How to Price Your Sports Coaching Services: The Complete Guide

Learn how to price personal training sessions, create subscription packages, and build a profitable coaching business. Commitment-based pricing strategies that work.

The Bottom Line

Pricing is the most important decision in your business. Get it wrong, and you’ll work twice as hard for half the money. Get it right, and everything else becomes easier.

One Entry Point

Discounted onboarding session for every new athlete

60-80% off normal rate

Commitment Required

No one-off sessions—monthly minimum

Predictable revenue

Frequency-Based

2x/month, 1x/week, 2x/week, or unlimited

Simple choices

Not sure if your pricing is right? CoachIQ reviews pricing with every new coach. We benchmark your rates against our database of hundreds of facilities across the United States to make sure you’re positioned competitively for your market.

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Start with an Onboarding Session

Before you think about your actual pricing, nail your onboarding session. This is the entry point for every new athlete—the one thing you market to people who don’t know you yet.

What is an onboarding session?

An onboarding session is a discounted first session (typically 60-80% off your normal rate) designed to get new families in the door. It’s a no-brainer offer that removes the risk for parents who are on the fence.

The principle: One entry point, marketed consistently. Every new lead goes through the same door. This keeps your business clean, simple, and optimized.

Why it works

Parents don’t know you. They don’t trust you yet. Asking them to commit to a training package before they’ve met you is a big ask. The onboarding session solves this by:

Benefit	How It Works
Lowering the barrier	It’s cheap enough that there’s no reason not to try
Building trust	They meet you, see your facility, and experience your coaching
Collecting data	You learn their goals, schedule, and what they care about

What happens during the session

The onboarding session serves two purposes: data collection and trust building.

You’re not just running drills. You’re listening:

1. Understand Their Goals

   What does the parent want for their athlete? College recruitment? Making the team? Building confidence?

2. Assess the Athlete

   What are their strengths? Weaknesses? Current skill level? How do they respond to coaching?

3. Learn Their Schedule

   What sports do they play? When are they available? What’s their commitment capacity?

4. Match to a Package

   By the end, you know exactly which package fits—and the sale becomes natural.

CoachIQ tip: Our Product Builder makes it easy to create a trial session product with custom intake forms. Collect athlete age, position, goals, and parent contact—all before they walk in the door.

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Commitment-Based Pricing Only

Here’s the most important principle: no one-off sessions. Ever.

Your pricing must involve some form of commitment. This is non-negotiable if you want to build a sustainable business and actually help athletes improve.

Why this matters for athlete development: You can’t help someone get better if they show up randomly. Consistency is everything in sports training. Commitment-based pricing aligns your business model with what actually works.

Why commitment matters

For Your Business	For the Athlete
Predictable monthly revenue	Consistent training schedule
Reduced admin headaches	Real skill development
Better client relationships	Accountability to show up
Easier capacity planning	Measurable progress

Commitment structures that work

The most common commitment is monthly, but many facilities have great success with 3-month or 6-month commitments. The minimum should always be one month.

Monthly

Best for: New facilities, testing pricing, flexible markets

• Lowest barrier to entry
• Easier to sell after onboarding
• Higher churn risk
• Most common starting point

3-Month

Best for: Established facilities, serious athletes

• Better revenue predictability
• Lower churn
• Often offered at a small discount
• Shows athlete commitment

6-Month / Annual

Best for: Premium positioning, loyal families

• Best revenue predictability
• Significant discount (10-15%)
• Lowest churn
• Builds long-term relationships

CoachIQ makes this easy: Subscription management auto-charges cards on file, and the credit system automatically tracks each athlete’s sessions, cancellations, and rescheduling—all visible in their app.

Automate failed payment recovery: CoachIQ automatically retries failed payments and sends reminder emails to parents. No more chasing down expired cards or awkward conversations about missed payments.

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Keep It Simple: Frequency-Based Packages

Parents are not experts. They don’t understand—or care about—the nuanced difference between video analysis, skill work, strength training, and mental preparation. They just want their athlete to get better.

Your job is to make that happen. Their job is to choose how often to show up.

The packages that work

Most successful facilities offer exactly four options:

Package	Best For	Typical Price Range
2x per month	Busy athletes juggling multiple sports	$80-120/month
1x per week	Standard commitment for consistent development	$160-240/month
2x per week	Serious athletes wanting accelerated progress	$280-400/month
Unlimited	High-volume athletes and dedicated families	$400-600/month

That’s it. The parent picks a frequency, commits monthly (or longer), and you handle the rest.

How CoachIQ handles this: Each package automatically assigns credits to the athlete’s account. 1x/week = 4 credits/month. 2x/week = 8 credits/month. Athletes see their balance in the app and can book sessions until credits run out. No spreadsheets, no manual tracking.

Learn more: Credit System Overview

The pitch

After an onboarding session, the conversation sounds like this:

Standard Close

“I can definitely help your son reach his goals. Here’s how we work—can you come in once a week or twice a week?”

Simple binary choice. Most parents pick one.

Busy Family

If they push back because of a busy schedule:

“What about just coming in twice a month for tune-ups? We can always adjust from there.”

Gets them in the door. Upgrades happen naturally.

Serious Athlete

If the athlete is clearly committed:

“Based on what I saw today, twice a week would really accelerate his development. That’s what most of our competitive players do.”

Position the higher tier as the norm for serious athletes.

The biggest mistake: Too many offers.

Coaches constantly add more packages, more options, more complexity—thinking it gives parents “choice.” It doesn’t. It creates confusion, analysis paralysis, and operational nightmares for you.

