The Member Club Survey: Selected Results
by David Holcomb
During the formative years of the gymnastics club industry, the years following the Gold Medal performances of Olga and Nadia, and later during the explosive growth after Mary Lou won Gold in 1984, most gymnastics clubs were opened by gymnastics coaches or would-be coaches who wanted to develop competitive gymnasts. The typical gymnastics coach/gym-owner would find a warehouse with high ceilings in an area supporting only modest lease payments and one truck-load of gymnastics equipment later, a gymnastics club was born.
A surprising number of these early clubs survive. The owners who opened their doors counting on love to get them through (love of gymnastics and children) discovered that love alone did not always keep the lights on and heat going. In fact, many discovered that their love of coaching was making it very difficult to keep their doors open. The large open space required for gymnastics training was often filled with gymnasts who trained many hours but who were not paying much for the privilege.
What to do?
Gymnastics schools had always offered gymnastics classes to school age children. How else were they to attract new gymnasts to the team? But even the most flip-obsessed soon realized that it was the recreational students that allowed them to pay the rent each month. It was not long before the more forward thinking gyms were offering gymnastics training to preschool age students. Dance and martial arts programs were a logical next step. Soon cheerleaders were not only learning their back handsprings at the local gym but the gyms were fielding their own all-star cheer squads. The gyms had to grow bigger to allow room for all these programs and they had to move up-market so that they were closer to the families with the income levels necessary to pay for all this youth sports training.
In the beginning all of this growth and expansion served mainly to allow the gyms to survive while the gym owner/coach indulged in the joy of teaching double backs. But a funny thing happened. These additional programs and larger facilities required some actual business expertise to make it all work.
Formerly viewed as a marginal activity restricted to the gymnastics savvy, the local gymnastics school is evolving to become more of a mainstream phenomenon in the children’s sports and fitness industry. And with that evolution the gym-owner/coach was often forced with a choice: either step back from the team to learn and master the business centered skills required to keep the gym open, or coach the team and hire someone else to run the business end of the gym.
This brief tumble through the last 30 years of the gymnastics club scene in the United States is the story told in the results of the 2006 USA Gymnastics Member Club survey. The survey was offered on-line to the owners of over 1,600 gymnastics schools that are Member Clubs of USA Gymnastics. Selected results of the survey are presented below, more detailed results will be distributed to the Member Clubs, and complete results will be available to all who completed the survey.
The survey results:
- more women (55%) than men (45%) own gymnastics clubs in the USA.
- most of the gym owners (75%) are under the age of 50 but only a third are under the age of 40.
- most gym owners (70%) have earned a college degree. Only a quarter have earned an advanced degree.
- most gym owners were gymnasts (78%) but only a third claim to have been an accomplished gymnast.
- most gym owners coach the team either not at all or they coach fewer than 10 hours a week.
- 80% of gym owners think that owning a gymnastics school is a good business to be in, over 90% believe that their gym school will continue to grow, and the vast majority of the gym owners (88%) say they would open a gym again if they had it to do all over again.
- the average gymnastics school was opened 15 years ago.
- the average gymnastics facility is 15,175 sq/ft in size.
- most gyms (66%) are air-conditioned.
- the average national enrollment in 2005 was around 500 students. This is not peak enrollment, this is average enrollment during he course of the year.
- preschool classes averaged between 45 and 50 minutes in length, with 6-7 students in a class, at an average tuition of about $18.00 an hour. Class length did not vary much across the country but tuition levels varied greatly from less than half the national average to almost double the average
- entry-level, beginning classes for school-age students averaged about 65 minutes in length, with
8.5 students in a class, at an average tuition of about $13.00 an hour. Again, class length did not vary much at all but tuition levels varied greatly from less than half the national average to almost double the average
- teams vary widely (from half the average number of hours and/or tuition to almost double the averages). The averages are as follows:
Pre-Team 4 hours a wee $116.00 a month 7 or 8:1 ratio
Level 4 6 hours a week $148.00 a month 9 or 10:1 ratio
Level 5 8.75 hrs a week $175.00 a month 9 or 10:1 ratio
Level 6 11 hours a week $211.00 a month 8.5:1 ratio
Level 7 13.5 hrs a week $217.00 a month 8:1 ratio
Level 8 15 hours a week $230.00 a month 8:1 ratio
Level 9 16.5 hrs a week $250.00 a month 6.5:1 ratio
Level 10 18 hours a week $285.00 a month 6.5:1 ratio
Elite: not enough information: only 5 gyms out of the 300+ that responded had elite gymnasts.
