The Banff Centre will be hosting its third annual Coaching Conference for competition climbing coaches on October 8 – 11, 2010. Anyone involved with coaching young climbers will want to attend as will those who are considering taking the step of working with children and youth in a team or developmental environment.

Working with young climbers requires special skills beyond just getting them to climb a lot and it definitely requires more care than just putting them on a program an adult would do. Training programs that are appropriate to their developmental age will ensure they move towards the successes they are looking for while considering their health and well-being. And, they need to have fun.

This year’s theme will be on Long-Term Athletic Development (LTAD). This is a concept developed by a consortium of Canadian sport scientists under the organization Canadian Sport for Life. The model has been adopted and adapted by other countries recently and Sport Canada has now made the development of a LTAD plan mandatory by all sport federations looking for federal funding.

Although many sessions will be devoted to LTAD, including our keynote speaker, there will be other topics as well – route setting, competition belaying, working with parents, communication skills, sponsorship development, and many more. All topics will be confirmed by July 31, 2010.

Registration will begin on August 1, 2010. Conference fees will be 0 CDN per participant. At this time we will be providing details for accommodation options as well.

If you are looking for more information before the start of registration or have an idea for a topic to be included in this conference, please contact Chris Neve @ chris_neve@banffcentre.ca or call 403.762.7545.

Chris Neve
Climbing Gym Coordinator
The Banff Centre