Dave Fletcher 

Dave has had an insatiable passion for outdoor climbing, indoor climbing facilities, and community and sport associations, he is a life member of the University of Queensland Mountain Club following many years of active involvement culminating in the position of club president in 2010. Having worked almost every role at Urban Climb since 2008, Dave joined the business as a shareholder and currently holds the position of Chief Business Development Officer.

Besides family and climbing, Dave’s other great passion is solving difficult problems, with degrees in Pure Mathematics and Business Finance he exchanged climbing shoes for a suit and tie in ‘15 and worked at tier one management consultancy Port Jackson Partners for a year before moving into freelance consulting providing analytical, financial, and strategic support to large businesses and organisations. His current passion is exploring challenges at the intersection of community and technology, particularly within sport climbing.

Romain Thevenot

Romain has been climbing since he could walk. He started his climbing journey in the French alps and reached many submits over the years. His academic background is in engineering and he graduated with a Master of Mechanical Engineering from the Ecole des Arts et Metiers in France. He moved to Australia to complete a second Master of Engineering at the University of Melbourne but soon began working in the climbing industry as a head route setter and then climbing facility manager.

He became involved with running competitions in Australia in 2012. Over the years he was active in a range of roles, including: belayer coordinator, route setter, competition organiser, head route setter, jury president. He joined the board of Sport Climbing Australia in 2013. In 2014 he was part of the group that nurtured the idea of state organisations and then created Sport Climbing Victoria.

Romain was instrumental in the establishment of the current federated structure of SCA. While Romain is first a Director of the company he has been acting as a CEO and taking on many of the executive tasks required for the operations of the company. Romain was chair of the board from 2016 until 2022

Daniel Berry

Daniel started climbing back in 2013 and jumped straight into competitive climbing and routesetting. After a few years traveling Australia to compete at state and national events, he began to focus more on his passion for route setting and the climbing community. Taking a local job as a Head Routesetter, joining Sport Climbing South Australia and the Routesetting and Fairness committee of Sport Climbing Australia in 2017 with a focus on developing both the commercial and competitive climbing scene. 

During this time, Daniel has spent his time following an academic pathway. Completing a Bachelor of Exercise Science and Master of Clinical Exercise Physiology at Flinders University in 2021, using his experience in rock climbing to both coach and treat rock climbing injuries, while currently studying the Doctor of Medicine program.

Daniel joined SCA in 2022 to support the climbing community on a wider level, looking to learn more about how he can advance and grow Sport Climbing across Australia.

Philip started climbing in the Canadian Rockies over two decades ago and has experience in all disciplines of climbing. Since coming to Australia in 2011, he's enjoyed climbing across Australia as well as contributing to the development of Australian Sport Climbing. Before joining the SCA board, he was chair of Sport Climbing Victoria where he, contributed to building the relationship with SCV and the state sports department. Philip has experience in coaching and route setting roles in several facilities and events over many years. At competitions, he now typically contributes to judging roles.

Philip has an educational background in physiotherapy and broad professional experience in the health sector, specifically, digital health. He currently works on implementing health technology projects at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne.

David Pare

David started climbing in Vermont (United States) in the late 90's and climbed for a few years in Canada and the rest of North America but really got into sport climbing competitions in Australia around 2014 when his two boys started competing nationally. David co-founded Sport Climbing WA (SCWA) in 2016 to support local WA athletes to compete at the National level. SCWA now has hundreds of members, over 40 youth and as many adults competing in national events.

As a state certified Jury President and national certified Head Judge, David organised and ran multiple State Titles and National Championship competitions. He was also the Australia team official at the FISU Worldcup 2022 in Innsbruck, Austria. In 2021, he left SCWA to join the Sport Climbing Australia (SCA) board in an effort to grow the sport and create more opportunities for Australian athletes to compete and perform internationally.

With two kids competing at the national and international level, David is passionate about creating a solid high performance sport climbing culture in Australia, growing our athletes and taking the lead at international competitions.

