When choosing members for the McCallie School climbing team, coach Jake Altemas and his assistants analyze how the students fail.
“How do they deal with failure? If it doesn’t work the first time, is there a second time? If it doesn’t go the fifth time, is there a sixth time?” Altemas says. “Do they have the willingness to stay with it?”
Altemas is the director of outdoor programs at McCallie School, which competes in Outdoor Chattanooga’s Interscholastic Climbing League. Over six meets at local climbing gyms, the climbers – middle and high school students from around the area – compete in teams to improve not only their own score but also that of their team.
“Climbing tends to be a very selfish sport, especially inside,” Altemas says. “Without a team framework you really lose a lot of the educational aspects that are desirable for sports within a school setting.”
A better climber is one with core strength, body control and traditional athleticism, he admits, but there needs to be a desire to compete and a drive to succeed.