There are a lot of parents who are thinking about getting their kids into rock climbing,
and when they came to me to ask me some specific questions, I was like "Uh, I am not sure
but I know rock climbing is amazing."
They also ask other parents who also never climbed before.
Or they ask climbing coaches, whose job is to sell you their services, and for some weird
reason, they never ask the kids who are actually involved.
So I decided to work with Hugo to get the answers directly from the kids.
Hugo.
Thanks, Geek Climber.
Hi, my name is Hugo, and I've been around to some different climbing gyms to interview other
kids about rock climbing.
Here is some of the answers I got.
Is rock climbing safe for kids?
I think it's pretty safe.
If you do it properly, of course.
As long as they are listening to all the rules that the gym has, they usually wouldn't get
themselves hurt or anything.
What about the bouldering walls? They are quite high.
Pretty much every gym has these holds that let you down climb. Make sure you are safely down, and the mats
are really thick.
You are not going to hurt yourself falling onto those mats, and same for top roping.
If you just tie your rope good, make sure your belayer has a good rope and like, you
are literally really safe there.
Climbing is, pretty safe sport.
It's as safe as any sport, like you take a couple of safety precautions and it's fine.
You go like free soloing or something like that. That's kind of crazy. Don't do that.
And what about age? Do you think,is there an age limit to climbing? How old do you need to be to start
climbing?
Seven on is probably the best age. You are not going to start them too young, cause you know...
They might lose interest a little bit. But you know, if they're interested, sure, just go,
take them to gym, and check it out.
It's good fun.
Once kids start anything, like 8 or 9, they become interested in the sport themselves
and they want to pursue it.
I find younger kids are more doing it because that's what their parents are telling them to
do.
They can still do it, but they don't find it as interesting as if they would've had
pursued themselves.
How old were you when you started climbing?
I was 5 years old.
I've been climbing for 3 years.
I was like about 5 or 6 years old when I started climbing, and I recongize that's a pretty good
time to start climbing but it doesn't really matter after that. So you don't think it's
never be too young to start?
No.
How do you think parents can get involved?
How can they help their kids to grow an interest for rock climbing?
There are many ways that you can help, but I think one of the best ways you can help is
by getting a belay license and help them belay your kids, so another thing you can do is
you can climb with them.
Me and my dad, we just like climb together.
It's also like family time, and also it's just being really fun.
I think have them climb with other children, other people,
people who are enthusiastic.
Make sure they have friends in climbing.
They don't need to be serious straight away.
They just need to have fun.
Take them to the local gym, and even just watch some videos about climbing. Show them
all. Look, this is what you can do if you work hard.
Show them Adam Ondra doing some massive dynos.
Parents should just introduce their kids to climbing, not push them too hard for it.
For every kid, you might like it, but also it might not be their thing, and I feel like you
shouldn't completely push your kid into it if they don't like it.
As a parent, as long as you are supportive, and just support your kid in their climbing,
like if they want to go to a gym, then try to make it, so they can.
Their interest usually increases themselves
as long as they are not pushed too hard for it.
When do you think kids need a coach or to join some climbing group?
I find clubs really good just straight from the start,
not like the really serious clubs but more like the friendly clubs.
It's a good way to start to get to know people in climbing and you learn a lot just being
around people with climbing wisdom.
A lot of the teams, they are not too skill- based, to be honest. It's just who likes climbing.
If you really like climbing and join a team, you are going to get good because they do
a lot of exercises, a lot of really good stuff for your body and they can help you get good
really fast.
If you are just doing climbing just to have fun, you probably don't need to pay for a coach,
but if you want to go to the Olympics or compete internationally, it's probably a good idea to
have a coach.
Depends on what your goals are and what you think is realistic to start trying to achieve
them.
It depends how much your kids has passion for it.
If you have a lot of passion and you want to go, get somewhat serious, for sure get a coach,
cause I think it's fully worth it, and if you are getting coached, don't force it. Honestly
that will burn out, and they just won't enjoy it.
Well, I only started getting coachd once I decided that I was really like serious about climbing
that I wanted to do good in comps and stuff like that.
If you want to get a coach, you should make sure you are serious about it first, like
not just getting a coach just to climb.
Do you think parents need to be concerned about their kids getting injured?
Not really.
Generally not.
Not at all, and if your kids are climbing seriously hard stuff,
once in a while just take them to physical therapy.
Yeah, that really helps.
So if you are climbing seriously hard stuff, and your body is, you know, getting tired,
take a break, chill out for a bit and then come back to it, and you will
enjoy it more.
With young kids, they are not really gonna be doing super outrageous triple dynos, stuff
like that.
If you are not pushing them too hard, they are not going to get injured from climbing
in general.
You need to have some sort of degree of concern, but it's the same for any sport. You can get
injured playing soccer or basketball hockey whatever your kid is going to.
It's always that risk of injury. Climbing isn't above or below in risk.
Thanks for watching. Hugo just started his YouTube channel recently and he will be posting
more in-depth videos on what life is like for a youth competition rock climber, so if
you like this video, you should definitely check out his channel.
And as always, make sure to like and subscribe.
See you in the next video.