Field notes Julie Suarez
Middle childhood/ Elementary EDF 2130
Center: Aiguille climbing gym.
Approximate age: Boys 1: 8 years old, 2&3: 7 years old, 4:5 years old. Girl 1-3: 8 years old.
Date: September 20, 2011 from 6:30-8:30 pm
Setting: On the left side of the gym is a section to stretch out and exercise. The area has some weights as well as climbing stretching gear. In the middle were picnic tables for climber to sit. Some parents were sitting and watching their children climb. There is a straight plain wall, a bouldering section, tight rope (high climbing) section and in the back a LEAD climbing cave. It was team Aiguille’s practice time where young adolescents come to climb and an instructor gives them practices to do, such as climbing up without using your hands.
6:43
Boy 1 belays boy 2. He jumps off the ground every time he picks up slack. Boy 2 is on the wall and looks down to boy 1. He continues climbing and works more on footwork rather than hand positioning. Boy 1 interacts with boy 3 and sits in the air to hold boy 2 up while he takes a break, and flips his hair. Boy 2 continues, finishes, and says “I’m coming down.” Once down, they interact with each other. Boy 2 flips his hair; he begins to undo his knot, but struggles. While he is struggling, boy 1 quickly removes his belay device, runs off to a weights and exercise section, and finally to the concession stand where he buys a snack. Boy 2 is still in front of the wall struggling to remove the knot, finally undoes the knot and begins speaking to the instructor. Boy 1 opens the wrapper for the snack, begins to eat it and runs back to the wall. Boy 2 puts on the belay device as boy 1 makes his knot. Boy 2 attempts to secure the knot and grabs slack. Boy 1 finishes his snack bar as boy 2 grabs remaining slack. Boy begins to talk to the belayer on the left to him; he fixes his shorts and hair, and begins to climb. Boy 2 pulls hard to ensure all the slack is grabbed. Boy 1 looks at all the possible moves, and stops and hangs from the rope to fix something from his pocket. Boy 2 watches him carefully. Boy 1 crosses the rope, finishes and says “coming down.” Boy 2 helps him get down, removes his belay device and hands it to boy 1. Girl 1 talks to instructor. Boy 1 hold belay device with his mouth as he undoes his knot. Boy 2 runs and jumps onto the wall. Both boys walk away with instructor.
6:55 Boys walk away into an unviewable area.
Girl 1 watches over watches other students climb while waiting to begin bouldering. She crouches down to begin, swings herself to a higher holds and continues climbing. She finishes, jumps off and walks towards another student. She wipes sweat from her forehead and fixes her shirt. She begins to talk to another girl; the both turn toward each other and discuss something as another student climbs. She wipes her forehead again. When the girl 3 finishes, she begins talking to the girls as down climbing. Girl 1 leans into girl 2 and points to another girl. She plays with her bangs while switching her weight to another foot. She begins to climb. She hesitates to reach a hold, but goes for it by bouncing and swinging, reaches it and jumps off. She turns to girl 2, wipes her forehead, pats her face and walks away to the other side of the room. She drinks water while watching other students in the exercise area. She walks back to the wall.
702:-7:12
Girl 1 circles around and talks to girl 2. She plays with her bangs and fixes her shirt. She watches other climbers and stands on the edge and puts some of her weight on the rope while holding it with both of her hands. She watches the instructors talk to other students. She twists her fingers through the rope shifting the leg she puts her weight on. She continued watching an older climber and waits for him to finish so she could climb. She began once he got off. She fidgets with her feet, swings in the air and leaps while letting go of a hold. Her foot reached a new hold and tries a few times to reach another. She says something to someone on the ground, stops trying and jumps off. She begins talking to another girl and removes the clips from her hair to put them back on. She places her hand on her hips while watching another climber. She turns her body sideways to talk to another girl. She begins playing with the bracelets on her wrist. She circles around the group and begins talking to the instructor.
Break
7:22
Boy 1 helps boy 4 with knot and walks away. Boy 2 plays with the wall he’s on by hanging from a hold. Boy 1 explains to buoy 4 some rules, they turn back and forth exchanging words. Boy 2 explains to boy 4 the meaning behind the colored tape. He walks him through how to use them as you go up the wall and shows him while belaying. He continued explain some rules and tips. Boy 1 comes to ask a question and gives boy 2 some candy. He offers some to boy 4, and he accepts and continues climbing. Boy 2 and 1 talk. Boy 2 shows him another route. Boy 4 shouts for boy 2 to take slack. Boy 1 walks away. Boy 2 jumps to get slack. Boy 1 walks back and begins talking to boy 4 about the red foot hold, “commission on next wall.” They both look. Boy 2 looks away. Boy 4 asks for some slack. Boy 1 returns. Boy 4 keeps asking for slack. Boy 1 and 2 exchange words. Boy 4 asks for more slack again.
