What should a decent swim coach be paid?

Triathlon Forum
1

Our Masters swim club recently discovered that because of poor financial planning, our swim season will either be cut short, or we will have to chip in to fund the last month of swimming before the summer break. In looking at the financial report to figure out where we went wrong, we discovered that we’re paying our coach $63/hour for coaching, and our asst. coach less than half that. Our head coach also gets an admin fee of approximately $11/hour of coaching time to do ‘stuff’ (mostly responding to athlete emails). I was surprised by these figures.

I’m wondering whether this is a normal rate, or if we’re overpaying?

**Basic qualifications: **
Certified High Five trainer
NCCP level 1+
NLS+first Aid and CPR Certified
Red Cross and LSS Instructor
Sears I Can Swim Conductor Trainer
Former World Cup Swimmer

2

I can’t say how much your swim coach should be paid, but I will tell you that I pay my swim coach $35/hour for private lessons, and she has coached several swimmers to the Olympic trials. What does an “assistant swim coach” do?

3

That’s a substantial difference – although some allowance could be made for group coaching, versus one-on-one.

Our Asst. coaches on her own one or two days a week. Generally a ‘fill-in’ coach.

4

I don’t think you are overpaying as long as his qualification, experience and level of service are compatible with what you are paying.
I am ASCA/USA Swimming Level 2 coach. I completed ASCA Level 3 and 4 schools. At a time, I coached over 5 years in swimming, Head Age Group Coach/ Assistant Head Coach of 200 swimmer club…When I worked “on the side”, stroke correction or stroke construction, $90 for 45 min was a norm. Multiple coworkers were doing the same.
It is only when you run into self proclaimed triathlon swim coaches is that you begin to see rates as above, $32/hr…General rule is, you get what you pay for.
I was approached by a local triathlon club and asked to provide coaching services. I gave my rate and saw shock on their faces. I was told that XYZ triathlon coach would do it for $25/hr. I gladly referred them to him.
$63/hr depends on how big of a group is it, besides coach’s credentials, is he planning your season in harmony with bike/run, is delivering the instruction needed to develop swimmers…engaging on deck, gives feedback and correction, or is he merely walking on deck calling out the pace clock…randomly pulling sets out of his rear end…
You have to be the judge of that.

5

A substantial difference, yes. I suppose the question would be whether it’s more time-consuming/harder to coach a group or an individual. If your coach is writing new workouts every week and giving significant instruction to every member of the club then I would say $35/hour would be bare minimum. I think I receive top-level coaching and pay an extremely fair rate. For my $$ I receive video feedback, form and technique drills, one hour per lesson, and a flexible lesson schedule.

6

Does that $63/hr include the cost of the lane space / facility?

7

Negative. That’s a further $200+ per hour in our city.

Our coach mostly calls out pace times, while providing some encouragement and skills development. While the club purchased a Go-Pro at the end of last season, it’s never used.

8

$90/hour, wow! I’m not going to say you’re not worth it, but no way would I pay that much. My coach, as I said, has coached several swimmers to Olympic trials and is not a triathlon coach. Actually, I don’t think she knows much about triathletes at all. But she sure seems to know swimming.

9

**Basic qualifications: **
Certified High Five trainer

What is that ? Does he stand there and high five everyone before and after practice? Or does he work on your technique when giving high fives?

How much does it work out per person on the masters team to keep your season going? Is it a matter of a few dollars more each or a few hundred? I would look at how much you are getting on a pro rata basis for each session vs what the coaches are doing during each session.

10

Negative. That’s a further $200+ per hour in our city.

Our coach mostly calls out pace times, while providing some encouragement and skills development. While the club purchased a Go-Pro at the end of last season, it’s never used.

That wouldn’t be worth the money to me. It might be to you, especially if you are all proficient swimmers already.

11

Very subjective to say what any coach should be paid. We will all have different views and come to a different conclusion. So what does the coach do? Do they lead the group or just turn up?

Turn up at the start and deliver a fairly routine/standard workout and leave as soon as times up?
Turn up in advance chat to squad, deliver an interesting workout that’s linked to an overarching plan for the season, points out technique correction for individuals and checks understanding?

Do they get results out of the squad as a whole (not just one or two individuals)?

Just remember masters coaching is also less exciting than age group and elite coaching so it takes a special coach to be enthusiastic about masters coaching and triathletes in particular. I’ve had many coaches over time and I’ve coached as well some are worth that money (especially when split between a group) and some were not!

12

Our Masters swim club recently discovered that because of poor financial planning, our swim season will either be cut short, or we will have to chip in to fund the last month of swimming before the summer break. In looking at the financial report to figure out where we went wrong, we discovered that we’re paying our coach $63/hour for coaching, and our asst. coach less than half that. Our head coach also gets an admin fee of approximately $11/hour of coaching time to do ‘stuff’ (mostly responding to athlete emails). I was surprised by these figures.

I’m wondering whether this is a normal rate, or if we’re overpaying?

**Basic qualifications: **
Certified High Five trainer
NCCP level 1+
NLS+first Aid and CPR Certified
Red Cross and LSS Instructor
Sears I Can Swim Conductor Trainer
Former World Cup Swimmer

Sounds fair to me. Group training here (3-4 people) is 30$/h per person, 60-75$/h solo.

