A Climbing Mom's Musings

Monday, January 20, 2025

Teenage conversation starter: mom is learning to climb!

Well, this empty nester thing isn't so bad. I have come up with an ingenious way to talk to our son more:

LEARN TO CLIMB. Honestly, I don't know why I didn't do this before.

It really has been eye-opening trying to do the things Brendan has to do to train for climbing. Now...I'm not going crazy here...but I am trying to get to the gym 4 times a week (!), eat right, get good sleep, drink collagen, and recover from my sessions. It has really been interesting to combine working with climbing, which is not easy!

I have set some goals for myself. The biggest one is to be lead certified by the time Brendan graduates from College...we'll see! 😂😁😆😅

I do see new things about climbing that I didn't before: the social side of it, the thrill of pushing yourself to new heights (pun intended), working on my footwork (🙄 why can't I match feet???) and just having fun with your friends. I'm even toying with the idea of doing a competition...(UPDATE: yep, I'm doing it!) The teacher inside of me loves to experience what my students do, or, in this case, my son does. I'm getting a great workout and as you saw in my previous post about all women's climbing travel tour groups, I HAVE BIG PLANS!

CLIMB ON!

Mom in the Chair!

As Brendan gets busier and busier with College, it is increasingly hard for one person to manage all of the fees, registration dates, and deadlines for climbing. Maybe I am a mom who doesn't want to let go of being in her son's life, which is probably true. But my son does see value in having me be the keeper of the calendar and registrations.

As you can imagine, there are a lot of competitions in the State of Colorado, plus the Youth, Elite, and Collegiate circuits. I print out 12 months from my Apple calendar and keep a running tab on all of them. Plus, I am making sure Brendan gets his waivers done now that he is 18.

I also use the app Tripit to keep tabs on all of the travel arrangements when he has to travel and remind him which comps he needs rides to. Without a team that would oversee all of this, I still help. Other college parents can shame me, but for a new Freshman trying to figure things out, I don't want to hang my kid out to dry and leave him to the winds on his own!

Not to mention scholarship management! If you have a kid in college and have tried to navigate the scholarship world, you know what a daunting task that is! Navigating health insurance and deductibles, dealing with the government (for us in Alaska, filling out your Permanent Fund Dividend for the first time!), it's a lot.

I say there are some young adults who still need some management help when navigating a new life direction. And there is nothing wrong with that! I just stay out of his other business unless asked. 😉

CLIMB ON!

Saturday, November 16, 2024

Traveling Solo as an Eighteen Year Old

Yet again, I have run into something that I hope no other parent has to go through...

Now that Brendan is traveling solo for various Competitions around the State of Colorado, he has discovered that turning 18 is less cool than he thought.

I called a hotel to ask if he could check in alone as an 18-year-old and I was assured he could. Then they directed me to their reservations line, and I asked the same question. Again, I was assured this would be no problem.

Well, guess what? It was...this hotel actually turned him away. He called me. I told them that since they took our money without telling us that each hotel is independently operated and can make their own policies regarding 18-year-old solo travelers, they needed to help my son. I demanded a full refund and their assistance in finding my son a place to stay since I am 3,000 miles away. Next time, I will be getting the name of every person I talk to as well as asking to speak to a manager to verify.

Ultimately, they did find him a place. But I can't help but be disappointed. I will never use this Hotel chain again and promptly sent a letter to their corporate customer service. The possibility of influencing his preparation for the next day cannot be understated, not to mention that he might not have had a place to stay for the night is something no parent wants to think about.

The advice I can give is to check, check again, and triple-check when making reservations for your solo traveling 18-year-old. Now Brendan knows, as an 18-year-old, he can vote, and die for his country, but cannot check into a hotel of his choosing or rent a car. Moving on...

SOLUTION FOUND! AirBnBs! Don't know why I hadn't thought of this sooner! It is super easy: all the app requires is one adult older than 13. I am still going to check each property though.

2nd SOLUTION FOUND! Zipcars. Most universities have Zipcars on their campus. It is the only rental car an 18-year-old is able to rent on their own. A year's membership was about $35. Find it at www.zipcar.com

CLIMB ON!

Sunday, November 10, 2024

Sponsorships and how get them...

Photo Credit: @qb.photo.ak

I hesitated to write this post since Brendan is not yet stacked with sponsorships. But hey, I figure inquiring minds want to know...

Despite all of the expenses that come with climbing, it could be worse. It’s not like hockey or skiing…But even so, I got tired of paying for the litany of things he needed. So I said to Brendan, “you need to find someone to help pay for all this.” Well, Brendan and I were in full scholarship-seeking mode and started to do the same thing for finding sponsorships. Basically, all one has to do is ask.

Brendan started finding companies with a 'Become An Ambassador' page or a 'Our Athletes' page. Some of them had a link to apply to be considered. Since Brendan really liked his Gomi Butora shoes, that was the first one he applied to. It just so happened that his coach is also a Butora athlete, so a good recommendation always helps.

The main thing, as with any endeavor, is to network. It's all about who you know. Brendan has started meeting a lot of people as we have been traveling around the country. So encourage your climber to climb hard, get people's attention, and ask to be sponsored.

