Children’s sport and mentorship franchise, Sport Star Academy is moving west, with founder and CEO Peter Nikolakopoulos confirming the brand had secured a Western Australian foundation franchisee.
The Melbourne-based coaching business had been focusing predominantly on New South Wales and Victorian expansion, but the developing sport culture out west had proved too strong to ignore.
“It’s happened really quickly, which has been great,” Nikolakopoulos said. “I think that’s a reflection of some of the working conditions over there at the moment, we present a really good option for people who are looking to get out of corporate life. That seems to be a similarity we’ve found among the people we’ve been talking to.”
The WA expansion announcement follows a big 2018 that saw Sport Star Academy beef up its commitment to leadership both on and off the field.
Speaking with Inside Franchise Business in January, Nikolakopoulos said the brand had evolved from more than just a sport coaching and children’s services franchise, into an immersive, values driven organisation.
“Movement of change is something that I’m really passionate about, it’s the total leadership and vision of where we’re going as a business,” Nikolakopoulos said.
“It’s important to remember that skills aren’t the only thing they learn. You find that by having professional coaches and mentors working on a grassroots level, the impact, and what they absorb can really help them throughout their life journey.”
A part of Sport Star Academy’s commitment to education through sport, Nikolakopoulos met with a number of schools on his latest recruitment and engagement drive, yielding some unprecedented results.
“There’s a huge demand for this kind of model in Perth. While we were over there, visited 13 schools and we had 13 schools register their interest, so 100 per cent of the organisations we spoke with responded positively to the model,” Nikolakopoulos said.
The former professional footballer has big plans for the state, indicating further growth is in the immediate future.
“Realistically, we have five sessions already booked in, so that roughly equates to around 20 franchises we’re hoping to launch over the next six to twelve months,” Nikolakopoulos said.
As with all growth areas, Nikolakopoulos said he would anchor expansion for WA, long-known for its AFL associations, with soccer, before adding more sports to the mix.
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