Development for National Federations

Legacy Programmes for National Federations and Local Organisers Committees

As part of its commitment to sustainable event delivery and long-term development of the sport, World Climbing provides targeted education and capacity-building programmes for both National Federations and Local Organising Committees (LOCs). These initiatives ensure that knowledge, skills, and expertise gained in preparation for competitions are retained within the host community.

Ahead of World Climbing events, a variety of technical and educational clinics may be offered locally, supporting officials, routesetters, and coaches while strengthening both the national sport system and the operational capacity of event organisers.

Judges Clinic

Goal

The National Judges Clinic aims to prepare judges to operate as National Technical Officials (NTOs) during competitions hosted in their country.

The clinic focuses on:

• Competition rules and their practical application
• Judging exercises and case studies
• Identification and analysis of common mistakes
• Competition management and decision-making processes
• Roles and responsibilities of judges within event operations

This clinic supports consistency, confidence, and readiness of local judges during real-event delivery.

Participation results in a certificate of attendance for those completing all components of the clinic.

The National Judges Clinic does not confer an international World Climbing qualification.

Para Routesetters Clinic and Routesetters’ Clinic

Goal

The Para Routesetters’ Clinic and Routesetters’ Clinic support national and regional routesetters by providing tools, technical skills, and best practices relevant to competition preparation and delivery.

The clinic aims to:

• Improve quality and consistency of competition routesetting
• Support athlete preparation for competition seasons
• Develop understanding of modern competition demands
• Enhance collaboration between routesetters and event officials

The clinic contributes directly to local routesetting capacity while aligning practices with World Climbing standards.

Coaches’ Clinic

Goal

The Coaches’ Clinic supports the development of structured, professional coaching systems within National Federations and host communities.

The programme aims to:

• Strengthen national coaching structures and practices
• Support active coaches officially recognised by their National Federation
• Provide hands-on preparation for national, continental, and international competitions
• Guide coaching practices towards high-performance and athlete-centred models

World Climbing experts support participant coaches through:

• Technical understanding of sport climbing movement across Boulder, Lead, and Speed
• Planning and delivery of training sessions
• Coaching behaviours, communication, and feedback
• Athlete health, wellbeing, and sport values
• Safety standards and equipment management

For further information, please contact development@ifsc-climbing.org

WOMEN LEAD SPORT WORKSHOP

Through the Gender Equality Programme of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations, the IFSC was given the opportunity to submit two women from Member Federations offering a comprehensive package of leadership and communications tools to a wider group of women.

This programme complements the leadership, diversity and National Federations' support goals of the IFSC, and a total of 21 women were accepted from 19 countries and took the programme with Coach Gabriela Mueller in November 2021.

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

Youth high-level sport climbers risk-taking and precautionary behaviours: understanding, comparing and preventing

The IFSC in collaboration with the Aix Marseille University and the Luce, étoile filante association is working on a project to better understand youth athletes' risk-taking and precautionary behaviours. The project is structured in three phases: understanding, comparing, and preventing.

The goal of the first phase is to explore youth high-level climbers risk knowledge, perception and management. Semi-structured interviews and focus-group will be conducted at their training center, and/or during a sports exchange and/or after a European competition. During the second phase, the previously described risk knowledge, perception, and management will be quantitatively measured in a large population of youth climbers aged between 14 and 20. In the final part, a risk education programme will be developed based on the results obtained and tested with participating partners.

Additional information about the programme is available here.

If you are interested in participating, please contact the IFSC Research & Development Director at developement@ifsc-climbing.org.