Freshman Rowan Eddy first started rock climbing after signing up for a summer camp, and he was hooked immediately.

Eddy was four years old when he first stepped foot into a climbing gym.

“I went up to the head coach, and I shook his hand and said, ‘I want to be on your team,’ and he put me on the team,” Eddy said.

He has been climbing for ten years and participates through the Multnomah Athletic Club (MAC). According to Eddy, rock climbing has no seasons, meaning the activity continues all year long.

He trains four times a week with his competitive team for two and a half hours, and two additional times outside of practice for about three hours each session.

Rock climbing competitions start with qualifiers, which are around three hours long, and where the competitors climb as many routes as possible. For regionals, divisionals, and nationals, climbers have four minutes to climb as much as they can, Eddy said.

According to Eddy, there are four teams at MAC: Choice, composed of first through fifth graders; Junior Elite, composed of middle school students; Elite, for high school students; and Excel, for those who have made nationals. Eddy is on the Excel team, and although he is the only one in his age group, he said he has found community and connection within the team, noting them to be one of his favorite aspects of the sport.

Eddy explained how there are three main disciplines in climbing, with his discipline being speed climbing.

In speed climbing, he said, the goal is simply to go as fast as you can while racing against another climber.

Other than finding the right discipline, Eddy explained, there are other techniques rock climbing requires, such as upper and lower body strength. Additionally, “neing able to think quickly and have good reaction speed also helps a lot,” he said.

One of Eddy’s favorite parts of rock climbing is that “nothing is actually truly impossible, and every small move you get is progress,” Eddy said. “Even if it’s just shifting your hips, it’s still progress, and it’s really easy to see progress if you have an open mindset.”

Eddy expressed that his biggest challenge is the mental aspect of climbing, as small mistakes can snowball.

His role model is Tomoa Narasaki, a 29-year-old rock climber from Japan who specializes in bouldering. Narasaki helped create a speed climbing move called the “Tomoa,” which Eddy is able to do.

Eddy also currently plays boys volleyball for La Salle, which he thinks is “incredibly fun,” he said.

He also played soccer this year, and track and field in the past, which he hopes to participate in again next year.

His proudest achievement is getting through a “standstill” in his progress, getting even better at climbing in the end, he said. Eddy’s goal this year is to make the top five in nationals because it would allow him to get on the USA Climbing Youth National Team.

In the future, he wants to go to the University of Utah, as there are many outdoor climbing areas in surrounding areas.

For newcomers in the sport, Eddy noted how it’s important to not let pain be a deterring factor.

“It will definitely hurt very physically when you start climbing, and you might think you’re too weak — and that is not the case,” he said. “You need to be able to harness the strength and belief in yourself and just stop thinking you’re too weak for a move.”