{"id":48215,"date":"2019-04-19T11:50:22","date_gmt":"2019-04-19T18:50:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=48215"},"modified":"2020-05-22T12:51:18","modified_gmt":"2020-05-22T19:51:18","slug":"climber-kai-lightner-trades-climbing-dream-for-college-and-helping-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/climb\/climber-kai-lightner-trades-climbing-dream-for-college-and-helping-others","title":{"rendered":"Kai Lightner Trades A Big Climbing Dream For College and Helping Others"},"content":{"rendered":"

When climber Kai Lightner started college as a 19-year-old freshman last August, he had two major goals. The first was demanding, but straightforward: keep up with the rigorous academics of his entrepreneurship major. On a full-ride scholarship at Babson College in Boston\u2014ranked No. 1 for entrepreneurship 21 years in a row by U.S. News & World Report\u2014he wouldn\u2019t just be able to study for tests and take online classes. Lightner would be required to attend classes four days a week, study at least six days a week, and partake in post-school meetings, engaging daily with his professors and fellow students.<\/p>\n

The second goal, qualifying for the 2020 summer games in Tokyo, was a bit more complicated. Lightner had been competing in climbing since he was 6, earning eight National Champion titles since 2010 and racking up countless international competition achievements. A self-described competitive person who is always looking for a new challenge, Lightner says contending for a spot in the games was an obvious next step. What wasn\u2019t obvious, however, is how he and the other hopefuls would go about doing that.<\/p>\n

In August 2016, it was announced that climbing would be a part of the 2020 summer games. The format of the competition itself was revealed at the same time: 40 climbers\u201420 women, 20 men\u2014would compete over four days, and medals would be awarded based on combined performance in the three disciplines of bouldering, lead climbing and speed climbing. No country was guaranteed a spot, and each country could only have a maximum of four representatives total\u2014two men, two women.<\/p>\n

When Lightner started school in August 2018, the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC), the governing body of all international climbing competition, had not yet revealed the official qualification requirements for the summer games. He had a good idea of which comps he needed to do well in, and which ones he could skip, so he planned his training and academic schedule accordingly.<\/p>\n

Lightner trained five days a week, going to 6am strength and conditioning sessions for two hours with a personal trainer, then heading to the climbing gym at 6pm to meet up with his coach, Shane Messer, for two to three hours of climbing-specific training. On school days, he went to class and did homework in between training blocks, then headed to class meetings, did more homework, and then went to bed. On Wednesdays and Sundays, he rested from climbing by sleeping in and catching up with schoolwork.<\/p>\n

\"Kai

Lightner stands on the podium at ASCEND Pittsburgh climbing gym in Pittsburgh, at a National Cup Series competition during the fall of 2018. Photo Credit: Daniel Gajda<\/p><\/div>\n

In the beginning of the semester, the structured schedule already felt like second nature to Lightner, who had balanced academics and training throughout high school by dividing his days into half-hour periods. The diligence paid off when he graduated as valedictorian in June 2017 from Reed Ross Classical High School, with full-ride scholarship offers to multiple top-tier colleges.<\/p>\n

After high school, he took a gap year to focus on competition climbing. \u201cI was prepared for that time management,\u201d he says, \u201cbut I wasn\u2019t prepared for how different college is.\u201d Living on his own, making his own schedule, adjusting to being in a new place\u2014it was challenging, but Lightner was stubborn and determined to make it work.<\/p>\n

There were nights when he would look at the clock and do the math: \u201cOK, if I stop studying now and still try to make my 8am class, I can squeeze in four hours of sleep. I can work on that.\u201d He felt that if he fell behind on anything, it would all fall apart. After a few months, fatigue started to build up, and it showed in his climbing. \u201cOne moment I\u2019d win a national cup and the next comp I\u2019d be 20th,\u201d he says. \u201cThey were results I\u2019d never seen before in my entire life, and it was really disheartening for me. My body was telling me, \u2018You need to take a break.\u2019 I just wanted to sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n

By December 2018, the qualifiers for the summer games were all but set in stone, however the new format switched up which competitions Lightner would have to focus on\u2014comps he\u2019d previously thought he could skip based on performance in past events. Lightner would have to spend the next year competing in all of the World Cup competitions, the World Championship, the Americas Continental Championship, national qualifying events and summer games-specific qualifying events. He was going to have to change everything about his daily life\u2014at a time when his motivation was starting to wane. He already felt like he was working for that next break instead of living in and enjoying the moment.<\/p>\n

When the fall semester ended, Lightner took time to reflect on everything and discuss things with his mother, Connie, who has always been his closest confidant. \u201cI would bring it up and the whole mood would just change,\u201d Connie says. \u201cHe would become very solemn, like it was killing him to choose between the two things he enjoyed. Had he known all the factors in advance, he could have made an informed decision, but it was all still coming together. The timing was bad. [I told him] unfortunately in life you deal with the hand you\u2019re dealt and make the best decision you can.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Kai

