Most climbing gyms have youth climbers, whether they’re a part of recreational clubs, elite climbing teams, or hanging around with their parents. Most setters will set for youth climbers one way or another. What happens when a coach turned routesetter decides to merge the two professions? What can one reveal about the other?
On this episode of the Impact Driver Podcast, host Holly Chen talks with Cate Beebe—a Bend, Oregon-based routesetter and coach—about what happens when setting and coaching are practiced as a shared profession.
Cate came to climbing from a gym in Burlington, Vermont, before moving west in 2022 to set at Bend Rock Gym and coach for Bend Endurance Academy. She holds a USAC Level 3 certification and has set across QEs, regionals and divisionals, with a focus almost entirely on youth competition setting. She coaches athletes ranging from elementary schoolers to the Oregon State University collegiate climbing team, and she has built her philosophy around a simple conviction: that sport should be a place where kids feel powerful, heard and accepted.
In this episode, Cate and Holly get into what it looks like to wear two hats at once, why children are not small forerunners, and what setters might be missing by not spending more time on the ground.
General Topics Covered
- Coach first, setter second: how Cate’s identity in the industry was shaped by the order in which she came to each discipline
- What success looks like as a coach across a wide developmental range, from toddler climbers to collegiate athletes
- Why the foundation of Cate’s coaching philosophy has nothing to do with climbing grades
- The two-hats framework: how Cate moves between setter mode and coach mode on any given day, and why keeping them distinct matters
- How understanding the way different bodies and brains see movement changes what you put on the wall
- What coaching has taught Cate about movement that setting alone couldn’t, and vice versa
- Why setters who coach tend to give away the beta too soon
- What setting education could look like if coaching fundamentals were part of setting certifications
- Shenanigans as a professional philosophy: why playfulness is not optional in either a setting environment or a coaching one
- Advice for setters who want to think more like coaches, and coaches who want to think more like setters
Show Notes
- Find Cate Beebe on Instagram and learn more about Cate’s work
- Bend Endurance Academy
- USA Climbing Youth Series
- Understanding Constants Over Time – Impact Drive Podcast with Claire Gordon
- Balancing Art and Functionality in Hold Shaping – CBJ Podcast with Joey Jannsen
- Other youth-specific climbing gyms: Rock City, ABC Kids Climbing
Closing Notes
If you’d like to nominate someone as a next guest, have a topic you want to see us tackle or have questions, we’d love for you to reach out. You can find our pitch form here.
The Impact Driver Podcast is a production of the Climbing Business Journal. Today’s episode is sponsored by Rúngne, Cascade Specialty, Trango, the Climbing Wall Association and Walltopia. It was edited and produced by Holly Yu Tung Chen, Megan Cheek, Scott Rennak and Joe Robinson, and our theme music is by Devin Dabney.
All photos below are courtesy of Cate Beebe.
