flyburst Blog

flyburst flyby with Sportrock

flyburst asked Andrew Kozak, director of Sportrock in Sterling, to answer a few questions about climbing for kids.  As you will read in the interview, climbing may be a great compliment (to team sports) or alternative for kids who are attracted to an indoor/outdoor sport with individual physical and mental challenges.   Parents will be attracted to the sport because of the great fitness option it provides for kids and the time flexibility (no hours of weekends lost because of a far away travel games).  Kids will like the sense of accomplishment and the social aspects of the sport. 

 

FB: Can you give a brief overview of the sport of rock climbing? 

Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up or across natural rock formations or artificial rock walls. The goal is to reach the top of a formation or the endpoint of a pre-defined route without falling. 

FB: What are the types of climbing that Sportrock teaches?

Sportrock teaches everything from basic skills to lead climbing to setting up top rope anchors. Or if you just want to come in and give climbing a try, we have programs for that as well for both kids (age 6+) and adults.

 

FB: What’s “cool” about the sport for kids?  What types of kids might especially enjoy climbing?

Climbing is a great confidence builder and a great way to meet new people. It also gives kids a sense of accomplishment once they reach the top of each wall. We are firm believers that absolutely anyone would enjoy this sport!

 

FB: What will parents like about climbing?

Climbing is a great form of exercise that allows you to have fun while working out. Climbing motivates kids to put down the video games and climb a rock!

 

FB: What physical/mental development skills can kids learn through climbing? 

Climbing gives kids a sense of accomplishment. One of our members put it best when he said “It’s fun when you get to the top of a really hard climb because it’s fun to look down and see what you just did.”

 

FB: What equipment will kids need to climb (indoor and outdoor)?

All climbers wanting to climb the tall walls (both indoor and outdoor) will use a harness and a helmet. A lot of climbers will wear special shoes to help their feet stick to the wall, but these are not required. Other than the gear provided at the gym, kids are asked to wear athletic clothing (mesh shorts, t-shirts) and tennis shoes.

 

FB: What safety precautions do you take for indoor and outdoor climbing?

Anyone that wants to be able to belay (hold the ropes on the ground) will need to take a class to learn the basics - tying knots, proper belaying motions, catching someone who falls, and lowering them back to the ground. Both climber and belayer will always double check each other’s gear and use certain commands to communicate what is going on.

FB: What’s a good age to start climbing?   What type of class should a beginner take?

In the gym, with an instructor, we start at age 6 & up. Parents are welcome to come in and take their younger children climbing themselves, but the parents would be required to know how to do all the rope work themselves. Anyone age 14+ can take our Basic Skills class and we will teach you everything you need to know to get started!

 

FB: What might be typical weekly or monthly schedule for a kid involved in climbing?

As with any sport, the more you practice the better you will get. There is no set schedule for kids climbing unless you are involved in our climbing team; then there are weekly practice sessions depending on your ability level.

FB: What approach do the climbing instructors take towards teaching climbing?

All instructors want to make climbing as fun as possible and are passionate about what they do. We encourage kids to push their limits and try something that might seem harder than they think they can do.

 

FB: Can you talk about the costs involved in climbing?

Costs are dependant upon the size and scope of the actual class or program. To get an idea of the cost involved with getting started, please visit our website: www.sportrock.com.

 

FB: Anything else you want to mention about Sportrock that parents might want to know?

If you’re interested in getting your child started in climbing, here are a couple great options to consider-

• Open Climb is run every Saturday and Sunday between 12 and 5pm. This program is designed for anyone that wants to give climbing a try. Cost for Open Climb is $20. This price includes Harness and Helmet rental. Shoes are an additional $5.
• Kids Nite is run every Friday from 6:30-8pm. This program is for kids age 6-14. Parents are asked to go to www.sportrock.com and reserve a spot for each child wanting to climb. Price for Kids Nite is $20.
• Birthday Parties are another great program we run. Price is $25/climber with a minimum participant number of 8.  We require a $10 deposit per estimated participant, refundable up to 14 days before the scheduled even. Parties are offered Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Climbing time is the first 1 ½ hours followed by the use of our party room for an additional 45 minutes. Party times vary by gym. Check our website for availability

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Andrew Kozak can be reached at andrew@sportrock.com

 

 

flyburst flyby with Partrick Avon of Sarge Athletics

Patrick Avon is the founder of Sarge Athletics based in Ijamsville, MD (with satellite classes in Poolsville and Damascus). As you will see from our interview with him, Partrick doesn't hold back on his views of the importance of training and conditioning for kids, regardless of whether they are involved in recreational or competitive athletics.  We love Partrick's passion and no frills approach towards fitness.  Read on, you will too!

 

 

FB: Why did you start Sarge Athletics?  

   My training background began in the Navy when I was the Captain of our ship’s weight   room.  They had to start me someplace!  Once I got out of the Navy I  started a company called The Sergeant’s Program and that’s where I got the nickname Sarge. I developed that busin  ess with a simple approach. Basic, tough results orientated -  no frills exercises at a time of da  y when excuses competed with alarm clocks. Years later my children entered sports and my background lent to me training the coaches in conditioning and injury prevention.  Then my interest grew and realized that "hey, I can relate better to these kids then I can their parents." So the coaches let me do my thing. I have continued my education to stay with or ahea d o f the  needs for athletes and now I am  developing a staff to help me spread our services through out the DC area.