Hey, you never know. 🤷

CLIMB ON!

Instagram: brendan______w

Saturday, November 9, 2024

Spectating from afar

I have to say, a tough part of the parent's adjustment to the Collegiate Climbing Circuit is not being able to see my kid climb anymore. I prided myself on never missing Brendan climb. But now with him in Colorado, that just isn't possible anymore. Plus, he has a competition almost every Saturday now! He is thriving, but my husband and I are left to mull about the house thirsty for information.

I have gotten really good at finding internet sources to tell me what is going on. The first question is: Did he make it to the comp? Colorado is having a huge snowstorm right now, with road closures all over the state (Really? I guess I am just a jaded Alaskan...). Okay, so I have Find Your iPhone for that answer. Yes, he made it to the gym. Pro Tip: if your climber is flying and you want to track their flight, Flight Aware is a great app. Or, if you have an iPhone, text the flight number to yourself. It will appear underlined; long press the flight number and a flight preview with a map of where the plane's flight time/arrival in real-time will appear.

The next question is: How comp savvy is the gym he is at? Some local comps will periodically (maybe) post updates to their Instagram stories, video clips, or still photos. I scour the posts to see if I see Brendan. ("There he is!" and a celebration ensues while running to tell hubby.)

The third question is: What is his score??? Well if it is a USA Climbing event, there is a results page that is updated in real time. So I get out the official manuals to understand the scoring and imagine the rest. This is as close as I can get to being there! We were super lucky to have one gym livestream the Qualification round and the Finals round. We didn't have good camera luck but did get to see Brendan a couple of times on the wall. But we were so grateful to have that!

Sometimes we get lucky and a friend from home visits Brendan. Here he is (below) with a fellow Alaskans at the Battle for the Fort 2024 at Ascent Studios in Fort Collins. This is a massive comp with Olympians showing up every year. What a great experience to be there for! But still, some gyms take days to post the results from a competition (Hey! Don't forget about us little people far away, please!)

Well, here I sit passing the time with this post waiting for scores to come in at his first Collegiate Qualifying Event combined with a local competition called Longtucky Showdown. Stay strong Climbing moms and

CLIMB ON!

Battle for the Fort at Ascent Climbing Studio.

Back to today: The wait was long but worth it!

And he came in 3rd in the Finals round overall at Longtucky!!

Monday, October 28, 2024

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!

Sunday, October 20, 2024

The Collegiate Circuit

I have to say, the Collegiate Division is getting clearer for me. After reading the rules for the Collegiate season, I can boil things down to this for you.

All Collegiate climbers must get a Collegiate membership. This will be in addition to your Youth/Elite membership. I have them both on auto-renew as they expire at different times. Now, with the Collegiate one, your climber has to show proof of enrollment at a college. The way you do that is to submit an accepted document. Brendan used his schedule which shows his name, his school, his schedule, AND his student ID. All of these items must be on the accepted document.

The season starts with Qualification Events (QE) from roughly October to March. Each athlete must compete in one of them. From there, that qualifies them to register for a Collegiate Nationals Qualification Event (CNQE) anywhere in the country. If successful, meaning they score in the top 8 in their category, they would move on to Collegiate Nationals and then Collegiate Worlds.

The document on QEs states that the bulk of the setting will be for climbers at the average level. There should be one climb that everyone can top. However, there will also be one boulder that challenges the national-level climber. This climb will feature "moves that require good timing, precision, coordination, or complex movement, rather than using traditional 'hard' rock climbing problems on an overhang, and 'easy' problems on vertical terrain."

The Collegiate Nationals Qualification Event (CNQE) is held in various locations around the country, roughly in April. There are two scheduled weekends for these to occur in the 24-25 season. The total capacity at CNQEs is 160 with each category having up to 50 competitors. A competitor may only compete at one CNQE and they can compete in both boulder and lead if they wish. The category that is chosen will be the same if the climber makes it to nationals. As previously stated, only the top 8 in each category will advance to Collegiate Nationals.

At the Collegiate Nationals, here is what I have found so far: There are two rounds; Qualifications and Finals.

The top 20 climbers advance to Finals in each discipline.
The top 5 climbers advance to the Collegiate World Championship
Only the advanced category will receive invitations to the Worlds which happens every other year. The next is in 2026.
And if you are in the top 3 in your category or represent the US at Collegiate Worlds, you are pre-qualified for next year’s CNQE.

On the off chance Brendan or anyone makes it to Collegiate Worlds, here is the breakdown of the progression:

BOULDER: There are 3 Rounds - Qualifications, Semi-Finals, and Finals

The top 20 moves on to the Semi-Final round
The top 6 moves to the Final round

LEAD: There are 2 Rounds - Qualifications, and Finals

The top 8 moves on to the Finals

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

So for Brendan's first year in college, he is participating in three circuits: Youth (last year M20), Elite, and Collegiate!

*At the time of this writing, no official information has been posted on CNQE or the National Championship. I will update this post when they become available and tell you what our experience is!

Don't forget to check out your climber's stats at the Competition Database HERE.