Help SA Youth Climbing Team reach new heights at world championships

The SA Protea Youth Climbing Team are jetting off to South Korea to represent the country at the IFSC Youth World Championships from August 19 to 27.

Little is known about sport climbing, which only recently featured at the Olympics for the first time. The sport comprises three separate disciplines in the competition field: bouldering, lead climbing and speed climbing, where the first two take place indoors and outdoors.

Bouldering is an extremely physical variant of the sport where no ropes or harnesses are used, though the climbing takes place over safety mats.

The challenge is to climb short but tricky “problems” (a route, or sequence of moves) using a combination of balance, technique and strength. Lead climbing, on the other hand, combines endurance, strength and complex body movement where the climber attaches themselves to a safety clip as they climb up a route between 13m and 37m high.

Speed climbing is all about how fast an athlete can get to the top of a wall — with standard and identical approved speed walls used around the world.

The country is also not short on world-class outdoor destinations, with SA having the fifth best ranked outdoor lead climbing destination in the world, hidden in the little town of Emgwenya (Waterval Boven), and the most breathtaking outdoor bouldering at the foot of the Ceres mountain range in the Western Cape.

Twenty SA athletes will take part in the IFSC Youth World Championships this year, and any donations to support the young team will be appreciated.

Donations can be made at www.backabuddy.co.za. 

2023 Team

The team's management includes: 

• Team manager: Ziyad Adroos
• Assistant team manager: Carmen Bouwer
• Coach: Tiffany Wells; and
• Assistant coach: Katleho Phobe 

This article was sponsored by Joe Public.