Assignment 2 AUDREY SMITH

For this assignment, I chose a private membership organization. The facility I chose is Climb On, which is provides "leisurely" rock climbing and rock climbing instruction indoors. Clomb On is located at 18120 Hardwood Ave. in Homewood, Illinois, which is about 20 miles south of downtown Chicago.

Glen Vansimpa, owner and founder of Climb On, started his business in August of 1997. Glen formely did rock climbing on his own and wanted to start a business promoting an insight on rock climbing in the South Suburbs of Chicago. He stated that his purpose "was not to make money", but to provide a way/ place for him and his friends to "have fun". His main purpose was to get more people involved in rock climbing. He turned his passion into an "informal business", but also made a place for others to share their same interest and/or passion as well.

Rock

climbing as a trend is very popular. There are rock clombing walls located in parks, on cruise ships, at festivals, and even on the Quad at the Union on Back to School Night at U of I! This as a business isn't that popular, because it depends on demographics and public interests. Climb On, is very successful as far as attraction goes, but like Glen said, it really isn't a money maker.

Opportunities: For this type of facility there are a few opportunities for employment. There are opportunities such as, but not limited to: facility management, climbing instructor, and even an harness holder. In order to get these such jobs, one must go through trianing to obtain certifications. Also, good people skills and a great personality is beneficial.

When I asked Glen Vansimpa his definition of leisure, he defined it as "active" leisure. Leisure to him does not neccessarily mean relaxation as a generic term. To him, leisure is doing what he loves, which is climb, while either doing it alone, with his friends and family, or with the members of Climb On. He defines leisure as "active" because he's actually doing something physical and challenging, but at the same time enjoyable. I would actually define his leisure as "weisure", because this is actually his job and also what he does for leisure.

Climb On is a private membership organizatiopn, meaning you have to sign-up and pay to become a member and climb as you please. Any age can try and/or become a member, but you must be 14 or older to
belay( hold the protective rope for partner). Climb On also offers birthday parties and climb s fopr groups and churches. Glen Vansimpa(owner) said that most of his costumers are high school and college students, which means that this facility provides services for the teenage population as fun or leisure.

I chose to blog about Climb On, because I actually live in Homewood, and have been to this facility. Unfortunately I haven't had the opportunity to climb inside, but I have when they were at Homewood's festival. Like in my other blog, I showed myself rock climbing, because I really enjoy it! From the outside Climb On looks really smalland descrete, but once you enter and make a right, you are awwed by 3 walls(for beginners, intermidiates, and experts) covered in colorful hand and foot mounts. Besides it's appearance, I took an analytical point-of-view on the agency. As a career option, working in a facility like this one is more of a passion and not a job one would do to support themselves financially, which is a con. As a pro, working in a facility like this brings a lot of joy. Some aspects one would look into in this career is liability and insurance, which provides safety for "costumers". Also, I noticed that Climb On does provide the "recreation" need, as stated on page 198 of the class book. Overall, I enjoyed this assignment and being able to have a one-on-one with Glen Vansimpa. I really would like to acknowledge that his dream of having fun was the basis of my project and also it provided an insight on how others view leisure.