And now, private tuition from Michael Johnson

Last month, he opened the Michael Johnson Performance Center, the latest in a growing number of facilities around the country that tap into athletic dreams of young athletes. He also will train college gridiron players for the National Football League draft.

Johnson’s center in this affluent Dallas suburb features a 60 m indoor sprint track, a synthetic turf field, a basketball court and weight room. Johnson plans a 4,000-seat outdoor stadium that could hold elite athletics events, even Olympic trials.

Johnson charges $979 for 18 sessions, which last 90 minutes each. Participants get a physical assessment, a vision and coordination test and a pair of running shoes.

One of Johnson’s first customers was Haley Pruitt, who made the all-district softball team this spring as a freshman at McKinney High School but worries about being too slow. Pruitt credits a few weeks of workouts with increasing her strength and improving her running technique.

“This will help running the bases, and I’ll be able to move quicker in center field,” Pruitt said. American families spent an estimated $ 4.1 billion last year on sports instruction and private coaching, according to a sporting goods trade group. The number is expected to rise as kids and their parents compete harder for college scholarships and chase pro dreams.

“Somebody with the stature of Michael Johnson helps build the category,” said Mark de Gorter, chief operating officer for Velocity Sports Performance, a Georgia company with 73 locations. “There is plenty of business in Dallas and everywhere else for all of us.”

That’s not necessarily a good thing, according to some experts who have studied the boom – and increasing competitiveness – in youth sports.

Dr Ronald Kamm, director of Sport Psychiatry Associates in Oakhurst, New Jersey, said high-level sports programs are good for many kids by fostering enjoyment of sports, improving skills and building confidence. But things can go wrong, he said, if parents push kids to attend in the unrealistic belief their child can earn a college scholarship.

“Some kids don’t win scholarships,” Kamm said. “Are the parents going to think it was a waste of money and communicate to the kid that he’s a failure?” Johnson’s parents didn’t push him into athletics – he tried out for the high school team only at a friend’s insistence.

Johnson has also trained Chinese runners and expects other top athletes such as Olympic 400 m champion Jeremy Wariner, who trains in nearby Waco, to drop by his new center. But mostly, he said, he’ll work with youngsters 12 to 18, and many of them have no chance to become stars. If the Dallas center is a success, Johnson hopes to build others around the country. But that would be getting ahead of the game. The indoor facility can handle 36 athletes at a time, but only 22 had signed up in the first month.

“We’re not necessarily looking for the next great athlete. We’re helping them to be better at whatever level they are,” Johnson said. “How fast can you make him? Well, it depends on how bad he is when you get him. I can’t promise anyone we can make them great, but we can make them greater.”

Johnson expects things to pick up in the fall and next year. He declined to say how many customers he needs to stay in business. “My focus is on building a great brand built on quality, and everything else will take care of itself,” he said. “They’re going to come.”