A Competitor & Parent Guide to the 2022-23 USA Climbing Youth Season
Updated February 27, 2023

Welcome to USA Climbing’s 2022-23 Youth competition season! We are excited to provide young climbers with the opportunity to challenge themselves, have fun, and compete with other athletes at USAC-sanctioned events, starting with the Qualification Series and progressing through the Regional, Divisional, and National championships.  Below is key information about how to register and compete at these events.

Step 1:  Become a USA Climbing Member

Everyone who competes in a USAC-sanctioned event must first become a member through the online membership platform at usaclimbing.sport80.com. Instructions for setting up or renewing a membership can be found at usaclimbing.org/memberships. It is strongly recommended that families set up a single account under which they may add multiple individual memberships.  

There are two types of membership - which can be found under the category of “Elite and Youth Series Membership” in the membership platform - for those wanting to compete in the Youth series:

If you are new to competitive climbing this year and are part of a youth team at your local gym, we recommend that you talk to your coach(es) about whether to sign up under the Competitor or Introductory membership.

Athletes are assigned to one of ten Categories based on their gender and birth year.

When signing up for your USA Climbing membership, it is important to select the correct Youth Membership Region, which is based on either your home address or, in some cases, the address of the gym where you train. A map of the 18 USA Climbing Youth Regions can be found at usaclimbing.org/compete/regions. If your home and gym are located in different Regions and you are part of a climbing team, consult with your team’s coach regarding which Membership Region you should choose. More information regarding Membership Region selection can be found in section 2.7 of the Rulebook.

Step 2:  Find a Qualification Event in Which To Compete

Youth competition climbing involves three disciplines - Boulder, Lead/Top Rope, and Speed. Climbers may choose to compete in one, two or all three disciplines under their single USAC membership.  Each discipline has a different season schedule:

Each Region will hold between four and eight Qualification Events (QEs) for the Boulder and Lead/Top Rope disciplines per year; the number of Qualification Speed Trials (QSTs) is much smaller. The calendar of QEs and QSTs for each Region is posted on its page on the USAClimbing.org website. Information about the QEs and the Regional & Divisional championships in your Region and other useful information are also regularly posted on Region-specific Facebook groups (some Regions also maintain public Instagram accounts); links to these can be found on your Region’s web page.

Step 3:  Register for a Qualification Event

Registration for all USAC-sanctioned competitions, such as Qualification Events, takes place via the membership platform at usaclimbing.sport80.com. You will find a link to register for each scheduled event on the Regional web page; you can also search for events at usaclimbing.sport80.com/public/events. Click here to see the step-by-step instructions for registering. For each event, there will also be a link on the Regional webpage to an Info Sheet that is specific to the event, which includes information such as the event format, schedule, and registration fee as well as information about volunteering at the event.

You will receive an email confirmation once you have successfully completed the registration process.  If you do not receive a confirmation email within 15 minutes you should contact events@usaclimbing.org immediately. Once registration has been completed, the competitor’s name will appear on the event entry list in your Membership account and on the event page.  

Youth Series competitions are open to competitors regardless of ability, and competitors with disabilities seeking accommodations should do so 30 days prior to the event by emailing USA Climbing at accommodation@usaclimbing.org. USAC staff can then work with the gym, competition officials, and routesetters to process and respond to the request in a fair and reasonable manner. More details can be found in section 3.12 of the Rulebook.

Step 4:  Compete at a Qualification Event

There are three types of competition format for Qualification Events for the Boulder and Lead/Top Rope disciplines; the format is determined by the gym hosting the event. In all formats, a set of boulders or routes are assigned to each age/gender Category for those athletes to climb. The three competition format types and general description are as follows:

The tables below show the details for the different competition formats within each discipline for a Qualification Event.

BOULDER QUALIFICATION EVENTS

LEAD/TOP ROPE QUALIFICATION EVENTS

Qualification Speed Trials 

The purpose of Qualification Speed Trials (QST) is to provide opportunities for youth competitors to practice and develop their Speed climbing skills in a competition environment and to qualify to compete at the Youth National championship by achieving a category-specific benchmark time set by USA Climbing. QSTs will be held primarily for B, A and Junior category competitors. The competition will use the standard Speed holds/layout on either a 10 meter or 15 meter wall. Some QSTs may include opportunities for C Category athletes to compete, but this will be held on a non-standardized run. Note: All C category athletes with Competitor memberships are now eligible to compete at Youth Nationals in Speed regardless of whether or not they do a QST.