NCCP, I’m assuming you’re referring to the Canadian program… wth “level 1+” means? He did 101 (Community swimming) and working on getting requirements to go through 201?

13

I pay my plumber about $75-$100 per hour and my electrician about the same. Sure, I could get a cheaper guy but I really like their services and am willing to pay that rate. Now, apply this to your swim coach.

14

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to coach a whole team.

15

Part time work, even stuff like that, has a relatively high per hour rate.

I charged about that to coach orchestra sectionals and I wasn’t even THAT good.

16

I pay my plumber about $75-$100 per hour and my electrician about the same. Sure, I could get a cheaper guy but I really like their services and am willing to pay that rate. Now, apply this to your swim coach.

This is a good comparison I think. If your coach is on time to the pool, making workouts and watching your form and being available to answer questions from the swimmers it’s probably worth it. Knowledge and experience can be hard to quantify in an hourly rate.

On the other hand I once had a masters coach who didn’t make workouts was never at the end of the lane to advise me what to do and was usually late to practice. That was worth exactly zero to me.

17

Part time work, even stuff like that, has a relatively high per hour rate.

I charged about that to coach orchestra sectionals and I wasn’t even THAT good.

This is a key point. Not enough info in the OP to determine what the role really involves. If it is coaching 3-5 workouts a week for maybe 10hrs total, that might be fairly high, bit if it more like 5hrs a week, that seems quite reasonable.

Top swim coaches are making over $100 per hour for full time positions in canada. $63 for a quality coach in a part time masters program doesn’t sound too bad.

18

What are the results? Are people progressing under him?

What is the size of your club? It sounds like if it is big enough to have an assistant coach then you have numbers.

The issue as others said is not enough info, are the fees drop in or monthly?

Basically for an hour “paid” on deck a coach might be spending 1.5 to 2 hours of workout prep, talking with athletes after, pulling lane ropes etc….I am not sure if you are paying your coach for pure deck time or prep as well.

The rate is not unreasonable if you have decent numbers and he is a good coach, the other side of the coin is that basically you guys may have effed up by under charging your membership.

Having said that with a month to go I would push through and send an e-mail out to membership looking for a bit of extra cash to finish this part of your season on a positive note. Ending/cancelling a session with a months to go is bad for every one.

You (the club) agreed to pay those rates…bite the bullet for another month and then have a meeting with the coach, members and executive to see if you can work out a better structure.

Maurice

19

Our Masters swim club recently discovered that because of poor financial planning, our swim season will either be cut short, or we will have to chip in to fund the last month of swimming before the summer break. In looking at the financial report to figure out where we went wrong, we discovered that we’re paying our coach $63/hour for coaching, and our asst. coach less than half that. Our head coach also gets an admin fee of approximately $11/hour of coaching time to do ‘stuff’ (mostly responding to athlete emails). I was surprised by these figures.

I’m wondering whether this is a normal rate, or if we’re overpaying?

**Basic qualifications: **
Certified High Five trainer
NCCP level 1+
NLS+first Aid and CPR Certified
Red Cross and LSS Instructor
Sears I Can Swim Conductor Trainer
Former World Cup Swimmer

Any inquiry about salary doesn’t have correct answer, same as: what bike is the best, what car is the best, what wife is the best… etc.

You might find coach in Somalia that will coach you for bowl of rice. Every second good looking girl with perky a$$ makes 150-250$/h for hula hoop or other bs coaching on Wall Street – they are called motivational companions… General fitness coach in Toronto down town Equinox charges 100-150$ per hour. Average 120$/h

I say ex world cup swimmer for 63/h is a best deal in the world. Generally you get what you pay for, I hope he is not seating on the deck playing “angry birds” while you guys are swimming. I hope he drills you to the point you want to puke, but still come back next morning and give him more.

Your question should be:

Our coach John, does, X,Y,Z in last 2-3 years we won X,Y,Z and lost X,Y,Z we struggle with X,Y,Z. Out of 50 people 40 are improving their 100-500m times by xxx, we pay him 63/h is that good enough or too much?

Certifications matter to some point, but I know some super talented people without certifications.

20

I was president of my kids’ summer league team for a time and negotiated coaching salaries. Our coaching budget was $20K per summer and our our head coach was paid a salary but his effective hourly rate was around what you quote for the twelve week season. The assistants made varying rates but $11 per hour was about the floor. Our head coach was one of the lower paid coaches in our league. The going rate in the country club league for a summer head coach started at $20K for 12 weeks. And that is just summer league swimming. The successful year round club coaches can make a decent full time living off coaching although they work a lot more hours.

That is the market you are up against so $63 per hour, assuming you are not running 20 hours a week of practice time, is not out of line with the general market for swim coaches in the US. Amateur club swimming has a much more developed use of professional coaches than almost any other amateur sport in the US. He/she can get that effective rate elsewhere so in that sense, it is within the market range of swim coach pay rates. Of course, it really come down to whether he/she is earning it or not :wink: