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A $1,500 offer that converts 95% of athletes

Youth sports gym turns onboarding into long-term success

Author

John Franklin
April 10, 2026

Happy Friday Gym World,

Mateo caught up with Stan Skolfield from Skolfield Sports Performance, a youth sports gym that charges $1,500 upfront for its onboarding program.

Most gyms would hesitate to charge that much, but here, 95% of young athletes who finish onboarding move straight into semi-private training. Clearly, something’s working.

 💬Stan has decades of experience, including working as an athletic trainer for the Boston Red Sox and running a sports performance facility for 10 years. He started with just one youth athlete in 2020. Today, he works with 85 to 150 athletes, depending on the season.

If you’ve thought about adding a youth program or want to make yours work better, watch the interview or keep reading for Stan’s insights.

The system starts before they visit

When a family finds Skolfield Sports Performance online, they don’t book a tour or drop into a class. They book a phone call.

That first call is handled by a salesperson using a script, and it does a few important things before anyone shows up:

  • Gathers information about the athlete

  • Walks the family through the program

  • Explains pricing upfront

Stan’s team address price right away. He's learned over the years what parents want to hear, and he knows that getting the money conversation out of the way early prevents it from becoming a bigger issue later.

 💬 Qualifying families on the phone ensures the people who come in are serious about your program and ready to commit. The process is easier for everyone since the family knows what to expect, and you don’t waste time on people who aren’t a good fit.

The evaluation does the selling

After the call, families book a free evaluation. For athletes 13 and up, that's a 1.5-hour session. For kids between 8 and 12, it's one hour. Both include:

  • A tour of the facility

  • A sit-down with the athlete and their parents

  • A full assessment of where the athlete is starting from

This setup allows the family to have a clear picture of what the program involves, what the athlete needs to work on, and what progress will look like.

The $1,500 onboarding program

Every new athlete starts with the same 18-session, one-on-one onboarding program that has to be completed within 8 weeks. It covers mobility and flexibility, soft tissue work, strength training, speed development, and nutrition. It also teaches athletes how to choose the right intensity.

There’s a minimum commitment of 3 sessions per week in the off-season and 2 sessions per week in-season.

 💬Stan won't negotiate on the training frequency. He's clear with families from the start that he can’t guarantee results with anything less.

By the end of onboarding, athletes understand what they’re doing and why, build confidence in training, and actually start seeing results. 95% of athletes who complete onboarding move into the semi-private model.

Semi-private training and the scheduling problem

After onboarding, athletes move into semi-private training in groups of up to 5. They train in 4-week blocks, and parents book sessions through an app based on what works for their schedule.

What makes this work is a rotational training system Stan built behind the scenes. Every coach is trained to deliver the same program, so any athlete can work with any coach at any time without losing continuity.

This directly addresses the biggest objection Stan hears, which isn’t price. It’s time. Kids are balancing school, sports, and other commitments, and if your program isn’t flexible enough to fit into their lives, you’ll lose families who genuinely want to be there.

 💬 The rotational system also improves the member experience. Athletes hear things explained differently by different coaches, which keeps training engaging and prevents complacency.

What to do if you want to start a youth program

If you don’t have any youth clients yet, Stan recommends keeping it simple. Start with a 6 to 8 week camp focused on speed or strength. Aim for 10 to 15 athletes and run it twice per week.

For delivery, you have a few options:

  1. Hire someone with youth training experience

  2. Build your own system

  3. Use a proven turnkey system you can deliver right away

And make sure you have a clear next step before the camp ends, like a multi-week training program or semi-private sessions. That way, families can sign up right away if they want to keep their kids training.

💬 Keeping kids in a program year-round is tough with sports, school, and other activities. Here’s how gym owner Mick Breuckner handles retention.

TL;DR

Stan built Skolfield Sports Performance by:

  • Using a scripted phone call to qualify families and address price early

  • Running free, structured evaluations that build trust and clarity

  • Charging $1,500 upfront for a comprehensive 18-session onboarding program

  • Setting and enforcing a minimum training frequency

  • Converting 95% of athletes into semi-private training

  • Building a rotational coaching system that makes scheduling flexible

If you found this valuable, you know what to do (share it with another gym owner 🙏).

cheers,

j