By the end of 2013 I had gotten onto the British team, become British boulering champion, and came 7th in a European Youth Cup. This year I hope to make a European final, get a top 10 World ranking (I was 18th last year because I only went to one EYC) and go on a Haggis Hunt. I think they are all possible.
2014 kicked off with the innaugrial team meet, which was held in Sheffield at a really big fancy hotel. It was so nice to catch up with all the team and have a laugh with flappy bird. Tom Greenall presented most of the speeches, and it was awesome to be reminded of how well the boulder team did last year. After a bit of celebrating the past, the topic quickly shifted to the future. Some more talks were presented about how to be a good athlete and what was expected from a team member. Afterwards we did a bit of team building in the (extremely muddy) gardens, followed by medicals and the psychological test. We could then go to the climbing works and finally start climbing! We did these cool games such as doing a boulder blindfolded/fig-fouring every move/power screaming every move/without hands... amongst others. Thanks Rachel it was so much fun! The rest of the day was spent climbing the amazing problems that are so different to the Westway set.
Sunday saw us go to the gym and do some tough circuits as well as our FMS tests. We did so many squats my quadriceps were aching so much the next day it hurt to walk. After lunch we went back to the Works and were put in teams of two to create problems for the other teams. I was paired up with Tom and we made a long slabby traverse into some powerful end moves. Only about 2 or 3 of the team managed to top it! The rest of the day was spent bonding with the new team. I worked on attempt efficiency in particular, and I am quite proud to say that I did manage to burn off some of the strong boys on a couple problems :)
2014 is going to be a good year and I can't wait for comp season!
2014 kicked off with the innaugrial team meet, which was held in Sheffield at a really big fancy hotel. It was so nice to catch up with all the team and have a laugh with flappy bird. Tom Greenall presented most of the speeches, and it was awesome to be reminded of how well the boulder team did last year. After a bit of celebrating the past, the topic quickly shifted to the future. Some more talks were presented about how to be a good athlete and what was expected from a team member. Afterwards we did a bit of team building in the (extremely muddy) gardens, followed by medicals and the psychological test. We could then go to the climbing works and finally start climbing! We did these cool games such as doing a boulder blindfolded/fig-fouring every move/power screaming every move/without hands... amongst others. Thanks Rachel it was so much fun! The rest of the day was spent climbing the amazing problems that are so different to the Westway set.
Sunday saw us go to the gym and do some tough circuits as well as our FMS tests. We did so many squats my quadriceps were aching so much the next day it hurt to walk. After lunch we went back to the Works and were put in teams of two to create problems for the other teams. I was paired up with Tom and we made a long slabby traverse into some powerful end moves. Only about 2 or 3 of the team managed to top it! The rest of the day was spent bonding with the new team. I worked on attempt efficiency in particular, and I am quite proud to say that I did manage to burn off some of the strong boys on a couple problems :)
2014 is going to be a good year and I can't wait for comp season!
Photo: most of team GB
