Skip to main content

GB Team Inaugural Meeting

Last weekend I woke up at 5.45am to catch a train to Sheffield for the GB Team Inaugural Meeting. Despite having to wake up so early I was really excited to get to know my teammates and coaches better and to get an idea of how the year was going to turn out. 
After a welcoming speech from the senior lead team coach the lead and boulder teams were split into groups for our profiling and training. Under the scrutiny of the coaches, everyone warmed up and then I was weighed and measured before doing some strange fitness tests to determine my general stability, flexibility  and upper body strength. I didn't find the tests particularly hard  but they got me to work muscles I never even knew I had! 
After lunch we had a go at some comp-style boulders set especially for the training day. These proved to be fiendishly difficult due to the combination of small holds and large, bad ones, lots of volumes, lots of angles and some strange sequences of moves. I personally felt quite strange being the only person not on the bouldering team in my group. However I found the problems very interesting and enjoyed trying them.
We all went to the meeting room after to partake in some group workshops to do with scheduling training around school and competing in comps under a lot of time pressure. We then watched climbing videos, pausing them at different points as a route reading exercise. Overall I found this section of the day helpful, although I didn't get to do much climbing.
After a relaxing evening at Wagamama's and a good night's sleep at the trusty Premier Inn I woke up the next day ready for more training. 
The day began with a talk from Ian Dunn, the head coach of the junior lead team, about the comps this year and what to expect concerning selection/kit/sponsorship etc. The lead team then warmed up together (with strict orders from the coaches as apparently we were all appalling at this the previous day) and we took part in a route reading workshop-climbing blind fold! We each had to choose a moderately easy route to top rope, reading it carefully first and trying to remember as much of it as possible when climbing it blind folded with a partner shouting advice to help. I managed to get my way up a 6b although the experience was strange and very different from what I'm used to.
After lunch I had a private meeting with my mum, Ian and Tony Smith, the parents' rep, to discuss my weaknesses and what comps/training events I am likely to attend this year. A lot was said about the European Youth Cup in May and the European Championships in September so fingers crossed I get to compete in those!
Next the team did a bouldering route reading exercise, this time based solely on memory. The aim was to complete a boulder with as many moves as possible without being told were to go whilst on the wall, having been shown it just once before. I found this quite easy but will practice it in my own training to improve my memory for climbing in finals.
The day ended with a series of functional movement systems tests to assess flexibility and body stability/balance. These were very strange and I have no idea how I performed on them but I am told that they are vital for athlete profiling.
Overall the weekend was an unusual experience but I enjoyed it and look forward to the next team training at the end of this month.
Keep climbing!




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Finding the Balance: Life outside the gym

Up until now my blog has served to guide people through my climbing experiences; people know me as an athlete and that is all. However, for this post I want to write more about myself and how I strive to find balance in my life. For me, climbing is the most important aspect of my existence, but equally, it is for this reason that there have been times when I have felt on the verge of break down because all my self-value relied on climbing and my performance in the sport. I cared little about anything else-my social life, my studies, my other hobbies, even my family. In saying this I may sound like some cold-hearted climbing machine and in many ways that’s how I saw myself, but it is my belief that this mind-set is not uncommon among individuals who dedicate the majority of their life to achieving and mastering a single activity. I am by no means a changed person from the Jo who isolated herself from the rest of her life in the pursuit of being the best. I still struggle to find a bal...
4 comments
Read more

Climbing in Croatia

After months spent training at home I finally had the opportunity to travel this summer! As someone who is very used to living out of a suitcase going between comps, the prospect of spending summer at home did not fill me with joy, so when some mates asked if I wanted to join them on a climbing and scuba diving trip to Croatia, I didn’t hesitate to book my ticket. Paklenica may not be as well known as some other European sport climbing destinations, but it certainly has a lot to offer. I have always focused primarily on indoor climbing, following a busy training schedule which over the years has given me little time to get outdoors. However, with the competition season as good as cancelled this year, I’ve spent lockdown transferring my skills to rock. Before going to Paklenica, all my trips have been performance focussed-not what you’d exactly call a ‘holiday’, but rather an opportunity to show how my training had paid off. For this trip I decided to adopt the mindset of wanting to c...
2 comments
Read more

Youth Open Leading-March 2016

Last weekend on the 5th March I arrived at  Liverpool Awesome Walls to compete in my first lead comp of the season and the first comp in which I would be representing the GB Team. This was exciting, although I felt nervous as I knew people would have high expectations of me. On arrival I was told I could collect my new team kit from Berghaus . It came as no surprise that the kit was much cooler than previous years as I knew Berghaus were a huge company producing quality goods. My favourite item is the branded down jacket! After the initial excitement of trying everything on, I felt shaky again so went to warm up and watch my demos. Both of my qualifiers were technical with a slight overhang and larger overhang at the top changing to vert for the last few moves. Pulling on to the wall for my first route I felt  a roomful of eyes turn to the Union Flag on my back and I knew I had to do well to prove my worth. After a few sketchy moves at the beginning, I reached the top secti...
Post a Comment
Read more