A Climbing Mom's Musings: Training camps...endless possibilities.

Reach Philadelphia Pre-Nationals Training Camp, 2023

I have to confess, I really didn't know much about the possibility of training camps around the country. But after a simple Google search on Pre-national climbing camps, my eyes were opened! I found the above camp after seeing a Facebook post in our Region about the event and thought it would be a great opportunity. It had great coaches and promised competition-level route setting. The gym itself was an amazing resource with walls 58 feet high, thousands of square feet of bouldering, and a two-lane 15-meter IFSC / Olympic regulation speed wall. It was amazing to see him on those walls and see what he could do.

But a fringe benefit of going to a camp like this is not just for the climber, but also for the climbing mom/parent. I got to meet moms and dads from all over the East Coast and compare notes on being climbing parents. It was interesting hearing about how things are in other major city centers with more gyms and teams. It was also reassuring to hear that the struggle of finding climbing shoes is the same for everyone, even kids in the lower 48...see my previous post. There were parents from all over the world, which was really interesting. There was one climber from Israel. I thought we had come the farthest away (Alaska), but they had us beat! I highly recommend trying one of these camps. They have done amazing things for Brendan!