ACA Board Profile

PRESIDENT

Mark lives in Okotoks and climbs out of the Calgary Climbing Center with his family. He was first introduced to climbing about 27 years ago in Saskatoon, where he and his friend went to Vic's Vertical Walls. Just before graduating with a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Saskatchewan in 1996, he had his first experience climbing on real rock on his first trip to Red Rocks, Nevada. After that, he decided to move to Calgary for the climbing and engineering opportunities. When he moved, he took out a $2000 loan and spent $200 of that on new climbing gear. 12 years later, his two-year-old daughter, Sydney, began to take an interest in climbing. A few years later, his son, Seth, began climbing as well. As a family, they would spend a lot of time at the climbing gym and his kids would watch the youth teams train in awe. When his kids started competing, he began volunteering as a judge at the competitions. The competitions weren't just volunteering, but a social event to connect with the community and be a proud parent. Over the years, he got more involved in volunteering and was asked by the ACA board at the time to join as the Technical Chair. His father was very involved in the hockey community and he always looked up to his dedication, so taking on a role on the ACA board was a huge honour. Now as President of the ACA, he is grateful for all the volunteers before that brought the ACA to where it is today. He is proud to stand on the shoulders of those giants and hopefully help the ACA take the next big step as climbing makes its debut in the Olympics this summer

VICE PRESIDENT

Nicole was born and raised in Edmonton, has a Bachelor of Physical Education from the University of Alberta and has been working for the City of Edmonton in the areas of sport, recreation and festival and event management for over 30 years.

Nicole is the Director of Civic Events and Festivals for the City of Edmonton and has considerable major multisport and event bid and delivery experience.

Nicole is new to the sport of climbing having started judging in 2022, when at the end of the pandemic, her twin sons started competing. She looks forward to learning about everything that goes on behind the scenes to deliver a seamless competition and ensure athletes have the opportunity to perform at their best.

PERFORMANCE CHAIR

Paige Boklaschuk is a climber and coach at the Calgary Climbing Centre. She was a member of the Canadian youth and senior national team for several years and had the opportunity to climb at world cups and youth world championships. She is currently studying Kinesiology at the University of Calgary and is conducting a climbing exercise physiology research project. Paige is also involved in athlete advocacy work and believes in the importance of community, opportunity, and structure to allow individuals to reach their athletic potential. She is looking forward to taking on the role of Performance Chair and being a part of an organization that her dad (Brett) spend many weekends volunteering for.

COMMUNICATIONS CHAIR

COMPETITION COORDINATION

After being dragged to a climbing gym with a friend in the Covid era, Jeremy instantly fell in love with the sport and the community. He started to bring his kids to join in on the fun. It wasn’t long before his kids expressed interest in joining a team and competing.

Volunteering at ACA competitions has been an incredibly rewarding experience. Meeting the other organizers, learning more about the sport, and helping athletes reach their potential has become his new favorite hobby.

Jeremy is constantly amazed by the climbing community. Athletes cheering on their competitors, volunteers donating hundreds of hours of their time, and the overall positivity make this sport truly unique. He’s looking forward to help the ACA provide an improved membership experience.

ATHLETE REPRESENTATIVE

Mark lives part-time in Calgary and Kelowna, climbing out of Calgary Climbing Center and Gneiss Climbing. He has been volunteering as the ACA athlete rep for the past three years. He first got involved with the ACA to learn about the fees, organization and structure and wanted to be in a position to help voice concerns and advocate on behalf of athletes in the community. Mark started climbing at the start of university and he has been climbing ever since. He began to climb outside and then got interested in competitions. Despite Alberta being such a big province, he finds the climbing community to be tight-knit and has a small-town vibe. It is great to see familiar faces across the province, whether that is at competitions, outside at the crag or at a weeknight session at the gym. He thinks there is going to be a lot of energy and psych leading into the season, with some new and old faces coming together in the community. He believes this will be a pivotal year for competition climbing with lots of newcomers joining the competition season.

ATHLETE REPRESENTATIVE

TECHNICAL CHAIR

TEAM MANAGER

SECRETARY

Treasurer

MEMBER AT LARGE