Are you thinking to yourself, “I get the biggest buzz from coaching kids. I wonder if I could make a living from youth sports coaching?” It’s not an unreasonable question. While the vast majority of youth sport coaches do so on a volunteer basis, there are those out there who’ve found ways to make more than just a few dollars to cover expenses.
Wanting to be financially rewarded for your youth coaching effort is not a bad thing or something to be ashamed about. While critics may say it makes you “lose focus” on what’s really important, the kids, I think even a little money helps pay for gas and in some instances, might even put food on the table for your family. Who wouldn’t want that?
This post explores a number of ways you can make money from doing the job you get excited about every time you leave the house, coaching youth sports!
Become A Private Youth Sports Coach
How much money can you expect to make?
You get to decide.
As a starting point ask yourself, how much would you pay for private sports coaching for your child? and go with somewhere around that number.
The wage you charge is usually on an hourly basis but you could also work out a package deal for kids wanting multiple sessions.
This may make it easier for parents to pay in one lump sum rather than having to organize cash payments or bank transfers every single week/session.
Another train of thought is to coach a small handful of children at one time to lower the cost for families. I have seen this work well with groups of parents with similar interests who also take advantage of car-pooling their children.
Positivies with one-on-one youth sports coaching:
- Individualized
- Unique
- You are in charge of planning each session based on the needs of a specific child (or group) which makes it an interesting, stimulating challenge for you as a coach
- You decide on the rate of pay
- You are able to provide a higher level of support for children with self-esteem and confidence issues. Seeing this transition is incredibly rewarding.
- You can easily focus on smaller-scale sports (figure skating anyone?) and other sports that aren’t typically played in teams and therefore coaches are harder to come by.
Challenges with one-on-one youth sports coaching:
- You need to find a location to practice. This could be a local basketball court, a field in the community park or the local swimming pool. Who pays for the hire of these facilities? Is this included in the cost for the child? If you are using school grounds, does the school allow you to use these facilities for free? What happens if you can’t use the area to train/practice and the family have already paid?
- How does the child transport themselves to the session if the parents are unavailable?
- Maintaining consistent quotes for different children. Do you charge more for a less gifted child who needs more emotional support for example? It seems harsh but these are the questions to consider.
How to start one-on-one youth sports coaching
- If you already coach a youth sports team on a volunteer basis, offer your paid services to parents. This could be verbally after or before practice, in the form of an email or even a flyer you have produced with information and prices.
- Write and call local sports teams/groups communicating your willingness to help by offering a paid service
- If you have been coaching for a while, use your already established sporting network. Are you known for your skills and expertise among parents and friends in your local area? This could be a great place to start.
Start Your Own Youth Sports Coaching Business
How much money can you make?
Again, this is varied based on:
- What you decide to charge each child
- Do you include the hire fee for a court/field/space to practice?
- Set up and running cost of your business
Positives of setting up your own youth sports coaching business:
- You’re in control of your own schedule. You are your own boss.
- You can employ more coaches or extra staff when you see fit, training them to a standard consistent with your companies values and teaching philosophy.
Challenges of setting up your own youth sports coaching business:
- It’s hard work setting up your own business, though not impossible.
- Are you able to go all in and do this coaching business full time or do you need to maintain your regular job and do this as a side hustle? Consider if you have the time to manage both well.
- Having a business background and experience will be helpful. Running a coaching business is more than just x’s & o’s. If you don’t have this prior knowledge you may need to either pay for advice or hire somebody who can help you get set up which can be costly.
Join A Youth Sports Coaching Website Database
How much money can you make?
According to coachup.com, you have the “ability to set your own hourly rate; coaches earn an average of $45/hour.”
But there is a bunch of different websites that offer a similar service with varying wages such as:
Positives of joining a youth sports coaching website database:
- You create yourself an account on the platform and athletes / parents come find you! This removes the element of recruiting people to get you started quickly.
