Physical Educators are increasingly responsible for teaching overall wellness alongside traditional Physical Education Units. This responsibility has brought new activities to the gym such as rock climbing. Climbing is a lifetime sport that is an effective educational tool for Physical Education, Special Education, Adventure Learning, Experiential Education, as well as extracurricular activities. Climbing builds overall wellness, which consists of physical well-being such as strength, flexibility, and coordination integrated with emotional and intellectual characteristics such as problem solving, patience, perseverance, and courage.

Bouldering on a traverse wall builds muscular strength, flexibility, coordination and cardiovascular fitness. By working the entire muscle spectrum, through multiple gestures instead of one repeated gesture, climbing builds muscular strength throughout the entire body. Reaching for handholds and stretching for footholds develops flexibility. Moving hands and feet simultaneously in different directions develops coordination. Cardiovascular fitness develops by making longer and faster traverses. A Traverse Wall®, by Everlast Climbing Industries, continually challenges students to improve strength, flexibility, and coordination by offering color-coded routes: green (beginner), yellow (intermediate), and red (advanced). As students master one color, they progress to the next color.

A climbing program also builds life-long wellness by developing characteristics such as problem solving, goal setting, courage, positive risk taking, perseverance, will power, patience, and confidence. A student identifies a bouldering problem, sets a goal, and attempts physical solutions to the route's challenge. Courage grows by succeeding at positive risks. Perseverance develops as one keeps trying a problem until one can proceed all the way across the wall. Will power and patience are necessary to continue towards the goal. Confidence grows with each successful completion of a challenge.

Lyle Helke of White Bear Schools uses climbing to build overall wellness in his nine-week Adventure Learning curriculum. Helke says, "Climbing is the ultimate metaphor about life... through incremental risk taking via the various wall 'problems' we learn to ask for help, develop trust, accept challenge by choice, break through mental, physical and emotional barriers, and rely on the personal powers that we summon to meet challenges." Helke emphasizes how the educational tools one employs impact how a student is influenced, and climbing influences students on a wide range of levels. Helke also uses his wall for extracurricular activities such as staff development, leadership training, and outreach programs for students at risk.

Area Eight of the Profile of Learning addresses overall wellness through Health and Physical Education. Section, 3501.0448 Subpart 3.a requires designing and implementing a health enhancing fitness plan. Students can establish their initial level of muscular fitness, endurance, and flexibility by climbing as far as possible along the traverse wall, which establishes a baseline point. Then students set particular points as goals and work until they reach their goals. This creates a natural measurement strategy for student progress. Regarding reasonableness of maintaining the fitness plan over an extended period, climbing is ideal because people of all ages enjoy climbing. The Profile for younger students outlined in Section 3501.0467 stresses working to improve age appropriate physical fitness and developing motor skills. Climbing is ideal in both regards because climbing problems can be designed for students of all ages by using Everlast Climbing Industries' color-coded routes. First graders can traverse using all holds: red, yellow, and green. Third and Fourth graders can climb the green routes, sixth graders can climb the yellow routes, and eighth graders the red routes. Tenth graders can set their own routes and start top rope climbing, and seniors can work on belaying and outdoor climbing which they can enjoy for the rest of their lives.

We at Everlast Climbing Industries are committed to climbing as a positive educational experience for students of all ages. We strive to make climbing
an activity that provides overall wellness for a lifetime. We are developing a curriculum for climbing to maximize the influence of climbing as an educational tool. Students and adults who climb testify to the life-long benefits of climbing. Climbers talk about how climbing builds wellness in the triad of body, mind and spirit. In essence, climbing strengthens the body, challenges the mind and encourages the spirit.