One of my kids has two loves in life: basketball and climbing. He literally hangs off this (hands, heel hooks, whatever) while watching NBA reruns on a nearby TV. It's built into every route he does in every imaginable combination - side pulls, swinging off it during daring lateral traverses, as a traditional sloper, heel hooks...everything he can think of. I love the seams, which really distinguish it from a typical sloper, give it that actual basketball feel, and are even cleverly placed so that you can adjust the hold difficulty by rotating the ball to change the placement of the seams. It's great.