- Jan 6, 2011
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A random comparison but this totally happened in NZ to irish dance. Ended up with a mega school in Auckland and one in Christchurch and the other schools almost all disappeared. The end result has been a big drop in numbers. May have been due to other factors too but I know alot of teachers with small schools closed because they felt they couldn't compete with mega A and B.I want to preface all of this by saying that I was in no way trying to dig CA for their decision to expand. CA has been my dream gym my entire cheer career and I would still give my left foot to be a towel boy for Claw6 or to coach small tiny prep level 1 just because I have always dreamed of being a part of the program. (Speaking of, if you need a coach at any time I WILL transfer colleges and have a limb surgically removed in solidarity)
In fact I didn't mean in my statement that "CA Charlotte is bad for the industry". It was more meant as a general statement that I, honestly and completely, believe that the franchisement of the industry is a negative thing. There are various reasons I could list here but I don't want to write a novel so I'll keep it to the biggest one; though our focus on the boards and twitter is largely (and rightfully) on big name gyms and top contenders, the sport is actually comprised staggeringly by small gyms. Now obviously we as viewers like to the watch the best, so the top 10 is usually our concern, but the problem is that the top 10 and the money makers are also the largest concern of the governing bodies that be.
Now again I (and many others I'm sure) could wax poetic for hours about our problems with the various Wizards that run the industry behind the curtain, and I know that I for one (for the hay penny it's worth) have been very vocal about my problems with the USASF; and I know there are others that feel this way. But ultimately the point of my statement is that I don't honestly feel that the franchising of the industry will be helpful in the growth and recognition of our sport.
Also, I think it's important to mention that I totally understand why a gym would expand and that is natural business move to do so, and I in no way knock your decision to continue to try to offer what you feel to be the best possible product wherever you feel there is a market; I just feel that in 20 years we will as an industry look back and realize that, on the whole, the move of the industry to expand as it has was good for a chosen few, but bad for the overall expansion of the sport.
It is also important to mention that I am no where near objective either!
TLDR: When will CA Missouri be a thing?
