Robert Mcgrady - 164217

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Indoor Climbing Record

Details

Date : 01/02/2025

Duration : 3-5 hours

Grade : N/A

Grade : N/A

Style : Coaching Session

Type : Bouldering

Routes : 15

Flagged :

Description

5 sessions today:
- Junior Bouldering (up to NIBAS 2) - 8 participants
- Junior Progression (up o NIBAS 2) - 8 participants
- Youth Bouldering (up to NIBAS 2) - 4 participants
- Youth Progression (up to NIBAS 2) - 8 participants
- Youth Advanced (NIBAS Level 3 +) - 5 participants
This was a cover shift for a coach who was ill.
Junior Bouldering (6-11yrs old) - Started with the Squish warm up game as a whole group of 16 before moving on to mobility exercises and splitting the group between myself and Sam. I took my group to the yellow traverse wall and we practiced pointing toes when placing our feet on the yellow traverse and then progressing the challenge by repeating the yellow traverse, but without being able to use the yellow foot holds and having to rely on the small holds from other problems. While running this session I spotted 3 student who were much more able and safety conscious than the rest of the group. I spoke to their parents after the session about enrolling them into NICAS on the later sessions and all 3 have now started their NICAS journey with us at Bloc. Session finished with a debrief and maintenance stretching.
Junior Progression (6 - 11 yrs old) - Follow the leader warm up with this group, followed by mobility exercises. I had intended for one of the students to run the warm up for their NICAS sign off, but they weren't confident in doing so. We then split the group we the NICAS level two climbers with me. Todays theme for all my NICAS sessions is footwork. So I got the bells out and told all the climbers to strap the bells to the top of their shoes and climb:
x4 VB-VO
x4 V1- V2
But, if their bells rang, they had to come down and re-attempt the problem. The climbers loved the challenge and we discussed the importance of foot work and energy conservation. Once they had completed the first 8 problems, I allowed the group to climb any problem of their choice, but they weren't allowed to take the bells off. Most climbers were able to to climb V3-4 without making the bells ring, which was impressive. We then discussed how it felt to climb knowing you had to take such care and attention to placing your feet and what effect that had on the rest of the climbing. For most it slowed their climbing and they found they were move balanced and considerate of their movements. For a couple, they complained that their arms got pumped quickly. Which lead to an interesting conversation about how easy it is to start pulling on your arms when your paying so much attention to your feet and how to rectify this with perfect practice.
Remember: practice does not make perfect! Perfect practice make perfect. Practise itself, just makes permanence.

Youth Bouldering (11 - 17yrs) - The warm up was delivered by one of the climbers as part of their NICAS sign off. Todays theme for all my NICAS sessions is footwork. So I got the bells out and told all the climbers to strap the bells to the top of their shoes and climb:
x4 VB-VO
x4 V1- V2
But, if their bells rang, they had to come down and re-attempt the problem. The climbers loved the challenge and we discussed the importance of foot work and energy conservation. Once they had completed the first 8 problems, I took the group to the slab wall as they struggle more with this exercise than the previous group. Most climbers were then able to to climb V3-4 without making the bells ring. We then discussed how it felt to climb knowing you had to take such care and attention to placing your feet, what effect that had on the rest of the climbing and how terrain make placing your feet easier or harder. - This group struggled with this exercise on a slightly overhanging wall, but excelled on slabs. For most it slowed their climbing and they found they were move balanced and considerate of their movements. For a couple, they complained that their arms got pumped quickly. Which lead to an interesting conversation about how easy it is to start pulling on your arms when your paying so much attention to your feet and how to rectify this with perfect practice.
Remember: practice does not make perfect! Perfect practice make perfect. Practise itself, just makes permanence.

Youth Progression (11-17 years old) - We asked Huey to run the warm up as part of his level two syllabus requirement. He ran the warm up well, and delivered appropriate mobility exercises. We then split the group down and I took half. Todays theme for all my NICAS sessions is footwork. So I got the bells out and told all the climbers to strap the bells to the top of their shoes and climb:
x4 VB-VO
x4 V1- V2
But, if their bells rang, they had to come down and re-attempt the problem. This group were apprehensive as to the importance of this exercise and didn't see the point as long as your feet stuck to a hold. They also didn't see it possible for harder problems, so I had to demonstrate a V5 problem with the bells on my feet to show that it was indeed possible to climb harder problems without heavy and/or uncontrolled foot movements. After the demonstration, they saw merit and attempted to climb normally without making their bells ring. This session showed the importance of how a demonstration can be keystone moment for some young climbers. During the session we discussed the importance of precise and considered footwork, with most students then making progress on their projects, because they were taking a bit more time with their placements.
Youth Advanced (11-17years old) - Coach lead warm up, for the cardio element I did follow the leader and got the group to follow me on laps of an area, moving in different and more challenging ways relating back to the ABC's of movement (agility balance, co-ordination) and then went through a full mobility warm up. Todays theme for all my NICAS sessions is footwork. So I got the bells out and told all the climbers to strap the bells to the top of their shoes and climb:
x4 VB-VO
x4 V1- V2
But, if their bells rang, they had to come down and re-attempt the problem. This group excelled at this straight away and when I took them to the slabs, were able to climb up to V5 without making their bells make a sound. We discussed the importance of revisiting footwork every now and again to ensure that we are moving in the most efficient way. After this, most of the students took their bells off, a couple kept them on and we looked at the slab and cave sets. Today was a big day for Iris as we managed to complete her Level 3 NICAS syllabus. It was also a big day for Evie, as she managed to send her V4 project on a big wall. Bear in mind she is very small in height for her age, this was a huge accomplishment, with the group and her dad applauding her when we got the send. She was absolutely beaming when she came down and then went on to flash a further two V4 problems. She's putting in some serious effort to improve her climbing and her confidence and I think today's session will do wonders for her confidence.

Area : Bloc Climbing - Bristol

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