Initially, my brother took me rock climbing as a fun activity when I was thirteen, since I was looking for a competitive sport at that time. As soon as I got into rock climbing, I started to love it, and the staff at the climbing gym were really nice. Eventually I got into a team, and my intermediate team coach, Ava, really inspired me to continue rock climbing.
The rock climbing gym I go to is The Peak and it’s really welcoming. While we do climb competitively, it doesn’t feel like a super competitive atmosphere. I also am in the club here at Irvington, and it is just as amazing as the team. We welcome people who don’t even climb, but we encourage them and sometimes they even turn out better than us. The club is just meeting up with club members and going climbing and there’s no competition. We welcome anyone who’s willing to join.
A challenge in rock climbing is that it’s physically hard, but it’s also meant to be hard. For me, I’m not that strong, and I get demotivated when I have a climb that requires me to pull up or jump to a climb. But I think it’s the people who surround me that motivate me to try harder and eventually improve. To get over these challenges you obviously can work out and target the muscles that you need, but the best way to get over the challenge is to keep trying.
My favorite part of rock climbing is the people. Some of the people I’ve met through climbing are my closest friends right now. The most rewarding part is when you finally get a climb that you’ve been working on; we call it projecting. So when you project a climb and you finally get it, you hear everyone cheer for you, and it’s really rewarding
To someone who is scared to start rock climbing, I can’t say don’t be scared, because I was definitely scared. But think of rock climbing as a roller coaster, and right after you get off the roller coaster, you feel really relieved. This is the same as getting over your fears. I’m still scared to this day, and I nervously shake when I’m really high up, but it’s an amazing experience. I definitely encourage everyone to start.
Something I’ve learned from rock climbing is mental perseverance. Last year I was super defeated, and I kept wanting to quit and give up because I was not a good climber. However, the people surrounding me taught me to keep on going since no matter how you are doing, you are still improving. The general culture and rock climbing community is really tight knit, and it’s easy to join because we are really welcoming. You can come up to any climber and can have a genuine, heartfelt conversation. I really like that about my sport.
