"Why teach wall climbing?" asked Larry DeNucci from Everlast. "Climbing teaches team play, trust, core strengthening, aerobic and anaerobic activity, and cognitive skills like problem-solving. But just as important it's something new and exciting that motivates students to exercise."
DeNucci recently trained the Jamestown Public Schools' after school programming and elementary physical education staffs on both wall climbing safety and specific curriculum.
Indoor climbing is becoming a popular fitness activity that not only helps students build physical strength, but also facilitates the development of problem-solving and decision-making skills. It is also an activity that students can pursue throughout their lives.
Educators who have incorporated climbing into their curriculum say students of all ages enjoy the safe activity which teaches them to work as a team, trust others, take positive risks and have confidence in themselves. The district's climbing walls were purchased with money from the Carol M. White PEP Grant. Jamestown High School and the middle schools received climbing walls in 2002 and the current three-year grant purchased climbing walls for each of the six elementary schools.
The physical education teachers and after school staff received the seminar to train them in proper use of climbing walls with their students.
