The best soccer coach in Orange County is the one who can name your player’s actual fault inside the first ten minutes and give two cues that survive until Saturday. Not the closest one, and not the one running the busiest cone grid. Sort candidates by U.S. Soccer license and current coaching role first, then let drive time break the tie. Top Notch Training runs private, small-group, and weekly group sessions in Irvine, with a published per-hour and per-player rate card rather than a per-session number that hides its length. Rates current as of August 2026.
- Formats: 1-on-1 private, small group (you bring your players, 6 maximum), weekly open-enrollment group training, and seasonal camps.
- Session length: 1 to 2 hours, weekly or bi-weekly.
- Age bands: Youngers (8-11), Olders (12-16), High School/Elite. Weekly groups run ages 9-12 and 12-17.
- Locations: Irvine, CA. Weekly groups sit in a fixed slot at Oak Creek Park. Private sessions can travel to your field.
- Price band: $95 per hour private, $50 to $70 per player per hour small group, $45 to $55 per session weekly group. Checked August 2026.
- Book: request a session or call (714) 248-2592.
Request a session or call (714) 248-2592. Tell us your player’s age band and the one skill you want fixed, and we will come back with the next open slots that match.
“Best” is not a ranking you can read off a directory
Most parents open a marketplace, sort by stars and miles, and pick from the top five. That order rewards listing volume and speed of reply. It cannot see teaching ability at all.
Directories also flatten what you are buying. They quote a per-session price without saying whether the session is 60 minutes or 90, whether a field fee is inside the number, or how it moves when a second and third player join. We price per hour and per head, so a 2 hour small group of four is arithmetic you can finish before you call.
What “best” actually means is fit: the right format for your player’s age and current gap. Our guide to youth soccer development by age at 8-11, 12-16, and High School/Elite lays out what each band genuinely needs before you spend a dollar on anyone.
Sort your list in this order
How to sort an Orange County coach list
- License, by name. “Licensed” is not an answer. A named level is.
- Current coaching role. What team, right now, at what level? A coach in a competitive environment this season sees current standards.
- Age range beyond your child’s. Someone who works older players can tell you what is coming next.
- Diagnosis in session one. Did they name a fault, or just run your kid until they were tired?
- Drive time. Last. It breaks ties, it does not build the shortlist.
Good sources for names: Club Directors of Coaching, high school staff, and AYSO Extra coaches. Our walkthrough on sorting “soccer coaches near me” results in Orange County covers how to run those calls in one afternoon.
Judge a first session by whether the coach named a fault, not by how tired your player was. Fatigue is easy to manufacture. A correct diagnosis is not.
What private coaching costs across Orange County, and what moves it
County-wide, private 1-on-1 rates spread widely, and the spread is not random. Three variables do most of the work.
| Variable | Pushes the rate down | Pushes the rate up | Question to ask |
|---|---|---|---|
| License level | Unlicensed or entry-level grassroots coach | Named U.S. Soccer license and a current competitive coaching role | Which license do you hold, by name? |
| Travel | You come to the coach’s fixed field | Coach drives to your field across the county | Is travel inside the quoted number? |
| Field and permit fees | Open public field, off-peak | Permitted or turf field, prime evening slot | Who pays the field fee? |
| Session length | Quoted per hour, so you can compare | Quoted “per session” with the minutes unstated | Is that 60 minutes or 90? |
That last row is the one that catches families. A platform listing that says “per session” and a coach who says “per hour” are not comparable numbers, and the gap only shows up on the field. Our rate card is published per hour and per player for exactly that reason.
Formats and rates, Irvine, August 2026
| Format | Rate | Ages | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-on-1 private | $95 per hour | Any age group, young or adult | Your field or ours, Irvine and Orange County |
| Small group, 2 players | $70 per player/hour | Any age group | Your field or ours |
| Small group, 3 players | $60 per player/hour | Any age group | Your field or ours |
| Small group, 4 to 6 players | $50 per player/hour | Any age group | Your field or ours |
| Weekly group, Youngers | $45 per session | 9-12, all levels | Oak Creek Park, Irvine |
| Weekly group, Club/Elite/HS | $55 per session | 12-17 | Oak Creek Park, Irvine |
Small group is semi-private and you bring your own players, 6 maximum, which makes it the least expensive route to private-style coaching. Travel and any field or permit fees can affect the total, so ask before you book if you want an exact figure. If format is the part you are stuck on, our piece on picking the right youth soccer development format in Irvine compares them against a player’s stage rather than a parent’s budget.