At a minimum, a QST consists of a Qualification round where the athletes’ recorded times will be used to determine qualification to the Youth National Championship. QSTs may also include a Final round that uses a bracket-style, knockout format (times recorded during a Final round may also be used to achieve eligibility to Nationals). Most QSTs will allow for competitors to complete some practice runs on the Speed wall prior to the start of the event. For more details regarding QSTs, please see this QST competitor & parent guide as well as Section 9 of the Rulebook and Addendum A (sec. 12.10.3).

Step 5:  Qualify for Boulder & Lead/Top Rope Regional Championships

At each Qualification Event, athletes are ranked in their category based on their results at that competition. Those climbers who have an active Competitor membership at the time of the competition (or who upgrade from Introductory to Competitor before 11:59 PM MT on the Monday immediately following the QE) earn Ranking Points based on the place that they finish in their category. Below is a table of the Points earned for each Rank placement at a Qualification Event.

Note: Tied competitors are awarded the average of the Ranking Points allocated for the tied rank positions, rounded down to a whole number. For example:

• If two competitors tie for 6th place in a category, they both receive the average of the Ranking Points for 6th and 7th place; (495+455)/2 = 475
• If there is a three-way tie for 2nd place, all three competitors receive 701 points (the sum of 805+690+610 divided by 3, rounded down)
• Competitors who are Introductory members do not earn Ranking Points, but they still factor in the Rank placements. In other words, if an Introductory Member finishes 3rd at a QE, the 690 points associated with a 3rd place Rank are not allocated to the next highest Competitor member at the comp. They would just receive 610 Ranking Points for their 4th place finish.

To determine a competitor’s Regional Ranking, the Ranking Points earned at their two best QE performances in that discipline are added together. Competitors are not required to compete in more than one QE in order to be potentially eligible for Regionals.  

To qualify for the Regional Championship in either Boulder or Lead/Top Rope, an athlete must hold an active Competitor membership and finish in the top 26 of their age/gender category of that discipline’s Regional Ranking at the end of the season. USA Climbing will periodically update the Regional Rankings during the season in the Youth Series section of the USAC website.

At the conclusion of each discipline’s Qualification Series season (December 10 for Boulder and April 15 for Lead/Top Rope), competitors finishing in the top 26 of their Regional Ranking - plus others earning eligibility as outlined in section 12.3 of the Rules - will receive an invite to register and compete at the Regional championship for that discipline. Note: You must fully complete the registration and payment process in the USA Climbing membership platform by the posted deadlines to be registered for a Championship event - simply clicking on the “I Accept” button in the email invite is not sufficient.

Step 6:  Compete at the Championship Events

Competitors must qualify to compete at Championship Events. Details for the events are as follows:

One More Important Step: Volunteer!

These competitions are not possible without volunteers. A single session of a Qualification Event requires approximately 35-40 volunteers for Boulder and 45-55 volunteers for Lead/Top Rope.  Events that have enough volunteers run more smoothly and provide a higher quality experience for competitors. So, please consider contributing some of your time to help make these events successful. Read WHY DO CLIMBING COMPS REQUIRE VOLUNTEERS?

There are a number of different volunteer roles - with judging and belaying comprising the majority of spots needed. You can learn more about judging here. There is support and education available for new judges ranging from training at the Regional level to certification through USA Climbing. In addition, first-time judges are typically paired with an experienced judge to give newer volunteers the opportunity to obtain “on the job” knowledge and experience.

One of the many ways USA Climbing is committed to the safety and wellbeing of our youth is through the commitment to the SafeSport Code through Minor Athlete Abuse Prevention Policies (MAAPP). SafeSport establishes consistent standards of response and resolution to abuse and misconduct claims across the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Movement, whose affiliated individuals must comply with policies and procedures as defined by the Code. Compliance with SafeSport and MAAPP for USA Climbing requires all volunteers for youth events to obtain a free Volunteer membership through the USAC membership platform. Volunteer Memberships are split into two categories (Covered and Non-Covered Individuals) based on the type of volunteer position.  

Signing up for a Volunteer Membership is another way to support our athletes and to help keep them safe. For new families, when you create your USA Climbing membership account to purchase your athlete’s membership, you can easily add a Volunteer membership for yourself in a single transaction. For returning families, please consider signing up for your Volunteer membership prior to the start of the season.

If you have additional questions about how the USA Climbing Youth Series works, the best sources of information are:

• The USA Climbing Rulebook (https://usaclimbing.org/rules/)
• Your Region’s page on the USA Climbing website (https://usaclimbing.org/compete/regions/)
• Your Region’s Facebook group/Instagram (links should be posted on each Region’s webpage)
• Your gym’s coaches and/or other team parents

USA Climbing also has a number of useful information resources on its website for parents and competitors related to topics such as nutrition and training. You can find them at usaclimbing.org/climb/education/ 

We look forward to seeing you at one of our Youth events soon and hope you have a fun and rewarding 2022-23 competition season!