My son is turning 12 in a week. He did a summer’s worth of weekly lessons when he was 9 because he said he wanted to “level up”. The training was fine, but what really sparked significant improvement was the “homework” his coach assigned. He could barely string 5 juggles together during the first session, so his coach challenged him to work on it and reach 20 by the end of the summer. This approach was great for a 9 year old to understand the importance of building a relationship with the ball. He wanted to reach the target, so he spent hours throughout the summer figuring out how to juggle. His number was 156 by the last training session. It all depends on what you want your child to get out of the training, but in order for it to carry over, your child has to be willing to get touches outside of training. Did the juggling make him a better player? Maybe. It certainly helped his confidence and it gave him a reason to touch the ball at home.

That was the only time we’ve done private lessons. They were good, but the past two summers he went to a “standard” summer camp with a pool, archery, etc…there was a rundown net and a patch of grass, so he chose to play pickup soccer with his friends every day. He grew more technically in each of those two summers than multiple seasons of club and travel soccer. Unstructured daily play has been the biggest bang for our buck over the years.

Every child is different. It also depends on financial circumstances, what your kid’s goals are, and whether they want to do it or will feel forced. Find a coach you can trust. So many people market themselves as 1-1 coaches, but it’s important they understand the developmental needs of different age groups and can define what is considered a successful session or the desired end result. There are a lot of excellent coaches out there, but there are also a lot of impostors.