how my journey started…
After a Summer climbing camp in 2015, I joined the youth climbing team at Ozark Climbing Gym. I’ve been a competitive climber ever since. I became the Youth C 2019 Regional Bouldering Champ and went to Bouldering Nationals in 2020.
At the same time, while climbing competitively, I began training Ninja obstacles at Flip Side Ninja Park in 2018. I then joined the team in 2019, and just one year later in 2020 won the CSNA Regional Championship! In addition to CSNA, I also compete in both the UNAA and NNL, and made the NNL World Championships! Even though I didn’t win a medal in any individual skill challenge, I ranked 5th in the world for all 4 combined skills!
I also competed on American Ninja Warrior Junior Season 3, reaching the Quarterfinals Showdown. One of my races was so exciting, I had Akbar “running” in the booth as I ran up the warped wall and dove for the buzzer!
Both rock climbing and Ninja have taught me that with grit and perseverance you can overcome the most difficult challenges! Hard work in both sports has given me a great grip and supercharged my springiness.
My favorite climbing move is what we call a Dyno! Imagine making a big, powerful launch off the wall to fly to a hold higher than you can reach and stick the grab! Your feet swing free, and you feel like you’re floating!
My favorite Ninja moves are the Cliffhanger and Lache. This is because the Cliffhanger has the similarity to “campusing” in rock climbing, where you climb without using your feet. Laches are like a very dynamic two-handed monkey bar swing, release and throw yourself between 6 to 12 feet or even more to the next bar! These give you a feeling of freedom when soaring through the air!
When you do flying moves like Dynos or Laches, you often need a good amount of friction to cling to the target hold or bar. When you need a secure grip, chalk can make a huge difference! Having the ability to quickly chalk when you need to is awesome! With SLAPCHALKS®, you just slap and go!
how slapchalks® happened…
At many climbing practices and comps, I always had to keep up with my chalk bag. I only forgot it at the gym once, and luckily someone returned it to the lost and found. Plus, every Spring when it was rope season, I had to strap my chalk bag on my back to put more chalk on my hands many times up the tall wall. That’s just the way it was for climbers: a chalk bag was almost a given. When more people started using chalk balls, they just tossed them into their chalk bags! Why? To stop the chalk spills that frequently happen with loose chalk. I’ve seen so many chalk bags accidentally kicked or turned upside down, tossed aside, or fallen on! But, even with all of the problems, that’s not how I came up with SLAPCHALKS®.
My parents and I were talking about putting chalk balls in my pockets for Ninja comps at the beginning of 2021. One of my older teammates is like other elite Ninjas who rub chalk on their sweats before they run the course. But most Ninjas don’t, since at many comps, they allow a coach to follow you through the course and offer you chalk before some obstacles. You might get a little rest, but you waste time chalking. Worse than that, you might lose focus and miss the next obstacle! That’s what happened to me twice, which I think cost me the CSNA regional championship that I had won the previous year.
That’s when SLAPCHALKS® was born. I talked with my parents about mesh pockets with velcro or zippers. We bought pants, mesh fabrics and started making prototypes. It was pretty fun! A summertime family project of creating and testing the different mesh pocket ideas. Then we started working on the patent and now have patent pending chalk pockets! After that, I could finally wear SLAPCHALKS® to practices and competitions. Several Ninjas and climbers who watched me train and compete with them were super excited, ready for their own pair of SLAPCHALKS®!
For every situation
there’s no limitation
only adaptation
Joseph Rouse “JG Rock”