Getting the Most From Your Climbing Wall
The BMC have produced an article (‘Climbing in Schools’) with advice and guidance for schools with roped climbing walls or low-level traversing walls. Here you will find information about how to safely get the most from a facility, how to increase the use of a facility and how to improve the quality of coaching and instruction.
Wall Safety & Management
Safety is an essential consideration for any school with a climbing wall and any coach, instructor or climber using such a facility.
Do you know how to manage your climbing wall? Do you understand how to maintain the wall, clean the holds and set new climbs or problems on a wall? Do you understand the limitations associated with staff experience, knowledge and qualifications? Do you understand the legal requirements for ‘working at height’?
If the answer is ‘no’ to any of the above then you should read the BMC Climbing Wall Manual available from the BMC and then consider attending some further training.
To maintain safety standards it is advisable to have more than one person in a school who has undertaken appropriate wall management and wall safety training (see below).
Staff Training
There are several options that would be appropriate for staff working within a school environment covering Wall Management, Safety Considerations and Technical Movement Skills.
1. Most climbing wall manufacturers offer training on the use of the walls they install. This is a great way to undertake training on the specific features of your wall.
2. Site specific CPD can also be gained by using a Climbing Technical Advisor. It is recommended that all climbing walls have a Technical Advisor who is able to advise on a range of issues. To find the best person in your area we suggest that you speak with your local climbing walls and make contact with their Technical Advisor, or contact theAssociation of Mountaineering Instructors (AMI).
3. Coaching basic fundamental climbing skills is not that difficult for someone with teaching skills. The BMC runs a programme of full-dayFundamentals workshops, of which The FUNdamentals of Climbing 1would be the most appropriate for staff to attend as it focuses on the important themes that underpin climbing movement; agility, balance and coordination; awareness of the body’s centre of gravity, and the relationship between weight transfer and economy of movement. TheBMC FUNdamentals webpage provides more information about the programme, dates and booking procedures. Cost for the workshop is £80 per person per workshop, or £65 for BMC members.
4. A FUNdamentals for Climbing workshop could also be delivered on your school site for up to 8 members of staff. This would be particularly appropriate if you have many staff requiring training and/or you wish to organise the training with another local school. This bespoke-workshop can also be adapted to include elements of route setting. This option would cost approximately £375 + VAT for the day for the trainer. A list of trainers is available by e-mailing BMC Training Officer Jon Garside.
5. You may wish to obtain the nationally recognised Climbing Wall Award. This award is aimed at active climbers who wish to learn how to lead sessions and it requires attendance at a 2-day course followed by logging practice hours and an assessment. The course starts at £100 (depending on location and whether accommodation is provided) and the assessment is from £70. A minimum of 3 months is required between attending the course and the assessment, although there is no maximum time limit applied to complete the course. Further information about the CWA can be found on the Mountain Training website.
6. Mountain Training also administer a national coaching scheme, the training pathway for which includes the FUNdamentals of Climbing workshops. There are currently two levels, Foundation Coach and Development Coach. The former is available to those under 18 years of age, providing a site-specific qualification for students and teachers who may wish to coach only on their school wall.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) state that there are four ways for leaders to demonstrate their competence, which are: to hold the relevant qualification; to hold an equivalent qualification; to have received appropriate in-house training; to be competent through experience. It is essential that schools understand the relevance of each competency to the situation within their school. Your chosen Technical Advisor will be able to advise further.
Pupil award schemes
There are two award schemes for young people.
NICAS (National Indoor Climbing Award Scheme) is a well-established scheme for 7yrs+ run over 5 levels. The scheme has seen many thousands of young people participate - starting from absolute beginners and becoming an elite climber.
Many schools already deliver NICAS. To sign up check out the information on the NICAS FAQ webpage. For those schools delivering the Edexcel PE GCSE, NICAS awards are now accepted as part of their assessment.
The other scheme is called NIBAS, and is the bouldering equivalent of NICAS. It is due for release in February 2014.
The article was written by Jane Edwards for the BMC website (www.thebmc.co.uk).