In a huge collaboration between Mountain Training, the BMC, Mountaineering Ireland, Mountaineering Scotland, NICAS and The Association of British Climbing Walls we put together a short series of LIVE informational webinars to help guide and empower the climbing wall industry in the UK. This webinar focussed on the use of the NICAS schemes at walls.
Overview of Seminar
This workshop was delivered by Nicholas Parkin (NICAS Managing Director), Melissa Bacon, Tom Vaessen-Walker & Juliet Scott.
Session 1 – The Big News Session We’ve got some exciting news to share. Lockdown has been tough for climbing, but NICAS hasn’t stopped throughout and we’ve been working with our Coach Development Team, climbing gurus & a bunch of 1st class sports marketeers to innovate and to provide sector leadership in getting people back into walls. This session unveils the first key development and share it with you. We started working on this in April 2020 and it forms the core structure of what we want NICAS to become, now and in the future and critically, how it will help walls be the beginning of a lifetime of happy climbing experiences.
Session 2 – The Coaching Session: Ideas, tips and tricks for successful sessions. How you can support your climbers to progress with NICAS and enjoy their climbing. This session will provide ideas on promoting wellbeing after lockdown, having fun as part of the learning experience, plus of course a look at some of the syllabi (climbing and bouldering) level requirements. This session will be run by two experienced coaches, Juliet (Jules) Scott and Melissa (Mel) Bacon. They will draw on their experiences to get you inspired for your next NICAS and NIBAS sessions at the wall.
Session 3 – The Business Session: Making the most of NICAS for your business: a case study. Tom Vaessen-Walker of Parthian Climbing will talk about his experiences of delivering a successful programme, from levels 1 to 5, at Parthian Climbing Reading. Tom has run a very successful programme of NICAS in which the youngest beginners progress right through the schemes, and many NICAS graduates have stayed on at Reading and taken all they’ve learnt into an instructor and coaching pathway. Having a community where young climbers, parents, and instructors are all bought into value of a nationwide, standardised programme is valuable to a climbing wall’s business. In addition to the Reading site, Parthian Climbing have embraced this approach with NICAS at its other sites in Manchester and Harrogate and will look to build on it with both climbing and bouldering schemes at their newest site, Southampton.