There are thousands of rinks around the US that offer some degree of lower level figure skating instruction.
Some don't offer the ice time or coaching expertise to support even modest dreams of competitive training (juvenile/intermediate competition as an end goal) without traveling elsewhere, or could support individual skaters at that level but wouldn't have enough skaters at that level at the same time to put together group instruction.
So say there are hundreds of rinks around the country that do have skaters training to competitive levels with double jumps, and at each of these rinks a smaller subset of skaters who have the physical talent, ambition, and resources (time, money, etc.) to aim for triple+ jumps and higher level competition.
It could be possible for those rinks or clubs to offer academy-style training that would offer more supervised ice time and instruction in group contexts, at a lower financial cost to those skaters. Which might allow more of their would-be competitors to master all the Moves in the Field skills and double jumps at younger ages, and to make progress on learning double axels and triples.
At rinks/clubs with plenty of ice time, highly skilled coaches, and a large base population of potential competitive skaters who live nearby, those coaches might be able to grow an affordable program with double-digit numbers of elite-track competitors.
In most cases, it would be likely that those ambitious competitors would be training during school hours. So families would need to make other arrangements, which often cost more than attending public school, for their skaters to take advantage of the elite-track training.
And once such a program is successful, it would likely attract more skaters who commute longer distances or relocate to train there.
Which could be considered "training centers" -- maybe several dozen around the US.
But long commutes or relocating whole families (or splitting families so young skaters can leave home to train) are also expensive.
So even if the training itself is more affordable in an academy-style environment than in one where all figure skating instruction takes place in private lessons from the pre-preliminary/single jump level onward, for most would-be competitor and their families there will still be significant investments and sacrifices, financial and otherwise, to participate in elite-track training in a group environment.
Encouraging a group approach even at rinks/clubs that can sustain only recreational or mid-level competitive programs, from which the rare skater with elite potential would have to move elsewhere early on, as well as in those that can support elite training, would allow more skaters to get to that point more affordably. Especially for those lucky enough to live near a training center that they can start out at from the beginning.
And the group approach might also help the competitive mindset of skaters training alongside others of similar age and skill level.
But it wouldn't solve the problem for talented ambitious skaters who start out at smaller programs, especially those for whom relocating is not feasible. There just wouldn't be enough other skaters of similar age and skill level to push each other in the same way as is possible at a training center.