Request a session or call (714) 248-2592 to confirm the exact total for your format, including travel and any field fee, before you commit to a date.
Who you would actually be hiring
Coach Elmer Chacon holds a USSF B License, currently coaches at the MLSNext level with Strikers FC Irvine, and serves as Head Coach at Fairmont Preparatory Academy. Nearly 20 years on the West Coast, from first-time beginners to college-bound competitors.
The USSF B License is the fourth-highest certification in U.S. Soccer, two levels below what is required to coach in MLS.
His philosophy, in his own words: “I teach the game so it becomes natural.” More than 800 youth, club, and high school players have trained with us as of August 2026.
- Led by Coach Elmer Chacon: USSF B Licensed, coach of the U17 and U19 MLS Next 2 (Academy Division) teams at Strikers FC Irvine since 2022, Head Coach at Fairmont Preparatory Academy
- 2025-26 Western Athletic Conference (Express League) Boys' Soccer Coach of the Year
- Led Fairmont Prep to the 2025-26 WAC Express League championship and the first CIF quarterfinal in school history, in his first season as head coach
- Coached the 2025-26 WAC Player of the Year (Tyler Chan) and two 2025-26 CIF-SS All-CIF Division 8 players
- Nearly two decades coaching winning teams and athletes at every level of West Coast soccer
- More than 800 youth, club, and high school players trained
- His son, Elmer Chacon, a Class of 2026 Godinez Fundamental High School defender and Strikers FC Irvine player whom he has trained since early childhood, played on a national championship team and committed to the University of Hawai'i at Hilo in April 2026 (announced by the club)
- Nick Joca trained privately with him for about three years, going from Flight 2 to MLS NEXT, where he led the league in scoring nationally in 2025-26 before moving to an MLS academy; Coach Chacon still trains the younger Joca brothers
- Other former students have gone on to academies and the professional level; contracts and league rules prevent naming them
What diagnosis looks like over 90 days
An anonymized example, shared with the family’s permission and kept deliberately plain. A 13-year-old club midfielder arrived able to strike the ball well but losing possession within two touches under pressure.
- Session one, the fault named: receiving square to the ball with no scan before it arrived, so every first touch went back toward the passer.
- Cue one: check your shoulder before the pass leaves the other player’s foot.
- Cue two: open your hips to the far side, so the first touch takes you forward instead of back.
- Retest, roughly three months on: the same two cues were re-checked under light pressure, and the habit held often enough that the coaching focus moved on rather than repeating itself.
That is the whole job: name a fault, give a small number of cues, come back and retest. Everything else is cone arrangement.
Ask your player what they are working on. If they name one or two specific things instead of “drills,” the coaching is landing. If the answer is “drills,” the through-line is missing.
We are probably not your fit if
Three honest disqualifiers, so you do not spend a call finding out. We are not a specialist goalkeeper program, so a keeper needing dedicated shot-stopping work is better served by a GK-specific coach; ask your club’s Director of Coaching for a name. Players under 8 sit below our age bands, and AYSO is usually the better starting point. And families south of the 405 who will not drive to Oak Creek Park should look at private sessions at their own field instead of the weekly group, since the weekly slot is fixed.
On who runs the session: ask that question of every candidate, including us, and get the answer before you book rather than after. Some programs advertise a head coach and staff the calendar with assistants, which is not wrong, but it should be disclosed.
Questions to ask on the phone
- Which U.S. Soccer license do you hold, by name?
- What team are you coaching right now, and at what level?
- What ages have you coached beyond my child’s?
- Is your quoted rate for 60 or 90 minutes, and does it include field or permit fees?
- Who personally runs the sessions I am booking?
- Do you retest the fix a few weeks later?
The same six questions work on a club DOC or a high school coach. Our parent’s checklist for what makes a good youth soccer coach expands each one, and the shorter five-question screen for top notch soccer in Irvine and Orange County is the version to keep beside you on the call.
What families said
Marco and Lisa Joca, whose son Nick trained with Coach Elmer for several years across private sessions, small groups, and camps, wrote that they “credit a great deal of Nick’s development as a player, as well as his continued love and passion for soccer, to the time he has spent training with Elmer.” Their emphasis was not drill volume. It was confidence, discipline, and the mental side of competing.