The gym owners were asked about the features of their gyms that they felt contributed the most to the overall success of their gym. The gym owners felt that “open observation of all gym activity� was most critical. Apparently the days of not allowing the parents to watch their child’s training are over. But there is more at work here than merely appealing to the parent’s concerns over safety. Many gym owners realize that allowing the parents to watch every minute of every class is a great marketing tool. If the parents cannot see their boy’s eyes light up the first time he makes a back somersault without a spot, or see an entire group of little girls make a mad dash to be first in line for the back-handspring machine, or hear the voice of the coach praising the 4 year-olds for being so brave as they crossed the alligator pit- upside down- then how can these parents tell their friends and neighbors about all the great activities going on in the gym every single day of the week?
But we all know that even the best gymnasts fall off the beam on occasion and our gym owners recognize that the gymnastics club industry faces challenges. The top three were identified as lack of qualified teachers, Increased competition in kid’s sports, and generally poor economic conditions.
The survey also asked about the best business decision the gym owner had made in the past two years and the top responses centered on hiring talent, both in terms of business management and in gymnastics expertise, and in relocating and expanding their facilities. Bigger appears to be better as the gyms offer more programs and many gyms are relocating to the fast growing suburbs where young families can be easily found.
- the books most often recommended by the club owners for other club owners to read were the Bible and The E Myth, by Michael E. Gerber.
The survey asked the club owner’s opinions about the job that USA Gymnastics was doing and ways in which USA Gymnastics could help them even more. The results of that portion of the survey follow.
What the gym owners liked best about the work and activities of USA Gymnastics:
- the gym owners expressed their appreciation for the technical information provided by USAG, the web-site, regional and national congress, Technique Magazine, the Member Club program, the National Business Conference, the strong performances of the USA National Team, and the exposure of the top gymnasts on television.
What the gym owners wanted more of from USA Gymnastics:
- the gym owners wanted, first and foremost, additional educational materials and opportunities. This was far and away the most pervasive and all encompassing finding in the entire survey. The educational information sought by club owners was overwhelmingly centered on the non-competitive aspects of the gym club operations including preschool programs, school-age and recreation programs, fitness programs including the Tyson Fitness Challenge, cheerleading, trampoline and tumbling, as well as gym business information, and promotional activities such as television commercials and more television exposure. But the gym owners still wanted additional training and educational opportunities for all levels and disciplines within the competitive programs offered by and through USA Gymnastics. Of course, many also wanted fees lowered.
Final thoughts: over 300 gyms from 41 states responded to the survey. The gyms ranged from the very small (20 students) to the very large (over 2,500 students) and every size in between. The oldest gym responding opened in 1949, the most recent in June, 2006. Most of the gyms offered competitive gymnastics though many did not. What became clear while organizing and compiling the data and reading the written responses, often very detailed and long responses, was the passion that the gymnastics community has for their sport and for the children who attend our programs. The simple act of responding to the survey was a demonstration of this passion as it took close to an hour to answer all the questions with care. (I know, I know. I lied when I implied that it would only take 30 minutes.) Thanks to all who took the time to complete the survey. Thank you for what you bring to your community. And thank you most of all for what you provide to the children who walk through your doors.
David Holcomb
Owner, Buckeye Gymnastics
7159 Northgate Way
Westerville, OH 43082
(614) 895-1611
(614) 895-7644 (fax)
[email protected]