Lightner makes moves at ASCEND Pittsburgh climbing gym in Pittsburgh, at a National Cup Series competition during the fall of 2018. Photo credit: Daniel Gajda<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI realized that the schedule wasn\u2019t manageable for me, and that something had to change in order for me to accomplish what I wanted and be able to keep the level [of performance] I was accustomed to, because I refused to let either of the activities slack off,\u201d he says. \u201cMediocrity is not an option for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

On February 8, Lightner made the announcement on Instagram<\/a>, writing: \u201cI\u2019ve decided to move in a new direction and take a hiatus from competition climbing. \u2026 I\u2019m excited to pursue different passions in the climbing world while focusing on my academics. I LOVE climbing and I\u2019m excited to explore a different side of it!\u201d<\/p>\n

Connie says that while it was a huge weight lifted, the first two weeks were really hard. \u201cI could hear it in his voice when I talked to him,\u201d she says. \u201cAfter the first two weeks, I realized he was going to parties, and he went to New York City on a whim just for the weekend. That\u2019s something he never did in his entire life\u2014he was always so focused on training. Now it\u2019s time to have a little fun and enjoy it. He\u2019s only 19. I want him to have fun teenage years before those are over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lightner still keeps up a skeleton schedule, climbing five days a week, because that\u2019s what he\u2019s used to. \u201cI go climbing to destress, calm down and express myself,\u201d he says. But for the foreseeable future, Lightner will focus on outdoor climbing at areas near his school, like Rumney, New Hampshire, and the Shawangunks, in New York. He also wants to get back to some of his old climbing projects in France and Spain that he abandoned for indoor training. Now he can be like other climbers, flipping through the guidebook to find climbs that look fun instead of feeling pressure to climb at a certain level.<\/p>\n

But Lightner\u2019s climbing plans still extend beyond his personal objectives. He has long been active in his local and national communities, speaking at events, volunteering at Boys and Girls Clubs and fundraising for the adaptive climbing community, but now he\u2019s employing his experience as an entrepreneurship major to effect change on a larger scale. Using what he\u2019s learned in his business and marketing classes, Lightner is in the midst of designing a few project proposals, something he\u2019s wanted to do for a while but never had the time, he says.<\/p>\n

\"Kai

Photo credit: Chris Vultaggio<\/p><\/div>\n

He also wants to give other minorities and people in high-poverty areas the ability to find pursuits beyond stereotypical ball sports. He was introduced to climbing by chance at 6 years old when a stranger saw him climbing a flagpole and suggested the local climbing gym to his mother. But growing up in Fayetteville, North Carolina, an area where outdoor recreation wasn\u2019t a thing, he says, Lightner was teased and made fun of for climbing as a minority. \u201c[I was told], \u2018Rock climbing is not a sport for us. It\u2019s a sport for smiling white people in commercials,\u2019\u201d he remembers. \u201cBut it worked out for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now he wants to focus on diversity and inclusion initiatives with the adaptive climbing community and Memphis Rox<\/a>, a nonprofit gym that uses climbing and other programs like dance, cooking and music as a means to heal communities and \u201cfoster relationships across cultural, racial, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds,\u201d according to their website.<\/p>\n

\u201cComp climbing has given me the ability to have a platform to support my community, to have resources to help others who aren\u2019t as fortunate,\u201d he says. \u201cWe should be given opportunities to look elsewhere to find our passions, and the option to pursue them. [Memphis Rox] is using climbing as a way to build that community aspect to get more kids exposed to new opportunities, to keep people busy and out of trouble. I just want to do my part to further that project.\u201d<\/p>\n

And as far as Lightner\u2019s dreams of competing in the summer games are concerned?<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s always 2024,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When climber Kai Lightner started college as a 19-year-old freshman last August, he had two major goals. The first was demanding, but straightforward: keep up with the rigorous academics of his entrepreneurship major. On a full-ride scholarship at Babson College in Boston\u2014ranked No. 1 for entrepreneurship 21 years in a row by U.S. News & […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":48222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[897,862,727,1831,442,1830],"internal-tag":[],"class_list":["post-48215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climb","tag-competition","tag-kai-lightner","tag-latest-posts","tag-memphis-rox","tag-rock-climbing","tag-world-championships"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/climb\/climber-kai-lightner-trades-climbing-dream-for-college-and-helping-others","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Kai Lightner Trades A Big Climbing Dream For College and Helping Others","url":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/climb\/climber-kai-lightner-trades-climbing-dream-for-college-and-helping-others","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/climb\/climber-kai-lightner-trades-climbing-dream-for-college-and-helping-others"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/04\/CV_01296-Kai-Lightner-header.jpg?resize=150%2C150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/04\/CV_01296-Kai-Lightner-header.jpg?fit=2000%2C1000"},"articleSection":"Climb","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michelle Flandreau"}],"creator":["Michelle Flandreau"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Uncommon Path \u2013 An REI Co-op Publication","logo":""},"keywords":["competition","kai lightner","latest posts","memphis rox","rock climbing","world championships"],"dateCreated":"2019-04-19T18:50:22Z","datePublished":"2019-04-19T18:50:22Z","dateModified":"2020-05-22T19:51:18Z"},"rendered":"