Competition Climbing vs. Outdoor Rock Climbing

We explore how climbing has split into two tracks—competition gyms and outdoor rock—and why they now demand different skills, habits, and proof of progress. We share how parents can back a child’s chosen path without forcing their own agenda, and what success looks like in each lane.

• modern comp problems drifting from traditional rock movement
• what counts as progress on rock versus in competitions
• reasons many youth competitors skip outdoor climbing
• how rock climbers still use the gym with purpose
• ways parents can support kids who choose comps, rock, or both
• building a trusted village for skills, safety, and access

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About This Podcast

It takes a village to raise a pro athlete.

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The Struggles & Successes

ABOUT YOUR HOST:

Marina Kuperman Villatoro, a mama who is on a mission to help her sons reach their athletic (rock climbing) goals and dreams. 

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Transcript

Two Forks In Climbing

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Competitive climbing versus rock climbing. So rock climbing or climbing has kind of almost diverged into two different forks, right? Two different pathways almost. There is the competitive climbing. And if you guys have watched any competitive climbing, you will see that it is really starting to really go further and further away from what actual climbing was at one point, to the point where it actually looks like more of a parkour scenario with these different routes versus like rock climbing and what people are doing. And that's great. Like if your child wants to do both, super, right? There's a competitive climbing and then there's the rock climbing. So the competitive climbing, what we are noticing is that, first of all, like I mentioned, it's a lot different. But the fact also is that a lot of times people who are competing aren't even going to the rock anymore, right? Because they're mainly sticking to climbing and rock to the climbing competitions and learning, because there are so many different volumes, there's dynos, there's these tiny little moves, there's these all these different moves that aren't as much done in the actual real rock climbing. So if your kid wants to become a competitive climber and that's how they want to become more pro, great, right? Like that's the beauty of teams and the gyms and all of that. However, you might also have a kid that wants to just do rock climbing. And that's great, right? So rock climbing, you cannot actually, I guess, judge it. I don't like to say that word, judge, but I guess rank it or whatnot, measure it through competitiveness, right? But obviously it's through the different projects that they do and the different grades of climbing that they are accomplishing. And today, you could still be a very successful pro climber when you're just rock climbing, right? But you do need to show what you're doing and how you're doing it. And a lot of times it's quite different than the actual competitive climbing, right? So today, like I mentioned, there are two forks and sometimes they converge. A lot of times, I'm noticing that the climbing, the competitive climbing kids, they're not even getting to the rock at all for many reasons, right? A lot of times their parents aren't climbers, they don't really know where to go or where to take them. You have to find people that will take them, that you have to trust as well, or they simply don't want to go out. They're called gym rats, right? And that's totally cool as well. And then there's some that only want to go to the rock, and usually that is uh much easier, obviously, when you're living near that kind of an area, or one of your family family members is gonna be taking you to the rock, or you are on a in a group that you could go, or you're older, whatever that reason is, to be going to the rock much more than to the actual gym. Also, rock climbers they will end up at the gym, and that's totally awesome for many reasons. One, because they can't get to the rock at the moment, right? Or because the weather sucks, or they're training on a certain crux or a certain position that they want to learn. So there's obviously reasons for that, and they will continue that, but there's also just competitive, just rock climbing, and a lot of times it could still be both, and that's awesome as well. So if your child tells you, you know what, I don't want to be competitive climbing, but I really want to focus on the rock climbing, and that's the direction they want to go in, and you're in that position to be able to give that to them, go for it. Don't be like, well, you have to compete, right? Because again, that could be your agenda, or sometimes a kid, and you could also be a climbing parent that your child says, you know what, I just want to compete, I don't really want to go to the rock. Again, if you're supporting them, you need to support them full on, understanding that this could be a thing all of its own as well. So, again, depends on what your child wants and how you're supporting them, but remember it's about them, not so much about you. I love to hear your thoughts about this. What have you guys discovered? What is it that you're seeing with your kid? Like I said, it takes your strategic village to help our kids succeed in what they want to succeed in. If you guys enjoyed this episode, please like it, subscribe, share with a friend, review. I'd love to hear your feedback as well. I'm Marina, your host, mother of two aspiring rock climbers, and a wife to an extreme athlete.