The second smaller meeting of this project took place between the 19th and 21st of November, in Olomouc (Czech Republic). The emphasis of this meeting was on increasing the appreciation of the health benefits of climbing and developing appropriate training plans for youth which include special exercises and additional non-traditional learning methods.
Friday afternoon and evenning was reserved for meeting. We talked about age-appropriate training and non-traditional learning methods. We prepared topics for exemplary short videos, that will demonstrate present exercises for safe climbing, where safe means knowing how to train correctly, stay healthy, and avoid injuries.
On Saturday we visited the application center BALUO at the faculty of Physical Exercise of the University of Palacký. The campus is divided into four main buildings, but we were concentrated around one – the science and technology park. The park focuses on applied research, technologies, and innovative training, which all support regular physical activities, prevention of lifestyle diseases, and a healthy lifestyle. In the second part of the visit, we had a tour of the center, during which we tried some of the tests that athletes go through. In the last part of the meeting we had a workshop in the form of a debate. We talked about how to integrate modern technologies and all the data collected for the testing into the training plan. Whether the information is useful or necessary for the improvement of climbers. We discussed potential visions of measuring brain activity during climbing as the mental game plays an important role in the performance of an athlete.
On Sunday we went to the climbing gym in Brno, where we met some of the members of the Czech youth climbing team. They presented us with an application called Yarmill, that the CZ team uses for everything regarding training. The app allows trainers to create training programs for each climber and based on their feedback they adjust the training accordingly without being present at the training. The app also helps the climber and their trainer to follow progress, everyday activities, quality of sleep, well-being, and more. Girls were also kind enough to demonstrate some of the exercises that they had in the training plan for that day.
The meeting was very successful and we have set a good basis for further work.
More info about the meeting and results is in the attached report.
