CWA Blog Archive-Onward And Upward Gym Owners Look Into 2021

Onward And Upward Gym Owners Look Into 2021

Pdf Summary

This article gathers reflections from gym owners across the US and Canada on how they endured 2020 and their outlook heading into 2021. It opens acknowledging that 2020's impact on the industry, members, and people as individuals is still being understood, and that in a way we're still in the thick of it, with one obstacle overcome just as another forms on the horizon. But it strikes a characteristically climbing metaphor: as climbers, we inherently keep moving upward, hoping to finally reach that rest jug, and if not, gritting our teeth and digging in. The article features Tom Davis, owner of Pacific Edge Climbing Gym in Santa Cruz, California. Asked by the CWA's Jake Byk what kept him going in such a fraught year, Davis points to endurance and love: they've been in business over 27 years, love what they do, love climbing, and love the community, and won't let any of that go no matter what. Asked what best practices he'd recommend to other owners given how COVID changed operations, Davis begins making the case that a well-run climbing gym poses minimal risk for transmitting disease, far less than commonly assumed. The throughline is that gym owners weathered the extraordinary challenges of 2020 through resilience, love of the work and community, and adaptation, and entered 2021 with cautious hope rather than defeat.

Asset Caption

This piece gathers gym owners' reflections on surviving 2020 and their hopes for 2021, framed by the climbing metaphor of always moving upward. Pacific Edge's Tom Davis credits 27 years of loving the work and community for his endurance, and begins arguing that a well-run gym poses minimal disease-transmission risk, offering peers solidarity and perspective.