Ella is a 10-year old who has played a couple of seasons of town soccer. She has fallen in love with the sport and is eager to improve her skills. Her coaches are terrific, but they are parent volunteers and have limited time during practices to give Ella individual attention. Ella has attended a couple of soccer camps, but has complained to her parents that there’s a lot of goofing off. Neither of Ella’s parents grew up playing soccer, and so they can’t do much more than kick the ball around with her. They have looked into private instruction, but were put off by the typical $100/hour rates that adult coaches charge.
Ella’s dad chose Nina from the profiles that were displayed when he browsed for soccer mentors on MentorBuddies. He liked that Nina had been playing soccer since she was 8 and was a starter on her high school team that came in 2nd place in the state tournament last year. He noticed that in her profile Nina said she had a younger sister who she’s been mentoring in soccer and that she enjoys sharing her love for the game.
Ella’s dad registered at MentorBuddies so he could communicate with Nina over the platform. After a couple of email exchanges, he booked an hour lesson with Nina at a local park on a Saturday afternoon. He watched as Nina taught Ella specific dribbling drills and ball passing techniques. He especially liked how fun Nina made the lesson, mixing in light challenges and humor. Nina and Ella have been meeting weekly for several months now and Ella’s improvement and contributions to her team have been remarkable. Nina’s dad sees the $25 per hour that he pays MentorBuddies as a fantastic value.