high school climbing club help

So, I am a high school teacher and my school had every teacher create a club based on their hobbies or interests. Needless to say I am now the sponsor of a climbing club. We cant actually go climbing because of liability and time allowed. So I am looking for any recommendations or suggestions on things to do. we have an hour once a week. Also if anyone has a good power point presentation to introduce the sport, that would be super helpful.

Instruct them to create MP accounts.  Then teach them how to give poorly thought out advice and vehemently argue about tedious matters.  

They'll be 50% there.

D. Tomlins wrote:

So, I am a high school teacher and my school had every teacher create a club based on their hobbies or interests. Needless to say I am now the sponsor of a climbing club. We cant actually go climbing because of liability and time allowed. So I am looking for any recommendations or suggestions on things to do. we have an hour once a week. Also if anyone has a good power point presentation to introduce the sport, that would be super helpful.

Climbing videos? Training/exercise sessions? Knot tying clinics? How to descend from a sport route anchor? (Build a two bolt anchor with chains on a board; put eye rings on the back side of the board and find a spot to lash it with bungies/webbing/et al.) Get each kid to demo/explain something - could even be a historical event: FA of Everest, FA of PO Wall, big wall bivi, etc.

Don't use a Powerpoint presentation - live demo instead. You could lead a traversing pitch, tying off desks or whatever for pro. 

Setup a slack line.

Tying different knots could works too.

Why not start with belaying techniques and knots used in climbing? Maybe some yoga and balance as well. As a HS teacher I think it would be great to also explore team building strategies so they understand how  good climbing partnerships would work.

The Bag game, or any campfire style team building exercises.

Use four sessions to cover bouldering, single pitch (sport), multi-pitch (gear), and mountaineering

My sport / gear division is somewhat artificial but progressing in that order may make sense. 

Other sessions could be intermingled as makes sense.

+uno for anchor building, knots! 

Just get em stoked on it

Drill and tap some holes in the walls in your class and ask/beg/buy for some holds and crash pads. Don't make the routes any higher than 6 feet and have traverses all the way around your classroom. 

When young little Jeff here was in elementary school in Virginia, we had a traverse wall in the gym at school but I do remember specifically it was no higher than 6 feet with a red tape going across about 2 feet off the deck. Your feet were not allowed to go higher than that or it was a liability. Now I'm not sure if the liability changes for high school pending the state 

Bob Diehl wrote:
I'm in charge of the climbing oriented PE course in our school. So what do I need to know? We have a local climbing gym nearby, but I'm not sure it's the best solution in our case. I just need to organize everything beforehand and do my assignment for me and my students

Hi Bob,
You may check Everlast Climbing or Eldo school climbing walls. One of my colleagues works as a PE teacher at Downtown Denver Expeditionary School and they have one in their gym.
Here's one of the walls they did for Lakefield College School:

If you happen to be a math or physics teacher (or if you are a buddy of a math/physics teacher and can get him/her involved), you could go through fall factors (and thereby making them see the huge difference between a static line and a dynamic rope), force vectors, fall forces, force multiplication and such. Yeah, I know math/physics is one of the more dry and boring topics for high schoolers, but I also think some students would be enthusiastic about seeing the real life implementation of these dry/boring topics and maybe they would appreciate these topics a little more. Make sure the kids have some fun climbing and building anchors first though. Starting with the dry/boring stuff will probably turn them off.

Show them "Valley Uprising."

D. Tomlins wrote:

So, I am a high school teacher and my school had every teacher create a club based on their hobbies or interests. Needless to say I am now the sponsor of a climbing club. We cant actually go climbing because of liability and time allowed. So I am looking for any recommendations or suggestions on things to do. we have an hour once a week. Also if anyone has a good power point presentation to introduce the sport, that would be super helpful.

This is awesome. Is it possible to get a bouldering wall put up in your gym or fundraise for a moveable rock wall with ropes eventually? You could have class on how to tie different knots, how to build anchors, how to use different belay devices, proper fit of harnesses, differences in climbing shoes, how to clean an anchor, how to make tape gloves, if there's cracks anywhere you could demonstrate hand jamming, finger locks etc. How to flake a rope, backpack a rope. Safety precautions while climbing such as bring a headlamp, proper layers, water and snack ratio per person per route length etc. 

I think you can simulate any of this pretty easily if you could put a couple bolts somewhere. If there's cracks in any of the walls or concrete or even some rocks around the school you could practice cam placements. Proper nutrition, stretching, and strength training with use of a hang board and whatever you have access to at the school. 

My HS climbing club watches movies every other week after school, and goes to the local gym at a cheaper group rate

The OP posted the question 2.5 yrs ago and last logged in on Jan 1 2020 - I'm curious as to what he's come up with in that time.

Marc801 C wrote: The OP posted the question 2.5 yrs ago and last logged in on Jan 1 2020 - I'm curious as to what he's come up with in that time.

I wonder why did this resurface?...I'm so jetlagged it didn't even occur to me the date

So, I am a high school teacher and my buyessay school had every teacher create a club based on their hobbies or interests. Needless to say I am now the sponsor of a climbing club. We cant actually go climbing because of liability and time allowed. So I am looking for any recommendations or suggestions on things to do. we have an hour once a week.

Looks like an example of a badly thought through system. Of course you can tell students all the theory. give practical advice, tell stories, and the history of climbing, but without practice it's never the same. Too bad your school can't provide a possibility of actual climbing...

My questions for the OP, if he's still around - are the teachers there represented in a collective bargaining unit AKA a union or teachers' association?  As a former HS teacher, I can't imagine an extra duty like this getting dropped on our teachers without it being a negotiated contract element. And even then, there would almost certainly need to be a stipend associated with it (as there is for teachers who serve as sport coaches).

On a lighter note - fill the students' heads with theory. They'll then fit right in here on MP. Tee up a creative anchor and turn 'em loose on it.

Gunkiemike wrote:On a lighter note - fill the students' heads with theory. They'll then fit right in here on MP. Tee up a creative anchor and turn 'em loose on it.

Hmmmm .... will they be scarred for life?  Or better prepared for life?  ;)

I am so glad you are doing this.  It is because of someone like you that I have been rock climbing for 48 years.

Some ideas:

If you have a local gym, they have all the releases etc.

Your legal team will always say no.  In reality it's not that bad gyms do it.  The Boy Scouts do it.  It can be done.  You just need a can-do legal helper.

If you are into Boy Scouts you can piggy back onto their program.

Climbing is not for everyone.  For others it as necessary as food and shelter.  For the later, take them out in pairs with a parent along (and release form signed) into the outdoors.  

Teach them knots.  The serious ones will learn them.

I have taken kids climbing and rappelling through my Boy Scout Troop.  It is a hell-job lot of work.  I don't do it unless I have lots of competent help and a small amount of kids.  It really sucks coaching some kid for and hour to back off a ten-foot rappel while he is fully belayed.  

My kid is in a high school climbing club.
To earn a varsity letter you have to have participated for two years and have lead a 5-10 with no falls.