FB: What additional training have you received? 

After 5 years in the Navy, I pursued the highest and most applicable education for our industry.  My credentials are The National Academy of Sports Medicine as a Performance Enhancement Specialist. The American College of Sports Medicine. I am a certified Funct ional Movement Specialist (test athletics movement and prescribe corrective exercises) and U nder Armour Performance Coach.

 

FB: Can you provide an overview of Sarge Athletics and its Programs?

Sarge Athletics is a training service for athletes in need of a higher level of performance. Speed. Power. Better movement. Character development.  We instill the concept of self-care. We teach these young athletes to make better food choices and the best methods to self-manage their aches and pains.

 

 

 

 

FB:  Why is speed, strength, and agility training so important for young athletes?

Today's youth sports environment is not good. Most athletes bounce from sport to sport or worse, specialize in one sport at too young an age. Spare time is not spent playing or just riding a bike. It’s catching the Ride-On Bus to go to a friend’s house to sit and play Call of Day or stay up on Facebook all night. They SIT!!! Then comes game or practice. The hip muscles are weak and under perform. Kids try to over compensate then comes Mr. Injury.

At Sarge Athletics, we try to reduce this problem by identifying weak muscle groups and correct the problem with appropriate exercises to address the imbalances. Then we teach kids the fundamental speed, power agility movement drills to better their sports experience.

 

FB: What’s a good age to start training?

Play has become organized into hour-long appointments. It’s structured and free movement does not exist. I was recently asked why kids have no core muscles.  I replied, "when was the last time you saw a kid climb a tree?"  When I was in youth sports, we all did skids. So we all could lift our own bodyweight. We had 6-pack abs and thought everyone did. Kids should start training at age one. Now I am not referring to a program like mine. But some movement based program. They should progress to a more outdoor and fun version of speed agility at age 5.

Training center based training can begin at age 11. There is a ton of research that supports this.  As for weights, kids should start with push-ups and pull-ups then weights. If a doctor disagrees with me. Take a look at their health. Is the doctor slumped over. Does he look like he needs a check up? Is he fat? DON’T GET ME STARTED!!!!!

 

 

FB: What’s the biggest myth that a lot of kids have about fitness (e.g, speed, strength, and agility?).

The biggest myth about kid’s performance is you can develop speed. HOGWASH. If a kid has no core strength he can’t get low. Therefore he can’t fully get to full speed fast (we call this the drive phase). They can’t run straight because his core is a sack of jelly. Give any good conditioning coach two weeks and they will change this.

 

FB: You are an Under Armour Combine Training Center. Can you explain the Combine concept?

Under Armour….WOW What a blessing. The short story is Under Armour is ahead of a movement where fitness has evolved and needed some objective scoring to it. Suzy lost 10 lbs and is in a smaller pair of jeans. That’s objective and terrific. What if Suzy was an athlete and is still competitive in everything BUT sports. What if Suzy could do in 1 hour a 2-mile run, lift 10 lbs dumbbells etc. You get the picture. Now let’s fast-forward 2 months. Suzy lost 10lbs of fat, did the 2 miles run 4 minutes faster, lifted 15lb dumbbells etc. We can now simply objectively score her improvements. Now lets let her compete with other Suzy’s cross the world with COMBINE360.COM website.  We are Under Armour's first licensed training center other than the original in Baltimore to facilitate this.

We are also all under Armour Certified Conditioning Coaches (termed Combine Trainers). We in the industry are so thank full to Under Armour for their Combine360 Program. It’s first class.

FB: What’s the proportion of girl vs. boy participants? 

Our girl vs. boy ratio is 50/50.

 

FB: Do you take a different approach for girls than you do for boys?

Our approach with girls vs. boys training approach is based on need and sport. Clearly no female baseball player desires to put on 30 lbs of muscle, but a male football player might. It’s dictated mostly by sport and the athlete’s request (and our observation). 

 

FB: What are the range of sports that kids play that participate in your program. Do you have many kids who are not playing a formal sport, but participate in Sarge to keep in shape?

Most of our kids are athletes. One is a Break Dancer believe it or not. One of our better HS female athletes that just wanted to maintain a nice figure and stay healthy was an actress heading to college. We get lots of kids in sport and also in their off season.

 

FB: What do/should parents like about Sarge Athletics?

Our goal is to be another pair of eyes. As a parent myself, I want “A Village” as Hillary Clinton said. We want the chance to help them…really help them. It’s going to take a while, so please don’t give me 3 months and pull them. Give me 2-3 years and you will find we will be one of the best investments they ever made. And we will likely hire your kids as our assistant coach. 

 

FB: What’s your approach towards injury prevention?  

 Every athlete is given the most advance movement screen before starting (functionalmovement.com) and each session they have to take 15 additional minutes to perform special exercises to reduce injury and improve movement. All of our coaches are trained in corrective exercise.  We also have a class on Sundays called Athlete Repair. We take an hour and 15 minutes and have a Doctor in Physical Therapy lead self care corrective exercises. He is also our Program Director (former Pro-Lacrosse player and is a conditioning coach)

 

FB: What are the coaching styles of your staff?

Loving-Intense-interactive and Educated

 

FB: What else should kids and parents know about your program?

I told you everything…….:) If you don’t hire us…Hire someone like us or better. If they cannot match everything I said..DO NOT HIRE THEM.

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Partrick Avon can be reached at sarge@damascusathlete.com