That family’s experience sits inside a larger group: more than 800 youth, club, and high school players have trained with us as of August 2026, across the Youngers (8-11), Olders (12-16), and High School/Elite bands. We do not publish a star rating or a review count, and you should be wary of pages that display one without saying where it was collected. Ask instead for parents you can call, then ask their player what they were working on.
No program can promise your child a roster spot, and any that does should worry you. What a coach can promise is an honest diagnosis and reps that match it.
FAQ
How much does a private soccer coach cost in Orange County?
Our rates are in the formats table above: $95 per hour for 1-on-1, $50 to $70 per player per hour for small group, and $45 to $55 per session for weekly groups, checked August 2026. Across the county rates vary by coach, license, travel, and field fees, so ask any candidate what their number includes and whether it is 60 or 90 minutes.
Where do sessions take place in Irvine?
Weekly open-enrollment group trainings run at a fixed weekly slot at Oak Creek Park in Irvine. Private and small-group sessions can travel to your field in Irvine and Orange County. Travel and any field or permit fees can affect the total.
How do I book a session?
Use the session request page or call (714) 248-2592. Send four things: your player’s age and birth year, current team and level, the one skill you most want fixed, and the days and times that genuinely work. That last one saves a week of email.
Does the best coach have to be close to my house?
No. Distance should be the last filter, not the first. A coach fifteen minutes farther away who can find the fault in ten minutes will do more for your player than a closer one running a generic session.
Can a coach guarantee my child makes a club team?
No, and be cautious of anyone who says otherwise. Development depends on the player’s effort and coachability as much as on the coaching. What a coach controls is diagnosis, matching reps, and follow-up.
What happens in the first session?
Session one is an assessment: touch, both feet, scanning habits, and body shape under light pressure. It ends with a plain statement of what to work on and roughly how long that usually takes.
Your one next step
Pick the two strongest names on your list and ask them the license question and the current-team question today. If ours is one of them, request a session or call (714) 248-2592. A season is short, and the difference between a lost one and a good one usually shows up in the first ten minutes of the first session.
Booking, response time, and what happens if it is not a fit
We answer session requests by phone or email rather than through a directory inbox, so the fastest route is the session request page or (714) 248-2592. Send your player’s age and birth year, current team and level, the one skill you most want fixed, and the days and times that genuinely work. Sending those four things up front is what actually removes a week of back-and-forth, because we can check them against open slots in a single reply.
On availability: private and small-group sessions run 1 to 2 hours, weekly or bi-weekly, and can travel to your field, so open slots move week to week rather than sitting on a fixed published calendar. The weekly open-enrollment groups at Oak Creek Park sit in a fixed slot, ages 9-12 and 12-17. Ask for the current openings when you call and we will give you real dates rather than a waitlist form.
On fit: session one is an assessment of touch, both feet, scanning habits, and body shape under light pressure, and it ends with a plain statement of what to work on and roughly how long that takes. If that diagnosis does not convince you, you are under no obligation to book a second session. No program can promise your child a roster spot, and any that does should worry you.
Reviewed by Elmer Chacon, USSF B Licensed; MLS Next 2 Academy Division coach (U17 and U19) at Strikers FC Irvine since 2022; Head Coach at Fairmont Preparatory Academy; 2025-26 Western Athletic Conference Boys' Soccer Coach of the Year - last updated August 26, 2026.
Sources for this article
- $95 per hour 1-on-1 private (pricing doc)
- Small group $70/$60/$50 per player per hour by group size, 6 maximum (pricing doc)
- Weekly group $45 per session ages 9-12, $55 per session ages 12-17, Oak Creek Park Irvine (pricing doc)
- Sessions run 1 to 2 hours, weekly or bi-weekly; travel and field/permit fees affect total; rates current August 2026 (pricing doc)
- USSF B License is fourth-highest U.S. Soccer certification, two levels below MLS requirement (existing post)
- Coach Elmer Chacon coaches MLSNext with Strikers FC Irvine and is Head Coach at Fairmont Preparatory Academy, nearly 20 years West Coast (existing post)
- 800+ youth, club, and high school players trained as of August 2026 (site-verified stat)
- Joca family testimonial quote (testimonial doc)
Facts drawn from this site's own documented knowledge and first-hand experience.