- Easy booking system through a mobile app (for most companies)
- Ability to train youth athletes in 1-on-1 sessions, group sessions, clinics, camps and through online training
- Liability insurance included (for most of these websites)
- Coachup offer, “rewards points redeemable to purchase training equipment, apparel and gear.”
Challenges of joining a youth sports coaching website database:
- If you are not tech-savvy this method could be a struggle initially, but it’s certainly doable. Most of these systems are pretty user-friendly with helpful support networks available for free if you get stuck.
- You don’t coach your own specific team. However, you might find a group of people who love what you do, how you coach and eventually want to create a team. You never know where it could lead.
- You need to be motivated to put yourself out there and market yourself (and potentially your “brand”)
- There could be a lot of waiting around if people don’t use your service. Is your price too high or your time availability not in sync with others?
Youth Sports Coaching Within Existing Businesses
Think about your local swimming pool, karate club, ice rink or indoor rock climbing center… who coaches these kids how to improve and get better?
Suss out the local gyms, pools, YMCA’s, track and fitness centers in your area and see what opportunities exist for paid youth sports coaches.
How much money can you make?
Depending on where you work (i.e how much money they have to pay you) will be the big factor in the amount you can get paid.
If you coach at a small, private specialized training facility you may receive more than a larger, public center.
I had a quick search on glassdoor.com for “youth sport coaching jobs” and got a range of search results from indoor rock climbing, local soccer clubs to hockey and cheerleading coaching.
The wage varied widely but seemed to be shift work based from $9-$20 per hour. A more thorough search will give you greater insight.
Positives coaching youth sports within existing businesses
You don’t need to start up a new company.
- You don’t need to manage employees or keep track of the “books.” You can show up to your designated session and go home when finished. Stress-free.
- Insurance may be included in your contract
- Some organizations will provide you with formal training, removing the requirement to pay for it yourself.
Challenges of joining a youth sports coaching website database:
- Potentially a new and unfamiliar environment
- You have a boss and management team. So yeah, you potentially now have TWO bosses if this is a side hustle…
- You have to prove yourself as the best candidate for the job. This can be stressful and feel like a job interview. If you have experience in the area, a passion for the sport/event and a willingness to work with youth to help them have fun in a supportive environment, then there is probably a role for you.
Often these jobs are based on personality, experince and levels of expertise. Don’t be afarid to show them who are and your past experinces.
Recreation Worker
According to the United States Department of Labour, “recreation workers design and lead activities to help people stay active, improve fitness and have fun”.
They are employed in a multitude of settings from recreation centers, parks to summer camps, with many workers spending much of their time being physically active in the outdoors.
How much money can a recreation worker make?
The median annual wage for recreation workers was $25,060 in May 2018. (source)
However, New England College suggested that “the top 10% earning $42,560 or more.”
Positives to becoming a recreation worker:
- A relaxed environment to coach youth sports
- Time outdoors can improve your mental health, especially if working this as a second job and your first job is behind a desk.
- It can be a short term commitment, such as a summer camp, which gives you a chance to “trial” being a recreation worker.
- There are paid opportunities available as well as volunteer positions.
- Minimal training and education needed but this can vary from job to job. Often a high school diploma or the equivalent and a few weeks of on-the-job training is sufficient. However, if you are looking at a supervision job for youth sports, a bachelor’s degree or higher may be required. (source)
“As more emphasis is placed on the importance of lifelong well-being, more recreation workers will be needed to work with children and adults in a variety of settings”.
BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
Challenges to becoming a recreation worker:
- Instead of directly coaching a competitive team, you may be in charge of organizing and planning specific activities as part of a camp or similar event.
- There are normally A LOT of kids to manage at one time which can be a headache.
- Working closely with other adults and even volunteer parents who may have varying opinions on how to coach can be stressful.
Write/Record Coaching Videos for Online Youth Sports Coaching Websites
If you have ever done one on one private coaching in the past, you know you only have a certain bandwidth or hours in the day to fill with coaching kids.
If somebody is paying for a one on one session, you can’t squeeze more kids into the session, right?
There is always a “ceiling” to how far you can take your one-on-one business.
