When COVID-19 lockdowns began, youth sports organizers and coaches were forced to rethink their time-tested routines. For many of you, that meant making an on-the-fly transition to virtual training—holding classes over Zoom, creating instructional videos, assigning at-home drills and more. As youth sports return to normal and kids get back out on the field, it might be tempting to go back to the basics and ditch your online programming, but not so fast! Here are some compelling reasons to keep at-home training in your programming rotation: 

1. 1. Players will get better faster. Virtual training offers clear direction for your players on off-days, accommodating away-from-the-game work and tailored feedback with tech-enabled analysis tools that reinforce your live instruction.

   2. It lets you address sometimes-overlooked aspects of the game. In-person practices inevitably concentrate on team-centric drills. Virtual sessions offer an opportunity to hone different skills. For instance, you can use them for more focused film study or to talk about holistic training subjects, such as nutrition. Similarly, they can be a good time for personalized one-on-one interactions; inevitably, some kids respond better in more private environments.

   3. It reinforces the importance of hard work—and accountability. It’s one thing for players to show up for group practice. It’s another for them to put in the effort on their own. The latter may require them to figure out how to fit such sessions into already busy schedules, but that in turn will teach its own lessons about accountability, not only to themselves but to teammates as well.

   4. It empowers parents to get involved—in the right way. Virtual training gives those parents who want to push their kids a chance to be more involved in their child’s development, but on family time, not the team’s.

   5. Your organization stays top-of-mind. Virtual training knows no off-season, and being able to engage your players and parents all year long keeps them connected to the game and your program. That, of course, makes it more likely that they will stick with both, ultimately improving your player retention. 

If You Want to Add Virtual Training to the Regimen …

Some virtual training platforms were gaining traction even before the pandemic sent us all indoors. After reviewing many of these mobile coaching tools, we found Famer not only delivers the best experience but, just as importantly, it shares LeagueApps’ high standards for customer service. So, we teamed up with Famer to offer our partners and their members a top-notch virtual training experience to complement their in-person playing experience––now available in the LeagueApps integration center.  

That means you can upload your own training videos—which the company will help produce—or access Famer’s own library of pro-trainer-created content. Its software also enables interactive feedback, analysis, and chat, so you can prescribe drills, distribute proprietary training content, hone skills in real-time, and encourage deeper engagement among club, organization, coaches, parents, and athletes. 

You can learn more about Famer and other best-in-class products in the LeagueApps integration center here.