Things work a little differently around here to what our city counterparts are used to. Well, quite a lot actually!
In Tamworth - it's all club membership, teams and sport for youth and a combination of sport and recreation for adults. As far as sport registrations go (ie. seasonal registration not including other programs or recreation), Tamworth is on track for over 1000 players again in 2025.
In the cities, it's largely dominated by adult recreation - gym membership and casual walk-ins and all as individuals. The boulder gyms in the cities are generally pumping after work during the weekdays and it's most certainly the adult market they encourage.
Bouldering as a recreational activity is where this market is at. No structure. No metrics. Just recreation.
There were 46 gyms in Australia in 2015. in 2025, there are 108 and the vast majority are boulder only facilities and almost all are located in densely populated metropolitan areas. The AOC quoted more than 300,000 participants Aus wide.
However, youth form the tiniest piece of this pie in the cites.
It's the polar opposite here in Tamworth. Youth form the dominant sector of the participation yet there's also a healthy adult population across the three local clubs. The T4 Boulder League format lives as the core framework for our community. Same activity - structured format.
The activity of bouldering is the common ground. However, there's a distinct difference between sport and recreation and the way these two different models work could well just highlight that.
15 Apr 2025