember One Thing From This Blog…

Here it is:

**Team training is for the team.

Private training is for your child.**

If your child is “good but stuck,” it’s not because they’re missing talent — it’s because they’re missing consistent, focused, individualized work that team practices weren’t designed to give.

And the moment they start building that consistency?
The game opens up.
Confidence grows.
Opportunities appear.

Just like it did for Josh.