Rocksteady
Hotter than the sun!
Bit of a weird one. I was belaying at the climbing wall a little while ago next to a performance coach belaying one of the youth squad.
She was tying in and I overheard I conversation that I think is way out of line with best practice.
Something like:
Him: "What is going on there?" (pointing at little roll of fat above girl's harness)
Her: "It's my six pack."
Him: "It's not a six pack. You have been eating too many crisps."
Her: "I don't even like crisps."
Now at this point I had to catch my falling partner and was distracted. I didn't speak to the coach at the time as I should have done. But the more I think about it the more I think this needs to be addressed. This was a pre-pubescent girl he was talking to, and she was climbing reps on 7b so was going quite well for her age, and I'm pretty sure at her age it would be totally healthy to be carrying a bit of extra weight.
In any event, it shows a disastrous lack of awareness of body issues in climbing, particularly young female climbers, that needs to be resolved.
I don't have a view on whether or not this guy is otherwise a good coach. He clearly needs some training on this issue. It could have been banter and in line with their relationship but I wonder what her parents would think?
The only complicating factor is that I am closely related to an independent climbing coach who occasionally works at this wall. This genuinely isn't a factor in me raising feedback but I'm concerned that because of who I am they might consider this to be a motivation and (a) not take it seriously and (b) badmouth my relative. I could raise it via anonymous feedback to their comments tin - my concern there is that this would come in front of the wrong people which would be unfair to the coach concerned and also not see any action taken. I could do the same via an anonymous email but again would be good to see action taken.
Probably I'm overcomplicating this and should just go and chat to the wall manager. What are people's views?
She was tying in and I overheard I conversation that I think is way out of line with best practice.
Something like:
Him: "What is going on there?" (pointing at little roll of fat above girl's harness)
Her: "It's my six pack."
Him: "It's not a six pack. You have been eating too many crisps."
Her: "I don't even like crisps."
Now at this point I had to catch my falling partner and was distracted. I didn't speak to the coach at the time as I should have done. But the more I think about it the more I think this needs to be addressed. This was a pre-pubescent girl he was talking to, and she was climbing reps on 7b so was going quite well for her age, and I'm pretty sure at her age it would be totally healthy to be carrying a bit of extra weight.
In any event, it shows a disastrous lack of awareness of body issues in climbing, particularly young female climbers, that needs to be resolved.
I don't have a view on whether or not this guy is otherwise a good coach. He clearly needs some training on this issue. It could have been banter and in line with their relationship but I wonder what her parents would think?
The only complicating factor is that I am closely related to an independent climbing coach who occasionally works at this wall. This genuinely isn't a factor in me raising feedback but I'm concerned that because of who I am they might consider this to be a motivation and (a) not take it seriously and (b) badmouth my relative. I could raise it via anonymous feedback to their comments tin - my concern there is that this would come in front of the wrong people which would be unfair to the coach concerned and also not see any action taken. I could do the same via an anonymous email but again would be good to see action taken.
Probably I'm overcomplicating this and should just go and chat to the wall manager. What are people's views?