One member has competed in Nationals at the USA Climbing National Training Center (NTC) in Salt Lake City, Utah. Another member has approximately one month of experience.

Yet both members, seniors Christopher Draper and Isaias Garcia-Umana, respectively, meet up at Movement Crystal City every month for TJ Rock Climbing alongside over 20 other members.

How it started

Founder and junior Aanya Gupta first considered starting a climbing club after consistently seeing her peers’ interest in climbing during icebreakers.

“For icebreakers, there’d be a question like ‘What’s a fun fact about you?’ and I would always say I rock climb because it was an easy, unique thing,” Gupta said. “Everybody would be like, ‘No way, I’ve always wanted to try it,’ and would ask me questions about it.”

Gupta, motivated by the seemingly growing popularity of climbing, started to form the club by making a Facebook group.

“That’s how I thought of starting the club,” Gupta said. “I had an initial interest form and there [were] a good 50 people who signed up saying they were interested in the group.

Draper, the current website manager, discovered Gupta’s Facebook group and asked about her plans.

“We both climbed here on a team for a few years, so I’ve known [Gupta] for a long time,” Draper said. “She worked out a deal with the manager and [the] staff, so they get a discount for students to come in.”

Growth

The club’s first meeting took place mid-July and comprised approximately ten to 15 people.

“To start it off, we came in with a plan to teach technique [and] basic safety,” Draper said. “Our main goal was to get people into wall climbing and just try it out.”

As time went on and certain people began to attend regularly, the club targeted different techniques and styles of climbing at each meeting.

“After sessions two and three, we started to think about what we wanted to focus on at each meeting, whether that was bouldering or lead climbing,” Draper said. “We want to do slab climbs, which are flat walls, and we want to do more overflowing balls, technique.”

Personal Connections

Garcia-Umana, a member of the club, first joined after being invited by Draper despite having no prior experience.

“At first, I didn’t want to go but eventually I ended up going,” Garcia-Umana said. “I didn’t know anything about rock climbing, but he showed me how to. Then I started doing it on my own, and I got addicted to it.”

In contrast, sophomore Isaac Tennyson had years of experience with climbing before high school but could not find the time to commit to a club.

“I’ve been climbing for roughly three years, and it’s been a lot of fun,” Tennyson said. “The problem is once you get to high school, it’s hard to balance it with other sports and academics, especially at [Jefferson]. The thing that’s great about TJ Rock Climbing—it’s flexible.”

Beyond TJ Rock Climbing, the sport itself has unique aspects that make it appealing to individual athletes.

“Climbing is an individual sport, but there’s a community that comes with it,” Gupta said. “I have a family of friends that I’ve made just [by] climbing. That’s one of my favorite parts, other than the climbing aspect, is [that] climbing is the most team-individual sport I think you’ll ever find.”

From the October 2024 Issue of tjTODAY