Rock climbing is what brings our indoor climbing gym communities together, and for good reason. Climbing is fun, challenging, fosters social interactions, trust building, healthy competition, and fitness. The sport’s popularity is snowballing in large part because of the inherently... Continue Reading
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Where the Indoor Climbing Industry Comes to Learn
The Climbing Wall Association's blog is a place for indoor climbing professionals to find useful and relevant information from industry and business experts. Stay on top of best practices, thought leadership, and trends by subscribing to our newsletter!
In the last several articles in this series, we have covered why investing in community building is worthwhile for your gym. Article At A Glance Writer: The Headwall Group, renowned programming experts within the indoor climbing industry. They presented a highly successful CWA Summit... Continue Reading
One of the most common challenges climbing gyms face is simultaneously managing youth programs and day-to-day operations. Limited space, the overlapping and potentially conflicting needs that arise during our busiest hours, and managing the expectations of families and members all present... Continue Reading
In our last article in this series, we outlined the benefits of focusing resources and energy on engaging your members, community, and employees in community-building programs. The research we cited is clear: by engaging your community of support, you increase your market presence, engage new... Continue Reading
The Headwall Group brings us the first article in a five-part series on using programming to build community through climbing and non-climbing events in indoor climbing gyms. Continue Reading
As my team from The Crag Climbing Gym and I weaved our way through the vast conference center's labyrinth toward the heart of the 2023 CWA Summit, we were awed by sweeping views of the city, rivers, and bridges of Pittsburgh. We peered down from the mezzanine into the Exhibit Hall and pointed... Continue Reading
Hiring practices across the indoor climbing industry has become a point of discussion, as the industry reckons with a challenging hiring market and a desire to remove barriers to access employment in the climbing industry. In our last blog post, we discussed using behavioral competencies to... Continue Reading
Indoor climbing gyms have a unique set of risk management concerns. Every facility and program must constantly be proactively managing these risk management hurdles. In this article, we’re going to introduce the concept of a “culture of safety” in the space of workplace risk... Continue Reading
In the second part of our Indoor Climbing Program Assessments, we will dive a little deeper into staff assessments. Get an example rubric for evaluation, the phases of implementing an assessment, and more. Continue Reading
In our last blog post, we wrote about some lessons we have learned in our work supporting indoor climbing gyms and program teams in designing staff training. One of the key takeaways from our work is the power of assessment in identifying needs, means of change, and progress. With limited... Continue Reading
Training youth climbing program staff can be a challenge. Staff with varying levels of experience, high turnover, and lack of time are common obstacles to creating and implementing high-quality staff training. Quality staff training is an important element in creating high-quality youth programs... Continue Reading
Creating new games and activities for a climbing program re-energizes participants, coaches, and brings a creative experience to climbing skills. It gives coaches new activities that they can use throughout the season with their teams, sparking creative thinking and group bonding. The... Continue Reading