Catching Up With CAT: How I Got Into Rock Climbing
Last week I had the opportunity to speak to a meeting of the Chicago Mountaineering Club (CMC). They were founded in 1940 to promote interest in the sport and craft of climbing and mountaineering. Part of what they do is sponsor local and out-of-state outings with the goals of teaching climbing safety, developing skills, climbing mentorship, and creating community among Midwest climbers. While they have been around for a long time, we (Chicago Adventure Therapy) have not collaborated with them in the past. So, I was invited to talk about CAT at their meeting.
I started out by sharing general information about CAT and showing a (very old) video. Then, in partners and as a group, I had them discuss:
How did you get into this sport? (answers included: family, friends, Boy Scouts, summer camp, college course)
Who is one of your heroes in this sport? (most of the answers were athletes who are white males)
Who do you do this sport with currently? (answers included friends, family, CMC members, other climbing group members)
I then asked these questions:
What themes do we see that run through all three of these questions? (answers included: You need a community to do this sport. You need specialized knowledge. If no one you know did this sport, then you wouldn’t even know it was an option for you.)
Thinking more along these lines, what keeps people from getting into this sport? (cost, transportation, lack of representation, lack of exposure, no natural resources in the area, lack of equipment, fear, etc.)
The point I was trying to make is that getting into adventure sports is not always easy, especially for folks who aren’t exposed to theses sports (for many reasons) at a young age.
I then went through all of the barriers that folks listed that keep people from getting into these sports and talked about how CAT aims to get rid of those barriers.
For example, we get rid of the money issue by making our programs free to participants. We get rid of the gear issues by providing all needed gear and clothing. We provide transportation and training. We provide certification courses. And we create communities of representation, mostly by hiring former participants as staff. I then invited CMC to help us raise up the next generation of climbers. I invite you to do the same by supporting CAT with your time, expertise, and financial support.
-Laura