Sport Climbing Australia are thrilled to announce Irene Torrealba as the inaugural SCA National Youth Coach after being named in the second Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) Gen32 Coach Program.

AIS Gen32 was created in 2022 to enhance the depth and diversity within Australia’s high performance coaching ranks ahead of the home Games in Brisbane and provides emerging or early-career coaches with a two-year paid internship in the nation’s top sporting programs.

“Coaching is a key focus in the remaining eight years to the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games because you can’t have world-class athletes without world-class coaches,” Executive General Manager of AIS Performance Matti Clements said.

“The AIS Gen32 Coach Program is a partnership with our national sporting organisations and National Institute Network, with 29 coaches having a career-changing experience over the first two years of the program.

“It’s pleasing to see more than half of the upcoming group are women, with the AIS committed to working with sport to address the gender imbalance in high performance coaching roles by Brisbane 2032.”

“We’re thrilled to have been chosen by the AIS to be involved in the Gen32 Coach Program and look forward to seeing Irene develop across the next two years,” said SCA National Performance Pathway Lead, Ian Melvin. “Ire will step into the new role of National Youth Coach and will work closely with the National Head Coach once that recruitment process is complete.”

The 2025-26 AIS Gen32 Coach Program will run from January 2025 to December 2026. For more information visit www.ais.gov.au/people-development/national-generation-2032-coach-program