Private vs. Group Training: Which is Better for Your Sports Facility?

Understand the Revenue Difference

Start by looking at what one hour of training actually produces for your business.

Imagine you charge $60 for a one-hour private lesson.

1 athlete × $60 = $60 in revenue

Now imagine you offer a small-group session with four athletes at $45 per athlete.

4 athletes × $45 = $180 in revenue

You’re charging each athlete less, but the same hour now generates considerably more revenue.

Upper Hand uses this example when discussing program profitability and reports that Ruggiero Hitting increased its revenue per hour after shifting more of its training toward a small-group format.

Of course, revenue isn’t the same as profit.

Before deciding that group training is automatically more profitable, account for:

• Coach compensation
• Facility space
• Equipment
• Administrative costs
• Average attendance
• Discounts
• Cancellations and no-shows

A useful number to start tracking is revenue per training hour.

Take the amount each athlete pays and multiply it by the average number of athletes who attend. Then compare that number against the cost of delivering the session.

Doing this for your private lessons, small groups, clinics, and other programs can help you see which offerings are making the best use of your facility’s time and space.

Know When Private Training Makes Sense

Revenue per hour shouldn’t be the only thing determining how you structure your programs.

There are situations where one-on-one coaching provides exactly what an athlete needs.

Private training can be useful for:

• Technical corrections
• Position-specific coaching
• Individual development plans
• Advanced athletes with specific goals
• Tryout or competition preparation
• Athletes who need more individual feedback

Private lessons can also serve as a premium offering within your facility.

An athlete might attend group training every week but schedule a private lesson once a month to work through a particular skill with their coach.

That creates an opportunity for the two services to complement each other.

Instead of thinking about private training as something you need to replace, determine which athletes and situations benefit most from the additional individual attention.

Use Group Training to Serve More Athletes

One of the biggest advantages of group training is capacity.

There are only so many after-school, evening, and weekend hours available each week. If those times are consistently filled with one athlete at a time, your ability to serve additional clients becomes limited.

Small-group training allows several athletes to use the same coach and training space.

For example, imagine one of your coaches has four available hours between 4:00 and 8:00 p.m.

With private lessons, that coach may be able to work with four athletes.

With four-athlete small groups, the same coach could potentially work with 16 athletes during those four hours.

That doesn’t mean every private session should become a group. It means you should look carefully at how you’re using the hours where demand is highest.

Upper Hand’s research on sports facility management recommends using a mix of structured programming, including private training, small-group clinics, camps, and team sessions, to generate more revenue from facility space and create more consistent customer relationships.

Ask yourself:

• Which hours are consistently full?
• Where do we have a waitlist?
• Which spaces can accommodate multiple athletes?
• Which coaches have more demand than availability?
• Which types of training could work well in a group environment?

Those answers can help identify where group training makes sense.

Protect the Training Experience as Groups Grow

Adding another athlete to a group may increase revenue, but there is a point where adding more athletes can affect the experience.

A successful group session still needs to give athletes enough:

• Repetitions
• Coach interaction
• Individual feedback
• Space
• Equipment
• Time to perform drills

Instead of choosing group size based entirely on how many athletes fit into the space, start with the experience you want to deliver.

Could the coach effectively manage six athletes?

Will each athlete receive enough repetitions?

Are athletes spending too much time waiting?

Can the coach still identify and correct individual issues?

The ideal number may be different for a baseball hitting session than it is for basketball skills training, soccer development, strength training, or volleyball.

Ruggiero Hitting, for example, has used group sessions to work with more athletes while maintaining an emphasis on development. The facility reported that its shift toward group training helped nearly double revenue over a 12-month period while also giving athletes opportunities to train in a more competitive environment.

The goal should be finding the point where the group works for both the athlete and the business.

Group Athletes With Intention

Putting several athletes into the same time slot doesn’t automatically create a good group training program.

Think about who should actually train together.

Consider factors such as:

• Age
• Skill level
• Position
• Competitive level
• Training goals
• Physical development

Imagine you’re running a baseball hitting group.

Having four athletes at a similar development level working on pitch recognition and game-speed hitting gives the coach an opportunity to build a focused session around those needs.

Put a beginner athlete into the same group as three advanced high school players and delivering a valuable experience for everyone becomes much harder.

The same applies across sports.

Your groups should make sense from a coaching perspective before they make sense from a revenue perspective.

Price Private and Group Training Differently

Once you’ve decided to offer both, think about how you want families to purchase them.

Private training could include:

• Single lessons
• 5-session packages
• 10-session packages
• Monthly private training packages

Group training could include:

• Drop-in sessions
• 4 sessions per month
• 8 sessions per month
• Recurring memberships
• Seasonal development programs

You could also combine the two.

For example:

Development Membership

8 group sessions per month
+
1 private session per month

This gives athletes consistent group training while still providing an opportunity for individualized coaching.

Upper Hand supports private and group lessons, training programs, credit passes, and auto-renewing memberships within the same system, which gives facilities flexibility in how they package and manage different offerings.

Whatever model you choose, keep it easy for parents to understand. They should be able to quickly see what each option includes, how often their athlete can train, and what they’ll pay.

Build a Training Model That Uses Both

For many sports facilities, the strongest answer to private vs. group training may be offering both.

You could think about your training options as a progression:

Group Training

Consistent development with other athletes.

Small-Group Training

More individual attention with a smaller number of athletes.

Private Training

One-on-one coaching built around a specific athlete’s needs.

An athlete doesn’t necessarily have to stay in one category.

Someone could begin with a private assessment, move into a group with athletes at a similar level, and return to private coaching when they need additional help with a specific skill.

Ruggiero Hitting has discussed building a similar progression from athlete assessment to individual instruction and then group training as athletes develop.

Upper Hand can also help facilities manage that mix from one place, with scheduling for private and group lessons, capacity controls, memberships, payments, attendance tracking, and facility resource management.

Find the Right Mix for Your Sports Facility

Private and group training each have a place inside a sports facility.

Private lessons give athletes focused attention and give your business a premium service to offer. Group training can help you serve more athletes, create a more competitive training environment, and generate more revenue from the hours and space you already have.

Start by looking at your own numbers.

Which hours are full? Which programs have the strongest demand? How much revenue does each training hour generate? Where could athletes benefit from training together?

Once you understand those numbers, you can build a mix of private and group training that makes sense for your athletes, your coaches, and your business.