<\/p>\n![\"climbing\"](\"http:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/IMG_17931.jpg\" "\\"IMG_1793[1]\\"")
<\/a>On Saturday, 28 April 2012 the MMA Rock Climbing<\/b> Team competed in a rock climbing<\/i> competition at the University of Texas, Pan American Wellness and Recreation Sports Complex<\/a>.\u00a0 The team had been practicing and looking forward to this event since the start of the semester and daily workouts havw focused on endurance, technique and increasing physical fitness in expectation of a difficult competition.\u00a0 Team members were\u00a0 not disappointed as the competition was long and difficult and tested their abilities.\u00a0 The team members performed well and by the time the day ended and we headed off for a well deserved meal the cadets were indeed tired but looking forward to their next climbing competition.<\/p>\nMMA Rock Climbing Team<\/h2>\n
<\/a>This year the Rock Climbing<\/u> Team<\/a> has a total of 14 members of which 12 participated in the competition.\u00a0 Team members that competed were Cadets Will Timpany, Stevan Banker, Jacob Hudson, Nicholas Hamblin, Rustam Shaykhutdinov, Douglas Hodge, Cody Smith, Charles Lemaster, Jacob Leroux, Warwick,\u00a0Sandford \u00a0and Moore.\u00a0 This year’s team has only two members that returned from the previous year and surprisingly is made up mostly of underclassmen.\u00a0 Their daily climbing routinely normally consists of a physical fitness workout that includes plenty of upper body exercises to build strength and lasts approximately 15-20 prior to heading to the climbing wall.\u00a0 Once at the wall each cadet must do a series of fingertip pull-ups before climbing begins.\u00a0 These workouts proved to be beneficial in their latest competition as it was apparent that those members that began the semester needing to improve their fitness had done so.\u00a0 This year the\u00a0Team Captains\u00a0are Cadet Timpany and Cadet Banker.\u00a0 As Team Captains they are responsible for leading all the exercise sessions as well as putting and taking down and ensuring that all equipment is properly stored each day.<\/p>\nUTPA Climbing Competition<\/h2>\n
<\/a>This year the\u00a0Climbing Competition was hosted again by the University of Texas, Pan American and co-sponsored by UTPA and MMA.\u00a0 A number of prizes were to be awarded and included equipment and gift certificates to purchase climbing equipment.\u00a0 A total of 8 students from UTPA and 12 Cadets from MMA participated.\u00a0 The event began at 8:00 AM with signup and administrative procedures.\u00a0 Participants were then given an opportunity to look over the routes they would be climbing.\u00a0 The UTPA rock climbing wall was set up with a total of\u00a05 major routes that each climber would negotiate.\u00a0 Each major route had two variations that the climber had to climb for a total of 10 routes.\u00a0 In addition, a bouldering problem had been set up for those that wished to compete in bouldering.\u00a0 Each participant would take on one route and then take a break until all had completed their first route and the repeat the process until all had climbed all 10 routes.\u00a0 Each route had a maximum score of 100 points from which the climber would lose 10 points each time they went off route or lose 25 points if they fell.\u00a0 The climbs were also timed so that in the event of a tie, the fastest climber would be the winner.\u00a0 Prizes were to be awarded for each major route and for the best overall climber.\u00a0 The bouldering problem was to have a 1st and 2nd place prize.<\/p>\n<\/a>Considering that the majority of our team was high school underclassmen age I was very impressed with their performance.\u00a0 Cadet Will Timpany\u00a0placed 1st on two of the routes and placed 2d \u00a0overall with a score of 900 out of 1000 points\u00a0on the climbing routes.\u00a0 Additionally he placed second in the bouldering competition with one minor mistake at the end of the problem which cost him 10 points and the bouldering win.\u00a0 Cadet Hudson also placed third overall in the climbing routes..\u00a0 Cadet Hudson also finished with an overall score of\u00a0 700 out or a possible 1000 points.\u00a0 All of the cadets on the Rock Climbing Team were impressive in their performance and should be proud of how well they represented the Academy!<\/p>\nLearn More about\u00a0Climbing at MMA<\/h3>\n
<\/a>To learn more about the Marine Military Academy visit our website at http:\/\/www.mma-tx.org<\/a><\/p>\n