Competing to your full potential in the Youth Climbing Series is something that is important to all of you guys. You have all put in alot of work with your climbing training and are now super fit and climbing exceptionally well. I would just like to offer a few tips on how to approach competition day, which will help you maximise your chances of performing to your full potential.
Warming Up & Staying Warm-
You should all know how important it is to warm up properly by now. However, a common mistake people make in competitions is to warm up at the start of the day and forget about it for the rest of the competition. Competing in the YCS invloves a long day with only a few climbs. If you warm up in the morning and then dont climb for 60minutes waiting for others to do their routes, you are no longer properly warm. Think about this while you are sitting about waiting for your shot. Continually do lots of stretching and small amounts of climbing to keep yourself topped up and ready to go. Dont over do the climbing though as you dont want to tire yourself out. An easy grade boulder problem or an easy traverse every 10 minutes or so is enough.
Route Reading -
Planning how you are going to climb a route or a boulder problem before you begin is extremely important. Look at each climb and try and work out where the hard move is going to be, where the rests are and if there are any hidden hand or footholds that will be hard to see when you are climbing. This is all information that will help you climb the route well when it is your turn. As you get more experienced at this, start trying to work out the hand sequencies of climbs. Working out, which hand goes where helps you get it right first time and cuts back on wasting energy correcting mistakes you make on the climb.
Watch Other Climbers -
Every route is demonstrated before you climb them. This is done for a reason, it is to show you how best to approach the route. If you are a smart competitor, you pay very close attention to these demonstrations as they should give you valuable tips, such as rest points, hard moves, hand sequences etc. Watching the demo's closely is important, but it does not stop there! It is really important to watch all of the other competitors closely also! Through doing this we can learn from the mistakes others make and also from the things they get right. It is also a great opportunity to see where other climbers fall off and therefore, you will know what point you need to try and beat.
Give it 100% -
As we are always telling you guys it is important to stay calm when you climb and maintain good climbing form throughout. However, there will be a point on a climb when it becomes apparent you are going to fall off. When this happens, dont just give in! Think about how the points work for scoring. You get a score for holding a hold, an extra point for reaching past a hold and another point for touching the next hold! If you are falling off, try your best to reach passed the hold you are on. Likewise, if you are stuck on a hold and can't reach the next one, try jumping for it as touching the hold will get you more points. The scores at YCS's are always close, so reaching passed a hold or touching the next one, could be the difference between winning and finishing second!
Stay fueled -
As I stated earlier, comps are always long days. We need to think about giving our bodies the fuel it needs to perform throughout the day. It is a good idea to bring lots of small handy snacks, to keep your energy levels tooped up. Fruit bars, Cereal bars, fruit, dried fruit, non salted nuts, fruit juice etc are all great ways of keeping energy levels topped up throughout the day. Another way of making sure you have enough energy is to eat properly before the event. Dont rush out in the morning and forget about breakfast, get up 10 minutes earlier and make sure you eat properly before leaving for the comp.
Stay Hydrated -
If we dont have enough water in our bodies, we dont perform to our full potential. Being properly hydrated also reduces the chances of picking up injuries also. Therefore it makes sense to drink water before competitions and continue to top up water levels throughout the day. Bring a sports style water bottle and keep it with you, so that you can sip at it throughout the day.
Relax and have FUN -
You are all very talented young climbers and all have the potential to do well in the YCS. Be confident on the day and approach every route with the attitude that you have the ability to climb it. If you believe you are capable of achieving something, you are more likely to do it! Before you start a route, relax, take few deep breaths and think about what you are going to do and how cool it will be when you are on the final hold. You are all very good climbers and you have no reason to be scared of any climb!
GOOD LUCK GUYS AND ENJOY THE YCS!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment