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Who is the governing body of competitive climbing? What is USA Climbing? USA Climbing is the National Governing Body for Competitive Climbing in the United States. They select the U.S. Youth & Adult Teams which represent the United States in international competitions. USA Climbing is the US representative and a member federation of UIAA /ICC Climbing, the international competition climbing body (www.uiaaclimbing.com). USA Climbing is made up of two series. The Sport Climbing Series (SCS) and the American Bouldering Series (ABS). USA Climbing organizes over 250 indoor climbing competitions throughout the country, covering sport climbing (top-rope and lead climbing), bouldering (climbing relatively low heights without a rope), and speed climbing. Because some climbers prefer roped climbing and some bouldering that is why there is a separate membership for the ABS and SCS series. Many of the competitors compete in both series. The calendar year for USA Climbing competition season runs from October 1 through September 30th. Why? The ABS series begins October 1st of each year and concludes in February, with the ABS Adult and Junior Nationals. The SCS series begins February 1st and concludes with the Junior SCS Nationals which are held in July. The climbers that qualify each year at the National Event, are then invited to represent the USA at the World Youth Climbing comp in August. It is important that youth climbers signed up for membership with USA Climbing each year for the season. The Vertical World Team participates each year in both series, and there is a deadline for registration to qualify for some events. There is also a minimum number of local competitions required for each series to advance. Why are the ABS and the SCS series structured differently? How do they differ? The short answer is history. USA Climbing got its start with the youth roped competition segment of a predecessor organization. USAC did not promote a bouldering series because the UIAA/ICC did not and does not promote youth bouldering. Several years ago the predecessor organization imploded and asked USA Climbing to take over responsibility for both youth and adult roped competitions. The ABS originated as separate bouldering series whose primary membership and focus was directed towards a somewhat older group of climbers. The UIAA/ICC does support bouldering for adult competitors (Adult is defined internationally as 16 years of age). The two organizations objectives overlapped and as separate organization, schedules conflicted with one another. In December 2004, USAC and the ABS merged with the goal to unite both disciplines under one umbrella. USAC and the ABS developed separately and therefore each has different traditions and structures. Membership (ABS - $25; SCS - $50 or $70 together) Regions (ABS – 0; SCS – 15 regions) Number of Regional Championships (ABS – 10; SCS – 15) Divisional Championships (ABS – 0; SCS – 5) Because the ABS structure takes competitors directly from the local ABS Regional Championships directly to the National Championship, a limited number of youth invitations are allocated. The allocations based upon the percentage of climbers (by age/gender category) who become ABS members by November 18th. Competitors also must select a specific Regional Championship that they will be attending. There are thirty invitations per category allocated across the ten ABS Regional Championships. Because of the allocation process a different number of climbers will advance to the ABS Junior Nationals from each Regional Championship. There is no UIAA/ICC Junior World Championship for bouldering. The SCS series structure selects the top 6 climbers (per age/gender category) to advance to each of the five Divisional Championships. The top 6 climbers (per age/gender category) from each Divisional Championship advance to the SCS Junior National Championship. The top four finishers from the USA Junior Nationals in the Youth B, Youth A and Junior categories advance to the UIAA /ICC Youth World Championships. UIAA/ICC does not include the Youth D and C categories at the Youth World Championship. A climber must attend a minimum of two local competitions in addition to one of the ABS Regional Championships in order to potentially advance to the ABS Nationals. Advancement is determined for youth based on the climber’s finish at the Regional Championship and the number of invitations allocated to that category at that specific Regional Championship. Any ABS Regional Championship may be selected by the competitors when they join. In order to be eligible to advance to the ABS Junior Nationals you must join as an ABS member by November 18th. How many SCS divisions and regions are there? We have 5 Divisions which are further broken down into 15 regions: Division 1: (Northwest)
Division 2: (Southwest)
Division 3: (Midwest)
Division 4: (Southeast)
Division 5: (Northeast)
These Regions and their boundaries are not finite and permanent. There is flexibility in which Region you would like to be considered a part of. Please contact USA Climbing (888-944-4244) if you have questions. Who is my Regional Coordinator (RC)? Your Regional Coordinator is listed on your Regional News page which can be found here: www.usaclimbing.org/regional_news and then click on your Region on the map. You can e-mail your Regional Coordinator by clicking on his/her name on your Regional News page. The Regional News Page is a wonderful source to keep you updated through out the year. How many competitions do I have to compete at in order to be eligible to advance to my Divisional Championship? Competitors wishing to advance past the local level must compete at a minimum of three local SCS competitions, PLUS his/her Regional Championship. The Regional Championship does not count towards the three competition minimum. ABS (bouldering) competitions DO NOT count towards the three competition minimum for the SCS/Speed series. Six competitors per category advance from each region to their respective Divisional Competition. Six competitors per category advance from each of the five divisions to the SCS Nationals. There is no minimum attendance requirement to be eligible to compete in Speed Climbing at the Regional Championship. Can I compete in another region during the SCS series? You can meet your three competition minimum requirement by competing in any region, but you MUST compete in the Regional Championship in your home region. USA Climbing follows the ICC/UIAA international standards for determining a competitor’s category. The ABS and SCS youth categories for the 2009 season are as follows:
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Disclaimer: The Team Vertical World Website in not affiliated with Vertical World, Inc. It is owned and updated by the Vertical World Climbing Team Fund, and maintained by the team itself. Copyright 2008 Last updated: 12/14/2008
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