Rock Climbing Club | Photo by Arden Reimer | The Wright State Guardian
The recently-formed Climbing Club provides opportunities for students to engage in physical activity, meet new friends and pursue different hobbies. Here are some voices behind the organization.
An introduction to Climbing Club
Christopher Lynch is the climbing gym manager and the Climbing Club president who started creating the club last semester. As president, Lynch plans events and mentors other leaders.
The president explained that there are three practices per week where students can partake in group training, working out or climbing during personal time. Lynch explained the atmosphere of these meetings as a new organization.
“We’ve kind of kept it pretty loose because people in the club didn’t have time based on their class schedules or other commitments,” Lynch said.
Jimmy Johnson, vice president of the club, further described the nature of the practices.
“Practices are very flexible to help each person progress in their own way. Sometimes, we just climb and hang out, other times, we plan out circuit courses with exercises in between,” Johnson said.
During the meetings, the organization tries to make activities fun and interactive by incorporating other tasks or games, such as placing a foot on a hold where the hand will go next, or even team-competition-based games, such as tag. The after-hours practices on Fridays usually include a team workout, which includes climbing and sets of ab workouts, for example.
Johnson also abated a possible fear of heights, explaining that there are shorter walls for increased comfort. Stepping out of one’s comfort zone is a pinnacle to this organization, which is a sentiment Johnson summarized clearly.
“It’s free and very rewarding when you find out what you are capable of,” Johnson said.
There are no requirements for the club, which is open to all students, staff, faculty and alumni. Lynch described a personal goal for the club.
“We’re hoping to create an environment where people can come in who are interested in climbing and learn if they want to,” Lynch described.
One team member, rock warden Justin Hill, is currently training in equipment and wall safety but did not have much previous experience rock climbing, having only traversed the wall roughly two times before joining the club. Hill commented on why pursuit of the organization was personally important.
“It kind of was at a perfect time where I needed to be more involved and make new friends and stuff like that,” Hill said. “And immediately, I fell in love with it.”
Hill further described the welcoming and open environment of the club, explaining what it is like to be a new member in an encouraging space.
“Everyone is so supportive of everyone trying to start out at the very beginning. Everyone’s super kind, you make friends with them and they support you to do better,” Hill explained. “They try to push you to do better, do the things that you didn’t know you could do yourself until you start trying to do them, and it’s a pretty neat thing to have a community aspect like this.”
Beyond the walls of WSU and service to others
Outside of Wright State, Lynch and Alex Petersen, another member of the organization, explained that the organization takes trips every weekend to other bouldering or climbing gyms or locations in the area. Earlier this semester, members from the WSU club competed in a bouldering competition at the Miami University Midwest Outdoor Leadership Conference.
One large aspect of Climbing Club is service to the community. Since last October, the team has completed almost 300 hours of community service, according to Lynch.
At WSU, a form of service for the club is route setting, which is when a person places a combination of holds on the wall for climbers to solve the route. Lynch described this process.
“In indoors, we have a blank canvas, and we have a variety of holes to use. So, we just create boulder problems and routes based on our inventory of holds,” Lynch explained.
Petersen described these routes more, explaining how the routes can be both a mental and physical challenge.
“Another part of that mental game is your problem solving and creativity, our route setters are continually improving and trying to create problems that are fun and challenging—routes that are more than just having strong fingers and forearms,” Petersen said.
Petersen also helps create a budget for the organization while assisting in route setting and compiling equipment to teach others about how each system works and how those systems provide safety for climbers.
Meeting days, locations and times
The Climbing Club meets on Tuesdays from 3:30 to 6 p.m., Wednesdays from 4:30 to 7 p.m. and Friday from 7:30 to 10 p.m. at the climbing wall in the Student Union. For more information about Climbing Club, students can peruse the display boards at the climbing wall, visit Campus Recreation in 092 SU, search the organization’s Engage page or visit the Outdoor Recreation Discord server.
