Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship, for The Winooski News
ESSEX — On a rainy Thursday afternoon, athletes from Metrorock’s Youth Competition Climbing Team worked on their individual bouldering projects to begin their practice.
Many athletes were focused on a yellow V9, located on the overhang section of the wall. Members analyzed potential routes and watched their teammates attempt the project before giving it a shot themselves.
At Metrorock Essex, Piper Hutchins, a 16-year-old athlete who has been climbing for the past 11 years, said that dynamic shows up in every practice: climbers push themselves on the wall while teammates and coaches offer feedback, encouragement and motivation. The result is a training environment where individual performance is inseparable from collective support.
“I really like that it’s an individual sport, but there’s still a team community,” Hutchins said.
Ryan Agricola, a 16-year-old climber, said he feels comfortable taking risks because he isn’t doing them alone.
“The thing I like most is my peers. I have a lot of friends on the team who encourage me to do my best. And it feels like it’s not scary to try hard because I have a lot of support,” he said.
During practice, Agricola was honing his top rope skills in preparation for divisionals while seeking guidance from Luke Moutier, one of the team’s coaches.
“The coaches are awesome. They make it feel like a super encouraging environment,” Agricola said.
The competitors are typically between the ages of 12 and 18, with vastly different levels of ability.
Jack Viens, a 13-year-old athlete who has been climbing for four years, said this age range fosters a culture that allows the younger athletes to be challenged to reach new heights.
“I kind of look up to them,” he said. “When they’re doing something, I always want to try it and see where I’m at with my skill level. If I keep doing that, I’ll get better at it, and then eventually, I’ll be as good as them.”
Throughout his career, Viens has progressed to a bouldering project grade of V9, an advanced ranking. During practice, he was laser-focused on the yellow V9 project. He watched Andrew Walsh, his 16-year-old teammate, progress up the wall, taking note of his different positions.
Even with the range of ages and abilities, coaches Luke Moutier and Dante Jelinek said they have a philosophy that training should generally look the same across different levels.
“That’s not to say that coaching cannot be tailored person-to-person. We take a very, very personalized approach when it comes to that hands-on method of, ‘How do we communicate with our partners? How do they perceive us as coaches, and what we’re saying to them?’” Moutier said. “But when it comes to the actual physical training, we have a pretty cookie-cutter schedule.”
Moutier, a climber himself, started coaching about four years ago. He said that coaching gave him a new perspective on his own athletic abilities.
“At the time, I think I thought I was a pretty decent boulderer, and I think I had a pretty good understanding of movement,” he said. “But very quickly, I realized how much I was missing by watching climbers through the coaching lens — and it really expanded my understanding of climbing.”
The team had about five athletes competing at the national level last year in various climbing disciplines. Qualifying for nationals is a special feeling, Agricola said. He described feeling the weight of the moment, but not letting it crush him.
“I wasn’t feeling amazing going into the round. I kind of relieved myself of the pressure, and just enjoyed the climbing, and I ended up doing super well, making nationals. I think that’s my favorite climbing moment,” he said.
Moutier explained that the last week of April was a “deload” for the team, as some of the athletes were preparing for the upcoming divisionals in top rope climbing, taking place on May 2 and 3 in Glastonbury, Connecticut.
The team sent athletes Andrew Norris, Piper Hutchins, Marley Quinn and Ryan Agricola to Connecticut. Agricola and Quinn each advanced to the finals, and Agricola qualified for nationals, placing third in the division.
Moutier said he’s seen the ways even his youngest climbers identify with rock climbing as something that’s more than sport. He shared a recent conversation he had with one of his nine-year-old students’ parents.
“She said, ‘My child identifies as a rock climber.’ It’s not just a sport for the kids, it’s also their culture and lifestyle,” Moutier said.