Tuesday February 22, 2022 | LANGFORD, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Last summer the City of Langford welcomed the Boulder House climbing facility business to a new building on Langford Parkway, right around the corner from Belmont Secondary School in Westhills.
A few months ago the SD62 (Sooke) School Board heard a presentation about an upcoming Climbing Academy, as part of a suite of sports-related programs that students in middle school and high school can elect to take. Academy programs are fee-payable.
Other SD62 academy programs include eco-academy, soccer, hockey, lacrosse, baseball, softball, golf, equine, and dance.
SD62 Academies Principal is Wayne Kelly.
Registration full for Sept 2022:
Registration for the new Climbing Academy opened February 7 with 30 spots available for students in Grades 9 to 12. Within days full enrollment was achieved, according to an SD62 news release on February 15.
A waitlist is now receiving registrations for the program which launches in September for the 2022-2023 academic year.
Bouldering:
Bouldering is a form of rock climbing done on small rock formations or low artificial walls without the use of a harness or rope.
Students in the Climbing Academy will take part in training at the Boulder House Langford location three days a week.
The SD62 has promoted from the start about the convenient location of the commercial facility.
SD62 curriculum offerings:
“The values of student voice and choice” are part of the SD62 Strategic Plan, says SD62 Chair Ravi Parmar. “We are proud our programs reflect and celebrate the diversity of people and the interests of our community,” said Parmar last week, emphasizing how the locale alleviates climbing keeners from having to travel to the Boulder House facility in downtown Victoria.
For years, The City of Langford has been promoting the fast-growing west shore community as a ‘national sports capital’.
Langford’s pro-sports mayor heralds the SD62 Climbing Academy as “a significant addition to SD62’s existing array of sporting and arts academies”, as stated in a quote from Mayor Stew Young. He calls this opportunity as something “outside the standard physical education program”.
The program’s inaugural climbing instructor Claudia Pampin said the program’s goal is “to become a community where students share a sense of belonging and common passion for climbing”.
Olympic sport:
Sport climbing made its Olympic debut at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan (postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
Two events were held, one each for men and women. The format controversially consisted of one combined event with three disciplines: lead climbing, speed climbing and bouldering.
===== RELATED:
COVID got you climbing the walls? Do it in Langford! (June 16, 2021)
New fees for SD62 school bus riders in 2021-2022 (March 9, 2021)
SD62 puts strategic plan development in the hands of staff (January 5, 2021)
Eco Academy in the works for EMCS starting Sept 2020 (January 15, 2020)