What 100 Parents Said About Their Basketball Training Preferences & Costs

You're sitting in the stands of your child's basketball game, watching them play scrappy defense and take good, open shots. You see the potential in their game, and know that basketball is one of their passions. On the way out you grab the business card of a local trainer that's offering 1 on 1 or group training sessions. Your child is only in 6th grade, and you start to question, are they too young to start professional basketball training? 

So what is the right answer? We recently interviewed 100+ parents from our database and asked them all about their training preferences and here's what we found: 

Most parents started to take training more seriously at around 10-12 years old,  which was also when intervention by professionals felt necessary. 

Of those who did spend time or money in training, here is what they said they did:

88.5% of this group said that their kid(s) attended camps or clinics. These can be valuable, but at a young age, they can also be a "daycare session". Camps are still well worth going to, they bring fun and friendship to your child, but we wouldn't suggest camps replace training sessions.

A whopping 64.4% say they hire personal trainers. Based on the level of the player, where you reside and the trainer here are what you can expect to pay per session:

1 on 1 training on average is $90-$150 / session. 
Small group (2-4 kids) on average costs= $90-$120 / session
Large Group Training (4+ kids) on average costs $50-60 / session 

Annually, this group claims to spend: 

29% believe to spend more than $2000 annually on basketball training! Does this surprise you?

A basketball shooting machine makes training as efficient as hiring a personal trainer, and when you break down the potential costs of hiring a trainer over a year, the machine training would already be paid off:

Based on these results, and the knowledge that we bring as former players and parents ourselves, we agree with the data. A good time to start taking basketball training more seriously is around 10-12 years old, or 5th grade. This mean FUN training! Training that is lighthearted, yet starts to teach the player about dedication and discipline. 

When the training starts to get more serious, it's worth sitting down and doing the math: How often will the player go?
What are you being charged per session?
Would you be better using Dr. Dish Shooting machine that provides training in addition to efficient reps? 

Think about it!