Marco Scolaris - IFSC president

Interview with Mr MARCO SCOLARIS (IFSC President)
By Esteban Diez Fernández & Ignacio Sandoval Burón

Mr Marco Scolaris - The IFSC President

The Logo

The IFSC building in Torino (Italy)

- What is the importance and attention the IFSC gives to the different sport climbing disciplines including the competitions?

IFSC is giving equal importance to all the three disciplines.

Lead, Speed and Boulder are different expressions of the versatility of this sport.

- We at 8a.nu think that there’s more and more people practicing climbing each day. Do the IFSC have any specific data on the number of climbers around the globe? What is the country/ies with a bigger amount of climbers per total population? What country has seen the bigger increase in number of climbers?

Sport climbing has long been most popular in Continental Europe but has grown significantly in the past five years across the globe. We estimate that more than 15,000,000 people practice sport climbing around the world. Germany France USA Italy China UK Austria Spain are certainly the strongest countries. Asia, in particular the countries of China, Japan and Korea have grown into a major force in the climbing world. North America has seen steady growth especially with the proliferation of climbing facilities and events in the United States. We have also seen strong interest in Middle East and Africa and some island nations, in particular in Oceania and the Caribbean where we are mentoring and nurturing National Federations and international events.

More statistics are under definition and we expect great surprises!

- Apart from the International competitions, the IFSC image is quite diffuse in general… Could you explain us what are your roles and activities?

IFSC main objective is to grow, manage and promote the sport across all five continents

Executive Board

There are ten (10) board members who represent Europe, Americas, and Asia. An Athlete Representative is a member of the Executive Board, with right to vote. All Executive Board members are either active members of a National federation of former climbers in their own right. 

Sport department

The Sport Department is responsible for issues, from sport development to calendar setting. It is composed of IFSC Executive Board representatives, Continental representatives, Athletes commission representatives, Technical Commissions members and directors under the operational direction of the Sport manager. The Athletes Commission is active with the Sport Department Planning and Initiatives. The Athletes are represented in all Commissions within the IFSC.             

Paraclimbing Commission

This Commission launched this amazing branch of our sport that now allows us to have in the same place and in the same days the Paraclimbing World Championship with the Climbing World Championship (see Arco 2011 and Paris 2012)

Commissions

Event Commission; Officials commission; Rules Commission; Medical Commission; Team Manager Commission

IFSC Office

The IFSC office is based in Torino, Italy and supports the IFSC President, EB members, and the Sport Department

- More specifically, could you explain us what do you do with, for instance, all the money you got from the International competitions fees, etc.?

Unfortunately money is never enough…The income generated by fees and similar are used to run the IFSC mission, that is to say ensure worldwide development of climbing. As you may know development is always about choosing which are the priorities and make sure it brings results in order to not waste our resources. Priorities include all activities that make competitions happen and the IFSC get where we are now (From covering the costs of the IFSC office and staff salaries, to training and sending IFSC officials to the events), but also coordinating anti-doping policies and out of competition tests, and of course developing marketing & media programs.

- In a recent interview with Patxi Usobiaga, he said that the future of the climbing competitions is the Olympic Games. Are you with him in this statement? What are the possibilities climbing has to enter the Olympic dream? What are the climbing strengths if compared with the rest of the sports preselected? And its weak spots?

Participating in the Olympics is every Athlete’s dream. Having the opportunity to compete at such a high level is something challenging and rewarding for each athlete.

Without question it would be great for the next generation of climbers to be able to showcase our sport at the 2020 Olympics and beyond.

We think sport Climbing is the very good example of a sport representing the Olympic Values. Sport Climbing is definitely a massive physical and mental demand. It requires incredible preparation to perform at the elite levels. And yet at the same time it can be fun, social and interactive. It is accessible; safe; competitive. It is a sport for all and everyone, attractive for youth and doping free; it respects the environment; it is low cost and it has a fair and transparent judging system. Therefore we see it as an enhancement to the Olympic Values, and adding some unique characteristics to the existing Olympic Sport Program.

Climbing is unique, one of the basic human motor skill. And it is a strong social tool at all levels. What more?

- We guess there are many things to be improved before attaining the Olympic sport condition. What does the IFSC think the next parts need to improve to help in that objective execution?

• The country federations

• The competitions organizers

• The climbers

• The media

• The IFSC

We are looking to improve our sport in every possible way. In order to stimulate and guide the grow of our sport we are engaging with our Athletes, our National Federations, our Sponsors, our Business Partners and our Media supporters. The aim is to develop a Program Management Plan that encompasses the following elements:  sport; athletes; media and broadcast; marketing and communications; product development; educate, encourage and excite Program; internal stakeholders.

We are making a particular attention in improving our events and athletes experience.  We already reviewed the Competition Calendar for 2012 on the basis of having events in a balanced way of experienced and well received cities and some new exciting locations. We are also making great effort to develop our exposure thru the various media and social networking platforms to communicate the sport to its fans and to the youth of the world.

- What club and/or country is a good example in promoting climbing? Why?

 There are many around the world, and we try to help those who are meeting difficulties. Everybody is able to recognize regions where the sport is booming, with the concourse of all the stakeholders, and others where progress is slower.

- Does the IFSC grant any climber? Is there any role an active climber can play in the IFSC?

Most of the people inside the IFSC are active climbers and go climbing the most often they can. Because of this, referring to the Athletes, the IFSC welcomes their support beyond their competition years, from open discussion on events to the Athletes Commission that is present at every level of the organization. But we also try to make them more and more involved, a good example is Jerome Meyer, one of the best ever bouldering champions, who is now the IFSC Sport Manager.

- What is your politics towards climbers who don’t take part in competitions but help somehow to the evolution and promotion of our sport (Andrada, Sharma, etc.)?

It is the same family and we are always amazed to watch climbers wherever and whenever they practice their sport.

- Shouldn’t the IFSC be more involved in preserving bouldering and sport climbing crags, especially those with access issues? Have you weighed up the figure of something similar to the Access Fund integrated in the IFSC structure?

 As a consequence of the above, we’d like to do more for all the community, also out of the competition area. But we cannot focus on too many goals and also in some countries the local NF leaders are reluctant to do so, but someday it will happen.

- Concerning the insurances, when are we, sport climbers and boulderers, going to enjoy an insurance which fits us without any other additions having more to do with mountaineering, alpinism or skiing?

In many countries insurers are able to make a distinction between mountaineering and sport climbing. However, most depends on how climbers and their entourage present what they are doing: if they let their activity to be considered “extreme”, then it’ll be difficult to be considered differently.

- The first Psicobloc/deep water soloing event celebrated more than one year ago in Bilbao turned really successful. Is there any initiative to include one of these types of comps in the World Cup or to create an individual circuit?

We are always attentive to this kind of initiatives, especially when participants are our champions. We are studying special events to be included or in support of the World Cup.

- What is the IFSC assessment after the lead World Cup in Jordan where we could watch qualifications made in a 10 meters vertical wall and barely a dozen international climbers?

Not being there could have given a distorted sense of this event and of the infrastructure. However, it is necessary that we all understand and support the need to promote the sport in different regions of the world. Our euro centrism should sometimes accept that the sport has just begun in some areas and cannot have the same standards as elsewhere. It was the same in Europe years ago, but this is easy to forget. The feedback we had from Amman from local people was great: new comers into our community, we should be happy of that!