10 Unfiltered Opinions About the Cheer Industry Right Now

Dan is back in the studio after three months on the road, and he has some hot takes about what he's been seeing across the cheer industry. In this episode, Dan works through 10 topics that have been on his mind this summer, starting with why he believes coaching private lessons is easier than teaching classes and why the days of spending $100 on Facebook ads and expecting a flood of new members are over. He also gets into the growing amount of AI-generated instructional content in cheer, why underperforming staff are often undertrained and undersupervised, and how the language coaches use can impact an athlete's confidence and development. Dan also shares his thoughts on parents stepping in every time their child faces adversity, the major Worlds division changes happening this season, and why cheer gyms need to stop fighting over athletes when there's a much bigger market of kids who aren't involved in the sport at all. He wraps up with one of his strongest takes: when things aren't going right in your gym, the first place you need to look is at yourself as the owner. Before you dive in, make sure you're in the Cheer Gym Owners and All-Star Cheer Coaches and Owners Facebook groups, and if you want to learn directly from Dan's team, check out the upcoming Cheer Biz Accelerator events.