Think about In-N-Out. They sell burgers. That discipline—that focus—is why they gross the most revenue per location in their industry. Your pricing should work the same way.

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Avoid One-on-One Sessions

This is a trap that destroys coaching businesses. Avoid it.

Why one-on-one doesn’t scale

Factor	One-on-One	Small Group (4-10)
Revenue per hour	$60-100	$240-600
Athlete development	Good	Often better (competition, energy)
Scalability	Zero	High
Parent expectations	”I’m paying for all your attention"	"My athlete trains with peers”

Small groups are better for everyone

A small group of 4-10 athletes at similar skill levels is how you maximize development. Athletes feed off each other. You can run competitive drills and game-like scenarios. The energy is higher.

And for your business? You’re making 4-10x more per hour than one-on-one would generate.

If a parent insists on one-on-one training, that’s a red flag. Protect your time and your business model. The right response: “We’ve found athletes develop faster in our small group environment. That’s how we structure all our training.”

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Pricing to Your Market

There’s no universal “right” price. Pricing depends on your location, your market, and the type of business you want to run.

How to find your price

1. Research Your Market

   What are other facilities and coaches charging in your area? Call them. Check their websites. Get a baseline.

2. Decide Your Positioning

   Are you premium (higher price, fewer athletes, more personalized) or volume-based (more accessible, higher capacity)?

3. Factor in Your Costs

   Rent, equipment, staff, insurance, and your own time. Make sure your pricing covers costs with healthy margins.

4. Test and Adjust

   Start slightly higher than you think. It’s easier to offer discounts than to raise prices on existing clients.

Typical ranges by market

Market Type	Per-Session Range	Monthly (1x/week)
Rural / Small town	$30-45	$120-180
Suburban	$40-60	$160-240
Affluent suburb	$50-80	$200-320
Urban / Metro	$60-100	$240-400

Group size matters: These ranges assume 4-10 athletes per session. Smaller groups (2-4) command higher prices. Larger groups (10+) should be priced lower per athlete but generate more total revenue.

Need help pricing for your specific market? CoachIQ’s onboarding team reviews your pricing against comparable facilities in your area. We’ve helped hundreds of coaches find the sweet spot between competitive pricing and healthy margins. Book a call with our team to review your pricing strategy.

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Add-Ons Follow the Same Rules

Once you’ve nailed your core offer, you can add supplementary services like video analysis, mental coaching, or specialized training. But the same principles apply.

How to structure add-ons

Subscription-Based

Not one-off purchases. Monthly add-on to their existing package.

Optional

They enhance your core offer, not replace it. Core training comes first.

Simple

One or two add-ons maximum. Don’t recreate the complexity problem.

Example: A softball facility offers video analysis as an add-on. Athletes subscribe to the core training (1x/week at $200/month), and parents can add +$75/month for one video analysis session per month.

Total: $275/month for training + video analysis. Clean, simple, valuable.

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Raising Prices

If you’ve been undercharging, raising prices is uncomfortable but necessary.

The safest approach

Grandfather existing clients at their current rate and raise prices only for new clients. This protects your relationships with loyal customers—who are likely your best source of referrals.

Timing matters

If your facility has a natural break—a holiday, off-season, or month you’re closed—that’s the ideal time to implement new pricing. It feels less abrupt and gives everyone a clean reset.

Your existing clients built your business. They refer new families and strengthen your reputation. Don’t damage those relationships over a price increase. Let them keep their rate and raise prices on everyone new.

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Not Every Customer is a Good Customer

As you grow, you’ll learn that some customers aren’t worth the headache.

Red flags to watch for:

• Only wants one-on-one sessions (refuses group training)
• Constantly cancels or no-shows
• Doesn’t respect your time or policies
• Pushes back on every aspect of how you run your business
• Wants to negotiate on everything
• Badmouths other coaches or facilities

Taking every customer when you’re starting out makes sense. But as you grow, protecting your time and your business model matters more than filling every slot.

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Quick Reference: Pricing Principles

The Onboarding Session

• 60-80% off your normal rate
• The one thing you market to new leads
• Used for data collection and trust building
• Every new athlete enters through this door

Commitment Structure

• No one-off sessions—ever
• Minimum one month commitment
• 3-month and 6-month commitments work great
• Auto-billing through CoachIQ subscriptions

Package Options

• 2x per month (tune-ups)
• 1x per week (standard)
• 2x per week (serious athletes)
• Unlimited (high-volume)

Group Training

• Small groups of 4-10 athletes
• Similar skill levels together
• Better for development AND business
• Avoid one-on-one at all costs

Pricing Your Market

• Research local competitors
• Decide: premium or volume?
• Typical range: $40-60/session
• Adjust for your specific area

Raising Prices

• Grandfather existing clients
• Raise prices for new clients only
• Use natural breaks (holidays, off-season)
• Protect referral relationships

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Ready to Set Up Your Pricing?

CoachIQ makes it easy to implement everything in this guide:

Pricing Page Builder

Create beautiful pricing pages that convert visitors to trial sessions

Subscription Management

Auto-billing, failed payment recovery, and churn prevention built in

Credit System

Automatic session tracking so you never lose revenue

Pricing Review

Our team benchmarks your rates against similar facilities nationwide

Get personalized pricing advice: Book an Office Hours call with our team. We’ll review your current pricing, compare it to similar facilities in our network, and help you optimize for your market.

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What’s Next?

Setting Up Subscriptions

Learn how to manage recurring billing in CoachIQ

Credit System Overview

Understand how credits work with your packages

Creating Products

Build your training packages in CoachIQ

Onboarding New Athletes

The complete workflow for new client intake