The Glasgow Youth Squad

The TCA Glasgow Youth Squad are talented climbers aged 8-16 who compete in local, national and international competitions throughout the year. The abilities of the members vary from the keen newcomer that has obvious potential, through to national champions and members of the GB Climbing Team.

In normal years, there is a very busy competition calendar that includes events such as the British Mountaineering Councils ‘Youth Climbing Series’ (BMC YCS), the Junior British Bouldering Championships and the Climbing Works International Festival.

While Squad does have a competition element, if competitions are not your thing, that’s OK. TCA Coaches will use the very best up-to-date training methods to help every member achieve their potential. Where possible coaches will accompany the team to some of the UK’s top outdoor climbing and bouldering locations.

Annual Squad Selection

There is an annual selection event usually held in August each year. The selection event has a capacity and must be booked in advance, invites will be sent to those on the existing squad, the squad waiting list and suitable attendees of other TCA sessions. The selection event is not based on grades alone but to give a rough benchmark, we would expect performance and competition squad applicants to be able to climb around 50% of the blue circuit and mini squad applicants would be working on climbs within the orange circuit or up.

Typically, the squad has a full complement of members, so those wishing to join the squad halfway through the year will have to wait until a current member drops out. The coaching team will consider those on the current reserve list or will run an additional selection session that will be advertised on social media, via email and at TCA climbing walls.

THANKS TO

ELLIS BRIGHAM

A big thanks to Ellis Brigham for sponsoring the team. With our wealth of experience, the aim is to produce communities of gifted climbers, whose lifelong participation will help to shape the sport for years to come.