Youth Climbing Team

---

General ages to join VRG climbing team is between 8 and 19 years old.

USAC separates climbing competitors into 5 age groups; Youth A, B, C, D and Junior divisions. Placement for these groupings will be determined by birth year for each gender. For September 2021 – August 2022, the birth year distinctions are as follows:

Youth D: Born 2011 or later

Youth C: Born 2009 – 2010

Youth B: Born 2007 – 2008

Youth A: Born 2005 – 2006

Junior: Born 2003 – 2004

While there is no lower age limit to join Youth D, we recommend participants to be 8 years old or older. We are open to having younger competitors on our team, but it is important to bear in mind that they will be competing and practicing alongside athletes up to 11 years old.

Athletes joining the climbing team at Valley Rock Gym must have a regular climbing practice of their own (of more than 6 months) or have participated in one of our general youth programs and have shown an interest in pursuing climbing as a long-term sport. 

The Valley Rock Gym climbing team will first and foremost work to foster a love of climbing and a deeply supportive and positive athletic community.

Our main pursuit will be to prepare for, and compete in, qualifying, regional, divisional, and national competitions in the 4 recognized disciplines of indoor rock climbing. At each practice we will focus on; movement drills on the wall, training adaptations that to keep athletes strong and healthy while climbing, mental strategies to promote confidence and high self-esteem, and learning the rules and safety protocols associated with competition climbing.

 Expert from USA Climbing 2020/2021 rule book, section 1.5.1;

“a) Lead/Top Rope, in which competitors are ranked based on their progression on one or more routes, where competitors may be secured by clipping into

protection points or by a ‘top rope’, subject to the specific competition rules; 

b) Bouldering, in which competitors are ranked based on the number of boulders completed and their progression on boulders not completed; 

c) Speed, in which competitors are ranked based on the time needed to climb a standard route, with the exception of Youth-C competitors who climb on a non-standard route; 

d) Combined, in which competitors are ranked based on a combination of their performances in multiple Disciplines, for example:

1. i) All-around Combined using Lead/Top Rope, Speed, and Bouldering; and

2. ii) Lead+Boulder Combined, using Lead/Top Rope and Bouldering.”

 Valley Rock Gym is best suited to practice for bouldering competitions, as most of our wall space is dedicated to bouldering. However, we plan to put equal emphasis on the lead/top rope discipline as well both at our facility, and with the possibility of practicing at other facilities. For each season we will switch our focus based on the most current competitions series and the interests of our youth competitors.

In our region, we do not have immediate, nor easy access to a competitive speed wall, but will do our best to find ways to engage interested competitors in this avenue of competition.

 To compete in USAC events, and earn points towards regional, divisional, and national qualification, each competitor must have an active competitor with USA Climbing.

This is an annual fee paid to USAC for $105.

Yes! Thanks to donations received to our youth programs scholarship fund, we are able to offer a limited number of scholarships each year. On our website, follow the ‘More’ tab to our Youth Programs section. There you will find our scholarship application form, that can be submitted via email to youth@valleyrockgym.com or dropped off in person to our front desk. 

Yes. Each enrollment period will allow new athletes to join the team at a time that will allow the whole group to be reintroduced to the concepts, procedures, and rules associated with that season's discipline. Below are the corresponding seasons and enrollment periods:

Enrollment period 1: Lead/Top Rope Season

Enrollment period 2: Speed Climbing Season

Enrollment period 3:  Bouldering season