One of the harder aspects of my being injured this past 6 months has been how to channel my obsession for climbing into something more productive than just aimlessly surfing 8a.nu scorecards. Besides this blog (which has turned into a great outlet), I have also been able to focus a great deal of time on coaching a youth climbing team. I had been helping out with the team for a couple of years, but this spring marked the first time I was actually “in charge”.
So far it has been really fun sharing my passion for climbing with the kids of all ages, and they don’t seem to think that I am too big of a climbing dork…yet. There are two parts that are really my favorites. First, it is really cool to put together workouts and actually see that it is helping kids to climb stronger and smarter. Second, it is really fun to be able to offer kids the opportunity to climb outside which isn’t always the easiest when you live where we live (Wisconsin).
This year we have gone to Devil’s Lake to boulder, and we have also gone to Iowa to sport climb. Neither is a world class destination for those climbing disciplines, but they were good experiences and we got to get out and do some climbing that has turned out really well. Tomorrow, the wife character and I leave with a group of 15 kids/parents from the team for a long weekend at the Red River Gorge. Should be a fun 🙂
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