The new FGCU Climbing Club allows members to embrace their love for physical fitness.
The club started meeting this spring semester and has held seven events thus far.
Colin Huff, the president of the club, said that he and his fellow officers started the club to bring more people into the climbing community and to make climbing more accessible for students via the club’s discount at the Fort Rock climbing gym.
“The goal of the Climbing Club is to build a community of both climbers and students, to make friends and have a fun way to work out in a social environment,” Huff said.
He said the club climbs primarily indoors because “there is almost no outdoor climbing in Florida.” Huff hopes that the club will someday be able to use FGCU’s funding to go on group climbing trips to other states.
Huff said that currently, the main kind of event the club holds is “Climb Nights.” Climb Nights are when the club meets at Fort Rock to climb and hang out together.
Club member Annie Bennett said that she enjoys Climb Nights. Bennett said that Fort Rock is constantly switching out the climbing walls so there are always new routes to try and climb.
“The gym is so supportive for beginner climbers like me and the other club members help push me to be my best at the gym,” Bennett said.
The owner of Fort Rock, Vincent Simonelli, said he is honored that the club chose his gym “as their home base for meetups.”
“They bring such a great vibe when they’re here, and it’s clear they’re building more than just climbing skills. They’re creating a strong, supportive culture that we’re proud to be a part of,” Simonelli said.
Huff said the Climb Nights “are always a good time.” “It makes me happy to go into the gym on our climb nights and just see a bunch of familiar faces and having people to hang out with,” he said.
Huff said that it feels good to have started a new club at FGCU. “We have grown to over 65 members in just this one semester,” Huff said.
Taylor Weis, the secretary of the club, said, “It’s really heartwarming to see so many other people getting into the sport that really helped me meet so many people my first semester.” She said the club has helped her to live a healthy and active lifestyle.
Weis said the club is a “great way to meet other people who may have similar interests as you. Or they may live very different lives and it’s wonderful to learn new things with them.”
Bennett said she enjoys the sense of community that the club builds.
Huff said the club meets on Tuesdays and Fridays from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Fort Rock. Huff said the club also encourages “everyone to just go when they can because they are bound to run into someone they know and can climb with.”
“The main thing that I want people to know is that no matter who you are, as long as you are a student, you can come out and climb with us, use the club discount, and just hang out. We are here for everyone,” Huff said.
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