The Youth Series

I just realized that I really haven't documented the entire Youth Series and all of the steps one has to go through as one competes. I think back to the photo above when Brendan came in 6th at his Divisional comp when he was 10 years old. He comes over to me and says, 'Mom, I'm going to Nationals!!" and I said "What?? We have to go where??" He took This photo with Megan Martin in 2017 at the Youth National Competition in Salt Lake City, 8-time American Ninja Warrior, and many other shows. Below, see Brendan with Ashima Shiraishi, an unbelievably gifted female climber. We were also fortunate to see Kai Lightner climb that year. It was truly an inspirational experience.

But how does one make it all the way there? As a resident of Alaska (or Hawaii), Brendan never had to compete in Qualifying Competitions. This was not an advantage as some would think, but it did save us on extra trips out of the State of Alaska. What he did not get was all of that competition training that is really valuable. But at $1000 a trip (and now it's almost double that) to get out of our state, the Bye to Regionals for Alaska residents is a lifesaver.

But now that Brendan is going to college in the State of Colorado, he is competing there in Region 42. So, for the first time, he has to do a Qualifying Event (QE). So for those of you not in the 49th or 50th States or for my Alaskan moms who what to know more about QEs, here is what I am learning...

First things first: GET THE WAIVERS DONE! Every gym requires a waiver for your climber and any adult who will be spectating. I can't tell you how many comps I've arrived at with the line out the door because people forgot to plan ahead and do a waiver for their climber and everyone else in their party watching.

Each Region, except Alaska and Hawaii, will hold between 4 and 8 QEs for the Boulder Season and the same for Rope season.   Be sure to register your competitor for the correct year. USA Climbing has put out new age groups to better match the International Climbing organizations.  For the most current information, check USA Climbing's Youth Page HERE for Youth Series resources. A competitor earns points according to what place finish they earn at the QE. Here is the table used for the first 60 spots of a category:

As you can see, if a competitor does more than one QE, their top two scores are added together for a final value. Regional rankings come out about a week after a QE or sometimes sooner. They are also changing from one QE to the next depending on how many QEs a climber participates in. So, in theory, if you do more than one QE, you can improve your ranking by adding more points. This reminds me of the NACS rankings...

Here is a helpful page on How to read Boulder scores.

Now, for the part I always forget. The progression in the Youth Series is as follows:

• QUALIFICATION EVENT: The top 26 competitors from each Region category QE rankings go on to Regionals.
• REGIONALS: The top 13 competitors from each category of each Regional Championship advance to Divisionals(1 day, single-round competition).
• DIVISIONALS: The top 13 from Qualifications advance to the Divisional Finals (2 Days, Qualification and Finals on two separate days)
• The top 6 competitors from each Divisional Championship category Final advance to Nationals
• NATIONALS:  The top 5 competitors from each category at Nationals advance to Youth Worlds. (3 rounds of competition: Qualification, Semi-Finals, and Finals, Semis and Finals often on the same day.)
• National Qualifications - top 20 advance to Semis
• Semis - top 10 advance to Finals
• Finals - top 5 advance to Worlds
• YOUTH WORLDS:  (That's a whole other ball of wax - Brendan has aged out so I won't be much help on this one.)

*One interesting note: The top 6 climbers in the Bouldering categories (male/female) and the top 3 climbers in Lead (male/female) are automatically qualified for the Elite Yetli National Championships.

If your climber is turning 18 during this competitive year, they must complete the SafeSport training on the USA Climbing Sport 80 account. They will not be able to register for a competition during that year if the training is not completed. Don't miss this!!

If you haven't seen my first post on prepping for comps, read it next HERE.

BONUS HEALTH TIP: ALWAYS wear a mask in the airport/on the plane after a comp. Brendan got sick every time because he would have a compromised immune system and pick something up from the plane on the way back. When he started masking up after comps to travel home, NO PROBLEMS!

BONUS: After the comp, there is a handy way to download all scores. In the upper right-hand corner of the results page, click the three dots and download the file.

EVEN BETTER!!! CHECK OUT THIS WEBSITE:

The USAC Climbing Competition Data Project stores everything so you don't have to! For a mom who should have been paying attention to gathering data 7 years ago, this helps a lot! Find it HERE.

HAVE A GREAT COMP YEAR EVERYONE!

    AND CLIMB ON!