Well I have to agree if you grow the hobby , everything else wil grow with it .
As I stated earlier I know quite a few kids that started with foam , never joined the AMA or a club , evloved to glow and flew at larger school fields ect , and then grew into glow/gas larger planes , joined the club scene and the AMA .
It was all a part of the desire and love to fly models vs the need to to "join somthing "
It happened in a natural sucesssion on progressively wanting bigger and better models .