We held the second climbing trial session (Thursday class) at the Bibai City Sports Center yesterday.
As with last week, we first did some warm-up exercises, reviewed how to climb (rule) and what to observe (precautions) again, and climbed the two bouldering problems (set at the bottom part of the lead climbing wall) as last week.
And at the end, participants put on harnesses and climbed with a top rope.
In the first class (from 4 years old to 2nd grade), everyone tried their best for the two bouldering problems to reach the top holds. When they reached the goal, or when they got higher holds compared to last week, they looked really happy, which made me feel so happy as well.
Then they put on harnesses and climbed up using wooden campus rungs on the left side of the lead wall. As they climbed higher, the feeling of fear surely becomes strong, so when they climbed up to the 4th or 5th wall, they said, “Too scary!” or “Too high!,” but everyone was doing their best, such as trying to get one more move despite the feeling of fear.
I hope that next week, each and every one of them will be able to go a little higher than this time.
In the next class (5th grade and above), the number of holds was reduced and foot holds were also specified for the two bouldering problems to increase the difficulties, since most of the participants were adults. However, the participants were able to reach the goals by coming up with their own moves. They were definitely better than last time, which made me feel really happy.
After that, they put on harnesses, and they had a choice for a top-rope route on the left side or the right side of the vertical lead wall. Since there are more jugs on the right-side route, many people tried it first. Some people reached near the top, and some people even reached the top, while some people tried the difficult route on the left side or climbed using the campus rungs.
They cheered for each other each time a participant tried a top-rope route, which was a really encouraging/lively atmosphere, so it was a really fun time for me, too.
The trial session this time was an exciting one, and everyone seemed to be looking forward to the next week’s session, and I am looking forward to it as well.
Pictures of participants