7:28
The manager comes over to talk to boy 2 about the rope. Boy 4 stops climbing, and looks down. Boy 1 offers candy to the manager. Manager walks away. Two girls walk up to the boys. Boy 4 says “I can’t.” Boy 2 tells him what moves to make. Boy 4 finishes the route. Boy 2 removes the belay device as boy 4 undoes his knot. Both struggle to remove them. Boy 2 successfully removes the device and hands it to boy 1. Boy 4 continues struggling to remove the knot. Boy 1 puts on the belay device. Boy two makes a knot, pretends to begin climbing, and stands on the first hold. Boy 2 takes slack, jumps on and off the first hold. Boy 1 talks to boy 4. Boy 2 waits while watching the climber next to them. Boy 1 backs away to aid in belaying. Boy 2 begins to climb and bends down to talk about Sponge Bob. Boy 1 steps on the first hold to grab slack, pulls down to aid him. Boy 2 continues climbing. Boy 4 talks to boy 1, and then begins walking back and forth. Boy 2 looks down and says something. Boy 4 holds his hands behind his back while looking aimlessly. Boy 2 finishes, and goes down while sitting on one of his legs.
7:33-7:38 Instructor gathers them around and gives them new instructions.
Boy 1 falls on the floor. Boy 1 and 2 sit across from each other. Boy 2 gets up to remove the knot. Boy 1 begins using his phone while sitting on the ground. He shows boy 4 something on his phone, and continues texting. Boy 2 removes the knot, and walks with boy 4 to girls. Then they walk back. Boy 1 removes the belay device, throws the rope and gets up. Boy 1 and 2 discuss something as boy 1 continues with his phone. Boy 2 plays with the bracelets on his wrists.
Break
7:43
Boy 4 makes a knot to climb. Boy 1 fixes his belay device and takes the extra slack. Boy 1 slaps the other boy’s chalk bag as he walks by. Boy 1 helps boy 4 remove the knot on the rope for a while. He takes off the belay device. The walk toward the bouldering wall and discuss what to do next. Boy 1 walks away. Boy 4 gets on the wall. Boy 2 climbs on neighboring climb. Boy 4 falls, and walks away. Boy 1 belays new boy. Boy 2 and 4 run across the gym and return to boy 1. Boy 4 continues to talk to boy 1 as boy 2 boulders. Boy 2 says “done the black one successfully.” Boy 4 enters cave. Boy 2 finishes, spins around, climbs down and jumps off. He starts again, hangs from one hold, gets back up and continues climbing while struggling to pull his body up. He yells “I made it!” Boy 4 runs to him and he jumps off.
7:51
Boy 4 walks up to boulder and back up. Boy 2 jumps on again, and begins to climb. He jumps off. Boy 4 points to another route. Both take turns to begin to climb it. Boy 2 says something to boy 4. Boy 2 walks to previous route while boy 4 continues to try and climb it. Boy 4 jumps off and walks away.
7:58
Boy 2 moves to another route and tries twice to begin it. He jumps off and goes to the previous section. He walks back and tries to begin the route again by twisting his legs. He experiments on different angles to start. He jumps off. He stands on the ground and jumps back up. He tries different holds and different ways of standing to get a feeling for it. Boy 4 walks up and talks to him. Boy 2 continues trying. Boy 4 touches a few holds and walks away. Boy 2 continues and jumps off. He stands on the fence’s edge, and looks at all the children around. He walks up to a lady, and begins speaking to her while hugging her hip. He walks away and tries a new route. He falls, gets up, continues climbing, and reaches the top. He to the boy on the next wall and says “one hand.” He holds himself with one hand.
8:07
He flips his body around and begins talking to boy 4. He moves back around and jumps down. He walks up to a new route, tip toes to a higher hold, lets go, looks up and tries again. He jumps off, begins walking around, and walks back. He grabs a hold, looks up and down, and jumps up. He jumps off and walks up to boy 4. He points at something and walks away. Boy 4 jumps and grabs a hold, jumps off and chases after boy 2. The run around and come back to the bouldering wall. Boy 4 goes to the higher climb side to hold a rope while climbing the wall. He jumps off, drops the rope, and walks up to boy 2 on the bouldering wall. Boy 4 jumps on the wall and then jumps off.
8:13-8:16
Boy 4 walks around and come back. Jumps up to a hold, says something to boy 2, and jumps back off. He runs to another wall and comes back. He jumps up the wall again, finishes the route, flips around, looks down and jumps off.
8:17-8:19 both enter bouldering cave to try new routes.
8:20-8:26 come back around
Boy 2 jumps up to a hold as boy 4 back away. Boy 2 tries different holds instead of doing the specified route. Boy 4 walks up to him and says something, boy 2 bends down and says something back. Boy 2 touches top hold, turns around to look down at boy 4, and jumps off. Boy 4 runs up to the wall and grabs a hold, jumps off and up repeatedly. He walks away. Boy 2 does the same. Boy 4 runs around and boy 2 follows him to another wall. They watch other climbers and run back to the bouldering wall. Boy 2 jumps on, climbs a little and jumps off. Boy 4 walks up to him and then he walks away. Boy 2 enters the cave and then leaves to the previous route.