By Taylor Foster
Did you know that indoor climbing is a competitive sport just like soccer, baseball, tennis and swimming? Although Sportrock has always provided various levels of training for our youth climbers, we’ve been stepping up our level of training. We are the only gym in the greater DC area with a full-sized 15 meter Speed wall – equipped with all the bells and whistles – in addition to our 60-foot walls! With all of these upgrades, we have quickly become a destination hotspot for competitors looking to train.
So, what does this all mean?
It means our kids are crushing it at climbing competitions this season!
This year, Sportrock had 18 kids qualify to compete at Divisionals in Columbus, OH. This is one of the highest numbers of competitors we’ve seen from our gyms! Out of those 18 competing, we have 11 heading to Nationals for Speed, and five for Sport! These kids are the cream of the crop and are in our facilities training week in and week out. This is only the start for them. The Olympics in 2020 held in Tokyo will be the first ever to feature competitive indoor climbing. It’s a good thing we have those 60-foot walls!
Competitor Breakdown from Divisionals, Summer 2018
Check out the official results here! But we’ve broken it down for you below.
Speed:
Jacob Zippel – 2nd
Aidan Cumming – 6th
Ellie Sepulveda – 2nd
Kristen Koh – 5th
Swarna Shah – 6th
Joey Murphy – 1st
Sarah Murphy – 7th
Christopher Draper – 8th
Caden Green – 1st
Zac Baker – Nationals Qualifier
Andrew Yoo – Nationals Qualifier
Sport:
Ellie Sepulveda-3rd
Swarna Shah – 2nd
Sarah Murphy – 3rd
Emily LeClair – 5th
Caden Green- 3rd
Competitive Indoor Climbing
Climbing is broken up into two seasons: Bouldering in the fall, Sport and Speed in the spring. The kids must attend two local competitions to qualify for Regionals. From there, the top 10 kids from each age category move on to compete in Divisionals. And then, the top 6 from Divisionals head to Nationals.
Competing at this level is no easy feat. Kids from all over the country are training ferociously to be able to stay on top of the competition and we are excited that families are beginning to seek out Sportrock for its many resources, training camps, and coaching staff to help their young climbers succeed.
Climbing is a year-round sport with fluctuating team membership as the season progresses. We do our best to work with our members and give them the information they need to know when and where the kids will be training. Be sure to take the time to talk with the kids and the coaches when you see them around the gym. We are all one community and want to work together so we can all utilize our gym as effectively as possible.
If your child is interested in joining one of the Sportrock Youth Teams, you can find info here!