Since 1998.
2. How did you get into climbing?
Friends took me to the gym, back then none of us were climbers, and at first it seemed very easy, but after the first attempt to climb I realized that I need to have a lot of skills and knowledge. In the following months, my friends and I spent many hours talking about climbing. And so to this day. 🙂
3. What does climbing bring you?
Positive emotions, adrenaline, good physical tonus, many details and nuances in self-knowledge and self-improvement, countless happy and funny moments with friends.
4. How is climbing different from other sports for you?
For me personally, it is the only sport I’ve wanted to do for so many years now… A sport with extremely complex technical skills that require versatile physical and mental trainin. A sport in which there is a lot of variability, combinability and improvisation, and practically no movements that are being repeated. It all depends on you and the ability to make the right decisions in a split second as you climb. A big dose of adrenaline and the eternal desire to be a little better next time.
5. What is your favorite discipline and why?
No matter what is the type climbing, it is always climbing. Each discipline is interesting and has its challenges.
6. What would you say to a person entering a climbing gym for the first time?
To follow safety rules, to be reasonable and patient. Everyone manages to learn how to climb at some point.
1. Why did you choose this sport?
Everything started when my parents took me to the gym, this was my first experience with gymnastics ever. I started to train and it became a part of my life.
2. What does your job in the academy consist of?
We start with the basic exercises on the apparatus, which include forward roll, backward roll, handstand and etc. On the equipment, we teach children to L Hold, support swing, pullover drills and more. The best part of my job is helping children’s development.
3. Why did you choose to work at Climb Academy?
I really liked the team, the equipment and the whole academy, when I came here for the first time with my sister. That’s why I decided to work here and pass on my experience to the children.
4. What are your professional plans for the future?
I want to support children’s development and help them to build sports habits, discipline and a love for gymnastics.
Proven methods of physical education and sports training suitable for different ages are used in the training programs of Climb Academy. We apply a variety of approaches - group, game, individual, team, etc. This makes sure that the training time is used efficiently - the children are engaged successfully all the time.
The game method is very much represented and this helps children to discover their potential in a natural and emotional way, acquiring and improving all the qualities that are the basis for progress in sport climbing. Our programs have been developed by instructors and teachers with over 20 years of experience in the field of climbing, physical education and sports, and working with children.
My name is Petrana Petrova, I work at Climb Academy since the first day of its opening. I’m a person with many skills and interests. I’m climbing since 2014 and I’ve never believed that climbing will become my professional job. My work with kids started back in 2004 as a philosophy teacher, after that, I worked in a private agency and now I’m in Climb Academy.
1. Why did you choose to work with kids?
I love the energy and the imagination they have and the fact that they are nothing like adults. If I had to choose between working with kids or adults, I would always choose kids. They give me so much energy. I love to see how they grow, how they change, how they get new bits of knowledge, learn and practice it.
2. Tell us more about your job at the academy.
When I gоt the offer for this job, the academy combined my desire to work with children and my love for climbing. We put a lot of effort to attract and keep the children in the academy, to show them that climbing is a sport that develops many qualities. This is a place for real trainings and the kids aren’t coming here just to have fun, but to get many new skills. I value the development of team skills as children participate in group dynamics, belong to a community and the most important is the relationship and trust that a coach builds with the child
3. Share a favorite moment or project
I have a favorite example of a child who came to the academy because of his fear of heights. Now the child is climbing the same route multiple times. He’s also climbing travers on his own.
Yesterday he told me “ No, Petrana. Don’t help me”. That’s how you see the children's growth.
Our manager invented the sticker book, where kids can win a sticker every last week of the month. Now the children know what they are working for each month. At the moment, in the group that I train, we are learning knot “eight” and when you see a 4-year-old doing it, you think "Eh, anything is possible"
It was an accident. One day a friend of mine invited me to climb together. It was a bit difficult, but the experience was pleasant and of course, I had a muscle fever after that. Later I started a climbing course for beginners and I joined the university climbing team which helped me a lot with the big step of going from school to university and all the responsibilities that came with it.
2. When did you start to climb?
I passed the course in 2016 and after that, in 2018 I started to climb more active.
3. What does climbing give you?
I love that when I climb I don’t think about any side or daily problems. I forget everything else and I stay focused only on one thing.
4. What new did you find in this sport and what does it learned you?
It taught me to be more careful (she smiles). I found out that I could do things that seemed very far from my abilities – physically and mentally.
5. What other activities do you take?
I surf, snowboard, and sometimes I ride a bike.
6. What’s the main difference between climbing and every other sport that you have practiced?
Mostly with the mental game. Sometimes when it gets hard, no matter how fun it is most of the time, I want to quit and not do it, but this is only sometimes.
7. Which’s your favorite climbing discipline?
Lead, because it takes more time. It combines many things, and it makes me focus mentally. The high is the key, it gives me more enthusiasm to climb to the top of the wall.
8. How would you introduce the sport to someone who has no idea what is all about?
This sport has its specifics which makes it really responsible. You need a lot of technic and strength, which comes with time. If the person is permanent and responsible everything becomes very fun and it brings you joy.
His advice to beginners: Be observant and listen carefully.
