Membership Structure & Information re Competition Season 2014
Hi all Coaches, Teachers, Parents and climbing stakeholders,
The 2013 year was extremely exciting with a whole new crop of strong climbers coming up through the ranks. This is particularly exciting for us as we see the primary schools climbers gaining strength each year which forces our older climbers to also up their game.
Please find all the relevant details for the upcoming competition year below.
A. Gauteng Climbing Membership Structure
After a huge amount of effort, the SANCF achieved SASCOC recognition. SASCOC affiliation is important as it then allows our young climbers who go on to represent South Africa to be officially awarded National (Protea) Colours.
SASCOC itself has been going through some changes and they are fairly prescriptive as to how a body affiliated to them should be formed. This includes various constitutions, registrations of companies etc, which all takes time to set in place properly.
The effect on the Open, Junior, Youth A and B Climbing League is negligible as from a structural point of view the new organogram of membership should look like this;
Really, all this means is that the members of Gauteng Climbing are now the Clubs and not the individual climbers. From your perspective each school/club/institution will be recognised as a Club and from now on will have a vote at the AGM as to how GC is run.
As each school has a different structure, usually conforming to the school constitution, we realise that it is not practical for each school to register separate and individual climbing “clubs” outside of their current framework. We have therefore included a very simple two page document titled “Club (School) Affiliation Application 2014”, which we require every school participating in the 2014 competitions to complete and return.
Club and institutions are required to lodge the Gauteng Membership Documents with us as per the previous year – Gauteng Climbing Schools registration form-1
All other documents for clubs can be found on the SANCF website here; http://www.sancf.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=16&Itemid=61
Annual Membership to GC and the SANCF will cost R250 and needs to be collected by the club and paid to GC for those climbers wishing to participate in the upcoming competition season.
B. Competition Season 2014
This year we will be changing the format of the competitions by having only two categories;
Youth B, Novice, Masters and Veterans will be in one category and Youth A, Juniors and Opens in another category. This means that our open categories will be that much bigger. Medals will still be awarded for both Youth A and Junior but they can also win medals in Opens.
Schools / Club Competition
The Gauteng Selection events are designed as a team competition wherein the best Gauteng Male and/or Female schools or club team will be awarded the trophy for best team performance.
•A maximum of 10 climbers per team are allowed. Clubs/Schools can however enter more than one team and there is no restriction on the number of competitors.
•Teams may be a mixed Female/Male team or separate Male or Female only team.
Individual Competition
The Gauteng Lead Competitions are also designed as a basis from which to select Youth A, B, Junior, Novice, Masters, Veterans and Open representatives to compete in the South African Nationals, hosted by the SANCF on Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th October 2014.
As per last year, the top 5 in each category, qualify for the Provincial Team. The best 3 out of 4 competition scores are taken into consideration. Should you miss more than 1 competition and still wish to be considered, then a letter is needed from you prior to the competition date. Should you miss a competition due to an illness, a doctor’s note is required.
This year the S. A. Nationals will take place in Cape Town. We will distribute an information booklet providing in depth information closer to the time. Please ensure that all athletes diarise this date well in advance.
Climbers may enter as independents if they are not affiliated to a school or club.
Age Groups
Juniors – Born 1995/6
Youth A – Born 1997/8
Youth B – Born 1999/2000
Masters – Age 40 – 49
Veterans – Age 50 upwards
Opens and Novice – Born any year up to and including 1998
Relevant Dates and Times for 2014 comps
The dates for the various comps are;
•Comp 1 Saturday 24th May, Wits University, 9am
•Comp 2 Saturday 7th June, The Climbing Barn, 9am
•Comp 3 Saturday 26th July, The Climbing Barn, 9am
•Comp 4 Saturday 2nd August , Wits University, 9am
S.A. Nationals Sat 4th / Sun 5th October (provisional) CAPE TOWN
NB: We trust you have enough advance notice and ask that you circulate these dates to all your parents, schools sports administrators, coaches, athletes and anyone else responsible for planning of sporting events in order to avoid any clashes.
Pre- Registration and Registration at the Venue
We need to plan ahead for the day of the comp by getting a sense of the numbers to expect. On top of this, the day of the comp is always administratively busy and to ensure the event runs smoothly we need to save time where possible. Closer to the time you will be asked to pre-register your athletes by completing a registration form.
Physical Registration of climbers will take place between 9:00am and 9:30am
for the Saturday sessions.
End times for the comps are envisaged to be at around 2:30pm Saturday.
Venues and Costs
A registration fee for the comps will be charged to compensate the venues for the use of their facilities. These fees will be communicated well in advance
but we do not expect them to differ significantly from last year’s fees.
Abridged Competition Rules and Format
The unabridged rules are downloadable and everyone should be familiar with the basic rules and procedures as follows;
•Routes will be clearly marked and labelled with coloured tape.
•Scoring is based on the highest hold reached.
•Each climber will have to climb 3 routes
•Independent judges will score each route.
Rules can be downloaded here; IFSC Rules
Equipment Required
GC will provide the ropes and each athlete/club or school must provide their own shoes, helmets, harnesses and chalk bags.
Safety and GC minimum requirements
Proficient and safe Belayers will be selected by GC who will be overseen by a safety officer.
Belayers will double check that the climber’s figure of 8 knot is correctly tied into their harness.
Athletes who are unable to correctly tie their knot will have the belayer tie
the knot correctly and will be penalised via a deduction of points.
Dress Code
The dress code will be dictated by the school or club represented by the climber.
Documentation Required
In order to compete in GC Selection comps climbers will need to be paid up members of Gauteng Climbing (GC) and have the following documents completed;
Gauteng Climbing Indemnity 2012
GC Parents Code of Conduct
GC Climbers Code of Conduct
GC Anti Doping
These docs as well as the GC Membership form can be downloaded directly from either the SANCF website or our Gauteng Climbing WordPress site.
Kind Regards,
The Gauteng Committee
Gauteng Climbing 