Team Reality continued its climb towards Nationals at a meet on Saturday, March 3 as nine team members from Reality Climbing Gym in Peachtree City traveled to Charlotte, NC to participate in the Southeast Region’s second qualifying sport climbing competition of the season. With over 150 entrants, it was one of the largest turnouts ever in North Carolina for a USA sanctioned event.

Climbers from both the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast Region met at Inner Peaks Climbing Center. Team Reality was prepared. Sarah Black, a sixth grader at Our Lady of Victory said, “This was easier than the first comp. I wasn’t as nervous.”

Following the Redpoint Competition format, competitors had four hours to complete at least five climbs. Prior to the start, each participant was given a diagram of the rock wall structures with route level markings. Routes ranged in point value from 400 to 1,275. The higher the point value the more difficult the ascent.
At this dual region challenge, competition was tough. The event was crowded, the lines were long and strategy became extremely important. Team Reality Coach Nicole Colvin stated, “My climber’s had to step up and climb some of the hardest routes they have done to date and they did it like pros.”

Tyler Jones, a tenth grader at McIntosh High School who scored a personal best at the competition said, “I don’t care what place I got, just making it through that one route was enough for me.”

Colvin then stated, “In climbing we prove ourselves not by getting to the top but by simply doing something we didn’t think we could do or something we couldn’t do last time. That is climbing.”

There were some individual standout performances from Team Reality members. Ben Watson, a seventh grader at Rising Starr Middle School, finished fifth place in one of the largest divisions and Jane Lu placed first in the Master’s Class.

Following are the team’s USA Climbing 2007 National Standings to date:

Female Youth D - Hannah Montondo, 1st

Male Youth C - Alex Amalfitano, 3rd

Female Youth C - Abby Birrell , 7th, Sarah Black, 11th

Male Youth B - Ben Watson, 6th

Male Youth A - Tyler Jones, 13th

Male Junior’s - Daniel Blair , 4th

Female Masters - Jane Lu, 1st

Four from Team Reality attended an outdoor event in Charleston, S.C. on March 24. The results were as follows:

Female Youth C - Birrell, 4th, Black, 5th

Male Youth C - Amalfitano, 2nd

Male Juniors - Daniel Blair, 2nd

There are 30 kids on three teams at Reality, two competitive teams and a recreational team. Many of the members of the competitive teams found the gym based on a friend or family member’s recomendation, but one member, Jones, found it by accident. He was looking for a nearby boxing gym.

The attitude for most of the members of the team is to “just do their best,” but Colvin sees that her team is more tight-knit than others at a number of these competitions.

In an individual sport where people are trying to best their personal goals everytime out, the members of the Reality team are very supportive, which does a lot to alleviate the pressure as they deal with unfamiliar courses and climbs.
“You will only go as far as you want to in this sport,” said Colvin, adding, “you will get out what you put in.”

The primary goal for the members of the team is to have fun, but all of them want to reach certain levels and one can only think that there will be new goals once those levels are reached, meaning, quite literally, the sky is the limit.
The next competition, the last in a series of four local competitions for the team, is Apr. 21 in Columbia, S.C.

The team then enters into their championship season beginning with regionals in Atlanta on May 12.

Reality Climbing Gym is located at 125 Depot Court off of Senoia Road in Peachtree City. The gym will complete a full expansion by the end of the year, allowing for more climbing space, retail space and bouldering areas.
For more information, go to the website at www.realityclimbing.com or call 770-48-REACH.

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