Mercedes Yanev 

SCA Mission

To grow, develop and promote the sport of climbing to enhance the experience for all.

SCA's Vision

To be a professional, well known, innovative, and inclusive organisation that supports climbing ‘from bottom to top’.

Our Core Values

Sport Climbing Australia (SCA) is the peak body for Sport Climbing in Australia and is responsible for the stewardship, management, promotion and growth of the sport. In collaboration with our Member States and a range of key stakeholders, Sport Climbing Australia aspires to be:

• EXCELLENT by developing our people and quality services
  
• INCLUSIVE by being accessible, equitable, accepting and valuing diversity
  
• STRATEGIC by staying informed, prioritising our efforts and managing our risks
  
• ETHICAL by insisting on fairness, transparency, respect and compliance
  
• HEALTHY by promoting wellbeing and safety and instilling positive culture
  
• SUSTAINABLE by enhancing the capability of our members, prudent financial management and securing diverse income sources.     

SCA Honourable Mentions

Sport Climbing Australia is grateful to have been driven over the year by an incredible range of people. We thank the following people that have been involved with SCA and contributed tremendously.

Ian Fullagar

Ian Fullagar is a Sports Lawyer and has nearly 30 years’ experience in legal practice having been admitted to practice in 1989.   

Ian has very broad corporate and commercial legal experience and specialist expertise in sports law and public law. He has been listed in the 2010-2017 editions of Best lawyers for his experience in Sports Law and the 2016-2017 editions of Best Lawyers for his experience in Commercial Law. He was listed in Chambers Asia Pacific Guide 2017 as a Notable Practitioner in Australia for Sports Law. Ian has held many positions on government, commercial and not-for-profit boards both as a director and as company secretary. He is a life member of the Australian New Zealand Sports Law Association and is also a Vincent Fairfax Fellow.

Carlie LeBreton

Carlie started climbing at 13 years old through her school’s sports program. She instantly realised she’d discovered her passion and quickly found her way into the aspects of the sport that she has become well known for, route setting, outdoor climbing and competing.

Rob LeBreton

Rob started climbing long before there were climbing competitions, gyms or artificial walls. At the advent of sport climbing, Rob was one of Australia’s first leading competitors, winning the first Oceania Championships in 1991 and many National Championships. He was a World Cup semi-finalist and continued to compete at a high level until 2008 when he was again Oceania Champion.

In 2009, Rob and his wife Carlie joined the SCA Board with Rob becoming President. During their tenure, they implemented many changes including raising the standards for qualification for the Australian Team and increasing the professionalism of competitions in Australia for the competitors, route setters and event organisers. Their most significant achievement was in achieving recognition for Sport Climbing from the Australian Sports Commission and the Australian Olympic Committee. An important step in Sport Climbing’s journey to the Olympic Games.

Upon stepping down from the SCA Board, Rob served as founding Vice-President of the Sport Climbing NSW/ACT Board for many years and currently remains involved with SCA as a member of the High Performance Committee.

Naomi Cleary

Naomi first became involved with climbing as a parent. She was one of the founding members of Sport Climbing Victoria and became involved in organising competitions. Naomi joined the SCA board in 2015 after being a member of the organising team for the National Boulder Championships in Ballarat and continued to regularly organise National Championship events.

Naomi was involved in the SCA relationships with the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC), Sport Australia, ASADA and Sport Integrity Australia. As a member of the Oceania Council for Sport Climbing (OCSC), Naomi was also part of the team organising the Oceania Championships and the Olympic selection event.

During her time with SCA, Naomi was a strong supporter of expanding diversity throughout the organisation.

As the current President of the OCSC, Naomi is also a member of the IFSC Executive Board and a member of their Finance Commission. Naomi continues to support SCA through relationships with the AOC and through her role in the development of the Oceania region for the IFSC.

In her day job, Naomi is a company director and a CPA with expertise in the audit, risk and governance fields.