Gone are the days of rock climbing where participants were either hardcore wall rats or adventure-sorts taking long expeditions into the mountains. Even as toddlers, humans have an innate desire to climb. As the popularity of rock climbingincreases, so too does the ability for the average person to experience this activity in a non-threatening, controlled environment. With the introduction of indoor climbing gyms, walls in recreation centers and health clubs, and portable climbing walls at fairs and community events, youngsters and adult newbies alike are able to test this sport without a ton of equipment, know-how, or travel. As new recreation facilities are built and old ones renovated, climbing walls are being specified as centerpieces. Not only does this feature allow an agency to create new programming options for its customers, it also serves as a focal point to attract new people to purchase memberships. The climbing wall at the Livonia Community Recreation Center in Mich igan “stands 42 feet tall and is one of the focal points of our facility,” says Kevin Flohr, the center’s climbing-wall coordinator. “You can see it from anywhere in the facility.” Indeed, a climbing wall that loomsover the rows of ellipticals and stair climbers and free-weight area looks impressive. Used as an immediate marketing tool for the facility, the climbing wall attracts potential users to the facility—even if they don’t plan on using it.
Programming Points
In addition to being a great marketing asset and showpiece, a climbing wall allows an array of money-generating program options. The sky really is the limit regarding what a recreation center staff can do with a climbing program. When developing your climbing programming, consider your users and what they will be expecting. Segment your potential user groups by age: youth, teens, and adults. If the goal is to have all groups use your wall, you’ll want to provide proper programming for members of each category. The variety of programming for your youngest users is abundant. They will require the opportunity to get their feet wet in this activity. Similar to a mommy- (or daddy-) and-me swim class, a family climbing session gives youngsters the support and encouragement they need to feel comfortable climbing for the first time. Many youngsters are apprehensive upon seeing the sheer size of the wall,but their comfort level will increase with their parents’ encouragement. In this family class setting, while the kids are busy climbing the wall, the parents are on the ground learning with the guidance of a climbing-wall instructor: how to tie knots, how to belay (holding the rope, taking up the slack, and lowering the climber back to the ground), and how to keep the family safe withverbal commands.“The nice thing about our family lesson,” says Dawn Walden, wall coordinator at the Centre of Elgin in Illinois, “is that the family can come back at a future date, and, if the parents can show proficiency in belaying and knot-tying, they are checked out to belay for each other and for the kids so they can continue to use and enjoy the climbing wall without having to pay the additional fee to rent a belayer.” The Centre of Elgin offers a six-week, one-hour-long class for kids each Saturday morning. These classes, which are broken down by age, teach kids basic climbing skills. “We started to notice that Wee Rock, our program for 5- and 6-year-olds, tended to always fill, so we’ve played with the schedule a bit,” says Walden, “During some weeks, we might offer two sessions of Wee Rock at two different times, and we’ve experimented with offering them later in the morning when the youngest [kids] aren’t so wound up or half asleep.” Noticing these tendencies and making adjustments to schedules can makelessons run much smoother.
