North America’s largest annual gathering of climbing industry professionals is fast approaching. This year’s CWA Summit will be held in the recreation-centric city of Portland, Oregon, at the Oregon Convention Center on May 13-17. The event is always an invigorating few days filled with networking, educational sessions, product and service displays, parties and friendship.
Professional development has been a core focus of the CWA Summit from the beginning. This year has an exciting expansion of those learning opportunities on the schedule, with more pre-conference sessions than ever before. The longer format offers more space for in-depth analysis, questions, and deeper understanding of topics relevant to managers, owners, routesetters, coaches and trainers. There will also be a variety of hands-on certifications available.
It’s not too late to sign up for pre-conferences at the CWA Summit!
Each pre-conference session is designed to meet the needs of specific people at your gym:
Owners – Managers – Routesetters – Coaches & Trainers
Monday, May 13
| Work at Height Level 1 Certification Workshop
9:00am-5:00pm |
Led by certified instructors | Certification For Routesetters |
Tuesday, May 14
| Work at Height Level 2 Certification Workshop
9:00am-5:00pm |
Led by certified instructors | Certification For Routesetters |
| Climbing Wall Instructor Provider Certification Workshop
9:00am-5:00pm |
Led by certified instructors | Certification For Coaches & Trainers |
| Developing a Business Plan for Funding a New Climbing Gym
9:00am-4:00pm |
Anyone interested in opening a climbing gym and those who may be considering expanding into new facilities will benefit from this session. Learn how to develop and present the information that will assist you in obtaining the financing required to develop your new climbing gym. We will also discuss various methods of financing. You will have the opportunity to discuss and share information with other aspiring gym developers who attend the session and receive information that will assist you in refining your business strategy.
Led by Bob Richards, Dave Mullins |
For Future Owners |
| Crafting a Comprehensive Onboarding Program Workshop
9:00am-4:00pm |
Join us for an engaging and interactive pre-conference workshop designed to empower managers and organizational leaders in developing a comprehensive onboarding program. This workshop is crafted to guide you through the essential elements of onboarding, providing insights into the modules that should be integral to every onboarding training.
Led by Chris Stevenson, Marisa Hoff |
For Future Owners
For Managers |
| Building A Coaching Team
1:00pm-5:00pm |
Climbing training is taking off across the globe, and with it the demand for quality coaching services. In this pre-conference session, we will discuss the value of building a high-quality coaching program, as well as steps to structure a coaching team to best support your community. Whether you are starting a gym, working in the role of head coach, or considering starting your own one-on-one coaching business, this workshop will help you avoid common pitfalls and build a sustainable and profitable business model. We will cover details on team/youth coaching as well as the coaching of adult athletes.
Led by Alex Bridgewater, Charlie Manganiello, Steve Bechtel |
For Coaches & Trainers |
| Coaching and Cueing Movement Skills
1:00pm-5:00pm |
This session will be a hands-on clinic focused on developing skills for teaching advanced youth and adult climbers as a movement coach. We will discuss how to teach, coach and cue movement skills with athletes.
Led by Kirby Kahl |
For Coaches & Trainers |
| Mental Training for Climbing Professionals
1:00pm-5:00pm |
The Mental Training for Climbing Professionals Course takes gym employees through an experiential curriculum to develop resilience in their careers and learn to share the basics of mental training with others. This session teaches gym employees proper falling technique, coaching principles for youth teams and adult programming, how to define yes fall zones, a risk assessment protocol, and more. Participants in this clinic can expect to leave the session having more skills in their tool belt to utilize in their individual roles to have a greater impact on gym members. This course increases the resilience of climbing professionals and organizations by: promoting accurate self-assessment; establishing a healthy relationship with stress; building supportive communities; developing mental training skills to share with gym members.
Led by John Campbell, Sevve Stember |
For Coaches & Trainers |
Wednesday, May 15
| Lean Gym, Quality Hires: The Efficiency and Automation Masterclass
9:00am-1:00pm |
Unlock the next frontier in gym management. In a rapidly evolving industry where time is money, outdated hiring and operational methods are no longer an option. Discover the ground-breaking hiring and automation process that has revolutionized The Pad Climbing, delivering high-quality talent in record time.
Why attend? The future belongs to those who automate. Whether you’re a gym owner, a C-suite exec or a manager, this is your opportunity to gain a significant edge over the competition. But don’t just take our word for it—come experience the shift from manual to automated, from adequate to exceptional. Led by Kristin Horowitz |
For Managers |
| Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation for Climbing Wall Workers
9:00am-1:00pm |
This workshop is tailored for climbing wall workers, routesetters and coaches who are looking to prevent and rehabilitate injuries. It offers a comprehensive review of the prevalent injuries that occur with climbing wall workers and explores the fundamental causes behind them. The workshop takes an interactive approach, equipping participants with a systematic strategy for injury prevention and rehabilitation. Attendees will receive complimentary “staff” access to Rock Rehab Protocols, equipping your entire staff with research-based exercises and protocols to rehab and prevent the most common climbing injuries among climbing wall workers.
Led by Jared Vagy “The Climbing Doctor” |
For Coaches & Trainers
For Routesetters |
| 101 Climbing Games and Activities: Revolutionizing Your Youth Programming
9:00am-1:00pm |
Your coaches will come away with an understanding of 50+ new games, how to build play-based programs, how to play and adapt them for ability levels, and with The Book on Climbing Games in hand!
Led by Hailey Caissie |
For Coaches & Trainers |
| Delivering Creative and Fun Climbing Programs Using an Experiential Approach
9:00am-1:00pm |
Explore how the principles of experiential education can provide a structure that can improve your youth program and give you tools that make your job as a coach easier, while learning new activities that can engage climbers of all ages and skill levels. In this session, participants will actively engage in a process of experiential learning that will highlight how the Adventure Wave model of learning and Headwall’s list of five key facilitation techniques can be applied to create fun and learningful climbing program experiences for youth. Participants will be encouraged to actively engage in the learning process by participating in activities and trying out some of the skills they learn during the session. The workshop will model how these principles and techniques can be applied in the context of a single youth program session or practice, while also exploring how these concepts can be scaled to apply to single activities all the way up to entire seasons of youth programming. This session is perfect for youth and adult climbing program coordinators, coaches and program directors.
Led by Bix Firer, Patrick Brehm |
For Coaches & Trainers |
| How to Use a Spray Wall or Training Board for Coaching High-Level Youth Athletes
9:00am-1:00pm |
This session is for coaches of advanced and elite athletes and will focus on how to effectively use a spray wall. Often overlooked, these powerful tools are especially beneficial for youth teams, offering versatility and alleviating gym congestion. Attendees will learn keys to coaching on a spray wall and will actively participate in hands-on drills targeting climbing movement and power endurance.
Led by Marisa Romero |
For Coaches & Trainers |
Climbing Business Journal is the official media partner of the 2024 CWA Summit.
Climbing Business Journal is an independent news outlet dedicated to covering the indoor climbing industry. Here you will find the latest coverage of climbing industry news, gym developments, industry best practices, risk management, climbing competitions, youth coaching and routesetting. Have an article idea? CBJ loves to hear from readers like you!
