With the inclusion of sport climbing in the Olympic Games, it is a time of exponential growth for our sport. Trained coaches, officials, and athletes are critical to the long-term success of the sport of climbing in the United States. Education will play a pivotal role in ensuring sustainable growth and athlete success ranging from local grassroots programs to the Olympic Games.
USA Climbing’s goal is to provide a program that produces experienced coaches, athletes, and officials that are able to support, sustain, and grow sport climbing in the United States and around the world.
We all want our athletes to perform to the best of their ability. Whether you’re a coach, athlete, parent, or play another role, it is important to focus on athlete wellness. Proper nutrition, fueling, and recovery are vital to keeping our athletes healthy, strong, and ready to compete. Check out the resources provided to help setup the athletes around you for success!
Climbing Resources
Guide to Eating Disorders for Climbers
Fact sheets from Collegiate and Professional Sports Dietitian Association
Balancing exercise-induced inflammation Building a performance plate Caffeine and athletic performance Dietary supplements fact sheet Energy availability fact sheet Healthy snacking fact sheet Fad diet confusion Healthy grocery shopping Nutritional support for injury recovery and return-to-play Orthorexia nervosa fact sheet Periodization and timing of macronutrients Power performance with protein Pre-workout nutrition Probiotics and the gut Transitioning to healthy eating
Fact sheets from USPOC Nutrients for Bone/Joint Injury Recovery Nutrients for Soft Tissue Injury Recovery Nutrients for Head Injury Recovery Travel Nutrition Factsheet Vegan and Vegetarian Nutrition
Hydrate early and often Sleep for success The science of hydration Wasted workouts (on alcohol)
Fact sheets from USPOC
Altitude Factsheet Recovery Factsheet Hydration Factsheet
Fueling Climbing: What to Eat to Crush Your Route
Fueling on-the-go Fueling to win Fueling with a purpose Fueling during exercise Fueling essentials for the lactose intolerant athlete
Fueling Strategies – Performance Athlete Plates – Easy Day Athlete Plates – Moderate Day Athlete Plates – Hard Day
Climber’s Mental Health Toolbox Rock climbing doesn’t just create strong bodies, it can create strong minds too. Every new problem is a chance to use growth mindset. Each fall is an opportunity to develop resilience. Frustrating moments are great times to practice self-regulation — the list of ways to develop mental skills in climbing goes on and on.
Anxiety During the Pandemic
Meet Your Amygdala
TrueSport®, a movement powered by the experience and values of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, champions the positive values and life lessons learned through youth sport. TrueSport inspires athletes, coaches, parents, and administrators to change the culture of youth sport through active engagement and thoughtful curriculum based on cornerstone lessons of sportsmanship, character-building, and clean and healthy performance, while also creating leaders across communities through sport.
As USA Climbing continues to expand its educational offerings, we are excited to partner with TrueSport to bring the climbing community this great content. Check back monthly to see what is new!
In some team dynamics, there are going to be unavoidable rivalries: teammates will struggle for spots, personalities will clash over leadership responsibilities, and issues will arise with other teams. Conflict is normal and not always a problem on its own, but ongoing rivalries can slowly poison a team. Nadia Kyba, MSW, TrueSport Expert and President of Now What Facilitation, has seen teams go through rough patches navigating these types of situations.
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When a young athlete has a conflict with their coach, it’s often hard for parents to know exactly how to handle it. It’s tempting to immediately interfere and email the coach on behalf of your child, but that’s not always the best solution for your growing athlete. Helping your athlete advocate for themselves and deal with conflict head-on, rather than relying on you to have the hard conversations, is going to be better for your child in the long-term.
COACHES: How to Align Team Goals and Set Individual goals
Setting team goals for the season or the entire year should be a group effort—not a coach-driven spreadsheet or list. Each athlete on your team will come into the season with different goals, motivations, and values, and as a coach, part of your job is to help the team blend the overarching team goals and values with those individual drivers.
PARENTS: When To Pivot and Set New Goals
As parents and as coaches, we often understand that there’s value in pursuing a goal, even when it seems unattainable. Every hero’s journey encounters some moment of adversity, some chance that they won’t reach their goal. And even losing out on a goal has value because it instills resilience.
But at some point, there’s also value in pivoting and setting new goals. “In general, we only tell stories of perseverance,” notes TrueSport Expert, family physician, and resiliency guru Dr. Deborah Gilboa. “You hear about athletes who persevere through years of struggle, and finally succeed, but that can be a damaging perspective. To say that perseverance is always the answer, that perseverance towards achievement is always the best or right path, simply isn’t true. Resilience means navigating change and coming through it as the kind of person you want to be. And if the only kind of person your child wants to be is a winner, that’s a problem because then persevering towards achievement is the only option. And on that path, you have to recognize the risk of permanent damage.”
Why and How to Help Your Team Practice Appreciation
Teammates who regularly spend time praising, acknowledging, and appreciating each other will work better as a unit. And as the sport cliche goes, sometimes the best offense is a good defense. When coaching a team, creating a culture of appreciation is absolutely the best defense against bullying and other issues amongst teammates. The good news is that it doesn’t take much work to develop this culture, although in this case, more is better!
9 Easy Ways to Prevent Cliques on Teams
When it comes to preventing cliques and bullying behaviors, it’s best to be proactive. While it’s easy to get caught up in drills, rosters, and logistics, coaches who focus on building strong team-wide relationships from the first day of practice are less likely to run into the social problems, like cliques, that hurt teams and players.
Parents: How to Regulate and Manage ALL Emotions
As the parent of a young athlete, you’re probably used to seeing a whole range of emotions, from wild joy to intense anger to devastating sadness. While it’s tempting to try to help your athlete ditch the anger and sadness, it’s actually more important that you let your athlete experience, understand, and move through their range of emotions.
Coach: 4 Questions to Help Change a Young Athlete’s Negative Thought Process
As a coach for young athletes, whether they’re in elementary school or high school, you’re going to deal with the emotional rollercoasters that young people experience. A fight with a friend over the weekend can translate to feelings of despair on game day, and stress over a championship game can leave an athlete feeling paralyzed. But as a coach, you can teach your athletes how to examine their feelings and move on from negative moments.
As the USA Climbing community faces the reality of COVID-19 and gym closures across the country, we are sharing ways to stay active while also doing so in the confines of your own home. We hope this gives us an opportunity to work together while staying apart and doing what we can to flatten the curve.
From Our Team
WFH General Fitness Workout
WFH Power and Strength Workout
WFH Strength Workout
WFH Hangboard Workout
From TrueSport®
Keeping Kids Active and Healthy During Quarantine
From Our Community
Have workouts or training plans you want to share? Use #climbwithUS on social media or email Rebecca@USAClimbing.org
USOPC Quality Coaching Framework
The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee, in partnership with its National Governing Bodies and Dr. Wade Gilbert of Human Kinetics, created the USOPC Quality Coaching Framework, which provides an overarching set of principles that is designed to inform how to coach most effectively. The USOPC QCF is a vetted, carefully crafted, evidence-based resource that establishes a common language and principles of quality coaching for all those working in Team USA coaching contexts.
Principles for Success
The USOPC Quality Coaching Framework consists of six chapters, each focused on a different, but related, component of quality coaching. The chapters highlight the coaching principles associated with each subject:
Chapter One: Quality Coaching Chapter Two: Essential Coaching Knowledge Chapter Three: Athlete-Centered Outcomes Chapter Four: Contextual Fit Chapter Five: Evaluation and Recognition Chapter Six: Coach Well-being