The fall of 2008 had our Grassroots Coordinator, Amy Ansari, wide-eyed as she plowed through stacks of TeamWorks scorecards, tallying the totals for the Access Fund’s inaugural year of the TeamWorks program. The winning team would not only get a cash grant of $2,000 to put toward their climbing program, but serious bragging rights for stewardship efforts at their local crags.  

The team that came out on top, was team Escalade of Kennesaw, Georgia. The Escalade team took to this competition, which is judged by total volunteer hours spent hosting or participating in Access Fund Adopt-a-Crag events, like they take to climbing itself – with vengeance. The kids hosted three events that drew 156 volunteers, who contributed a total of 477 volunteer hours to local conservation and stewardship.

When asked what the defining moment of the TeamWorks experience was for his team, Coach Chris Sierzant commented, “The looks on their faces when they saw over 90 volunteers show up for the Little River Canyon Adopt-a-Crag. They definitely had smiles on their faces when they realized how big of a difference they could make in the community.”

According to Chris, Little River Canyon has been a well-kept secret by the locals for a long time, which  wasn’t doing the area any favors. “The place was trashed,” says Sierzant, “Not enough people knew or cared about it and the park system wasn’t getting funding to clean it up. The Rangers needed help.” So Escalade stepped up to organize the Adopt-a-Crag event, embracing gorilla marketing tactics to get the word out –  everything from talking to people at the gym, to sending out flyers and e-mails, and promoting the clean-up effort through MySpace and Facebook.

When we asked Chris what his reaction was to learning that his team had won the grant money, he stated dryly, “Would you expect anything less from Escalade?” Um…I guess not. Escalade plans to put their grant money toward team uniforms, which they feel with further strengthen their commitment to the team and give the next generation of young climbers something to aspire to.

The Access Fund would like to thank all of the TeamWorks members who participated in this year’s program. These kids embody everything that is good about young climbers today – lots of heart, energy, and sense of responsibility for the places they play. We’re proud to have them in the Access Fund’s corner and look forward to seeing what they’re made of in the 2009 competition.

GOLDEN TOOTHBRUSH: Escalade climbing team – Kennesaw, Georgia
SECOND PLACE: Adrenaline climbing team – Suwanee, Georgia
THIRD PLACE: Vertical World climbing team – Seattle, Washington

TeamWorks is made possible by the generous support of our corporate sponsors:
* Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI)
* GORE-TEX Products
* The North Face
* CLIF Bar
* URBAN CLIMBER Magazine
* USA Climbing