Sport Climbing Australia (SCA) has big plans for 2015, having just announced its Victorian state body, Sport Climbing Victoria, with others to follow in Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia.
Presenting itself as the peak body for climbers across the country, SCA aims to raise interest and numbers in rock climbing and bouldering – activities which it believes should be nationally recognised as a sport.
In order for it to achieve recognition, the Australian Sports Commission dictates that climbing must have at least four state-level associations to represent it. For this reason, SCA has been working hard to make this happen.
Since SCA’s involvement in the Australian Climbing Festival last year, it appears the group has been working hard to build websites and networks to allow the roll-out of its state subsidiaries.
Ashlee Hendy, a Victorian climber, placed second overall in the Open A female finals of the 2014 Victorian State Lead Championship.
Chelsea Brunckorst, media and communications officer for the newly-incorporated Sport Climbing Victoria (SCV), said every member is passionate about seeing climbing become fully recognised in Australia.
“We have all gotten involved to better connect with people on a state level and we’re all equally invested in our objectives of growing and supporting climbing across Australia,” she said.
SCA has appointed Will Hammersla, its secretary, to become president of SCV, while other regional members are stepping up to become involved with each of their own state-level organisations.
According to Brunckhorst, a Sport Climbing organisation has also just been incorporated for NSW and ACT, while Queensland and SA hope to incorporate in the near future.
In each case, the local organisations will no doubt have plenty of plans for the year ahead, running a full schedule of events and populating their website with climbing content to attract as many interested individuals as possible.
“The SCV website was launched in January this year and we’re hoping it can become a pillar of the local community – not just for competition athletes, but also casual climbers,” Brunckhorst explained. “We also have a major event planned for later this year, but it’s too early to share the fine details just yet.”