So one way to get around this problem is to record yourself on video explaining a skill, such as a layup in basketball on your non-preferred foot / hand, submit this to a website who LOVES this kind of material and charge people to watch it. Cool right?
Some websites like the following are worth checking out if you’re keen on this scalable idea.
If recording yourself is a little daunting, why not write for a coaching website who will pay you for your work?
Potential websites are:
- About.com
- Fansided.com
How much money can you make?
The price they will pay varies depending on the website and the type of content you produce.
Some pay more for video content, whilst others value in-depth written content more.
According to an article in the Penny Pincher, “these websites pay around $50 or $75 per post, or a dollar amount per 1,000 page views”.
Tip: “Start branding yourself. The moment I started thinking of myself as a brand, I was able to find more outlets for my business”.
The Penny Horder
Positives to writing/recording coaching videos for online youth sports coaching websites:
- Your ability to teach more kids on how to perfect a skill or learn how to play a particular sport is now not limited to private coaching. The amount of people who now have access to your coaching expertise and brand is endless.
- You don’t need to travel to training and brave the weather, particularly during snow season!
- Ability to earn passive income for years and years if people continue to read and watch your content.
Challenges to writing/recording coaching videos for online youth sports coaching websites:
- You need to be comfortable or learn how to be comfortable in front of the camera.
- You need to be passionate about the game and teaching kids first and for most to keep you motivated when your writing/recording to a “ghost town” in the beginning.
- Be okay acting out of your comfort zone if this is something you have never done before.
- You need to either borrow or buy the equipment necessary to film and record yourself (or somebody else), which can sometimes be costly.
School Sports Teacher
I left this seemly obvious suggestion till last because not every youth sports coach has a bachelor’s degree nor have a desire to obtain one.
In saying that, I have heard of people getting youth sport coaching jobs at schools (after a thorough background check!) purely based on incredible past experience and a good attitude, so this may not be entirely out of the question?
How much money can you expect to make?
According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, “the median annual wage for high school teachers was $60,320 in May 2018”.
Some teachers, with a special interest in sports, will coach a team or two on top of their classroom duties. They could be the Maths or English teacher and not just the sports teacher.
Teachers in the elementary and middle school levels typically get a “bonus” for coaching a sports team. A little extra incentive, despite the extra heavy workload.
It should be known the “bonus” pay can look vastly different depending on the school and the sport.
Positivies with youth sports coaching at a school level
- You have the ability to make more money if you coach multiple teams or sports (school dependent). If you’re on a small campus, coaching various sports would not be uncommon as there are a lack of staff and different sports are typically played seasonally.
- A familiar environment with kids you likely already teach.
- Showing dedication and commitment to the school, which can help with future career progression.
Challenges with youth sports coaching at a school level
- Huge workload. You need to manage your daily classroom activities as well as the sports team, plus everything that comes with it.
- You may have a biased opinion of some children because you know them and their behavior inside the classroom. Does this alter how you coach then and their playing time?
Requirements of a school youth sports coach
- Bachelor’s teaching degree. The degree can generally be in any subject, but preferred fields of study are sports science, physiology, exercise or some other sports-related field.
- Extensive knowledge of the game either as a previous player or as a coach
- Job opening for a sports coach
How to make “even more” money if you are a teacher at a school?
- Run/organize summer league teams
- Start off by becoming an assistant coach first, learn the game (if it’s unfamiliar) than become a head coach down the road
Fun fact: Kentucky University Basketball head coach, John Calipari, will reportedly earn $9.2 million in 2019. This is over $2 million more than the second-highest paid coach in Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski.
(source)
Summary: How to Make Money Youth Sports Coaching
There is money to be made in youth sports coaching if you look in the right places and are willing to broaden your horizons.
While it probably won’t make you a quick millionaire, it is sure to offset the grocery bills and bring a massive smile to your face each time you head to practice.
Those early morning start times at the next youth sports camp become a little easier to bear when money is coming in.
Have you also found ways, not mentioned above, to make money coaching youth sports?
Cheers,
Emma
