20: Erin McNeice, GB’s Rising Star

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push her hard. If you reach a ceiling, then we know that she can't work that hard. And

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if she doesn't reach the ceiling, then we know that she can work harder. It's been sort of like

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seven to nine hour days, six days a week. I either want to change the way that I view

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competition climbing or I don't want to do it anymore. I just want to

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climb my best and be at my strongest. If I do, hopefully go to the Paris Olympics.

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Welcome to the season two finale of the That's Not Real Climbing podcast. I'm your host, Jinni,

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and I'm excited to introduce my guest, Erin McNeice. Erin is a boulder and lead climber from

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Team GB, who has been having a stellar 2024 season so far, making finals for boulder and Keqiao,

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lead in Wujiang, and getting bronze in Shanghai OQS. In this episode, we'll get some insight into

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how she seemed to rise out of nowhere, her brutal offseason training, we'll learn a bit about Team GB,

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and stay for the end to hear about where the Erin McBeast nickname came from. This is her

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first long form interview, so please send her some love and well wishes for the next OQS event in

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Budapest. Hope you enjoy this episode with Erin. I guess we'll just start with how you're doing

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today. Did you do any training today? I'm doing well. I did a bit of training today about

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I'm sort of having a deload after Shanghai, so focused on recovery at the moment. So it's

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been pretty relaxing. Yeah, that makes sense. So not getting ready for Budapest yet. I've had a few

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intense days, but I've got quite a lot of focus sessions coming up. So I've got like a GB training

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weekend, which will be focused on really hard boulders, and then I'm heading out to Innsbruck.

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So focused on hard leads. So I think that'll be my prep. So I've got a bit of time to relax now.

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Okay, that's good. That's good. Glad to hear. Are you happy with your position right now going into

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Budapest? Yeah, pretty happy. I think I couldn't have really done much more. And I think I put

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myself in quite a good position for Budapest. Obviously, the job's only half done, but yeah,

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the points are looking quite positive at the moment. Yeah, I mean, congrats on your performance

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in Shanghai. It was really cool to see, and I'm glad that we get to talk about it today. Thanks.

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So we'll just get right into it. When and where did you start climbing? I guess when I first

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started climbing was when I was five. My parents took me to a wall. It's called Revolution. I

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actually don't know where it is. It's sort of near London, I think. It was like a climbing wall,

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a one-half, and then a skateboard park. Oh, okay. Yeah. So I went to do both, and one of them was

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climbing, obviously. Yeah, it was quite uneventful, really. I joined a club and I went there weekly,

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and I just did it for fun for the next eight years. Oh, okay. So the whole time was at the

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climbing skate park gym? I think predominantly until I was about maybe 10, nine or 10, and then

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we moved and then I joined a similar club. And it was just fun, really. And I was six years old

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and under 13, so I think I just enjoyed the fact that I could climb with 12-year-olds who, at that

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point, I thought were big kids and I just liked that I could keep up with them. Yeah, I mean,

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if you were six and they were 12, they are pretty big kids. I remember how that feels like. So the

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skate park part didn't appeal to you. Now, I remember liking skateboarding a lot more than

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I liked climbing at that point. It's quite cool, skateboarding. I just liked it for the novelty of

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it being skateboarding. Okay. Do you still skateboard ever? I haven't skateboarded in a long

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time, but I did sort of carried it on as I got older, but climbing sort of took over. How did you

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make that switch from doing it, doing just climbing for fun and actually preferring skateboarding to

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getting more into the climbing portion? So I joined this competition squad. The reach, and then I was

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there for a bit and I started doing Blockfest, which is like a regional competition series in

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the UK just for fun because everybody else in the reach squad wanted to do it. So I sort of joined in

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and that was just, it didn't really feel like a competition. It just sort of felt like a day out

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with my friends, like having fun. And through Blockfest, I heard about national competitions

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and the guy that was telling me about it was really emphasizing that it was a massive step

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up from regional competitions. And it was like really official and like kids going who were

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practically professionals. So I was like, okay, I'll go and try this. And it was definitely,

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he wasn't exaggerating. It was definitely a step up. And my first national, I think I came

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14th in my age category, which wasn't too bad, but definitely it felt so different. That's the

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first time I saw the GB team and all the people my age who were like in GB kit and working together.

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And that's sort of the first time that I thought I had the thought of wanting to do it and wanting

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to be one of those kids who is basically a professional at the age of like 13.

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So I guess at the time at those competitions, were they already kind of setting like

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a low percentage comp style moves or was it different?

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And it was pretty different. I think I remember it being quite like

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crimpy and there was only there were like eight qualification blocks and only one of them had a

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jump and the rest were like, yeah, pretty crimpy and quite like on really small overhangs

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and quite technical. But I watched the finals, I stayed and watched the finals and they were

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like very much showy and jumpy. And yeah, it was fresh. And like all of the six finalists were all

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in the GB team and they were just so sort of like went and executed every one of the finals blocks

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and I just remember thinking like that was like beyond anything I could have done.

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So I was so amazed that there are people my age who were able to go and execute those kinds of

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moves straight away. Sounds kind of intimidating. Did you kind of feel that way at your first comp?

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Yeah, definitely. I think you don't really think that there are people,

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when you're that age, you don't really think that there are people your age doing that.

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And to see it, to see this group of people working together to solve a problem and then

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competing against each other at that higher level is definitely eye opening. And

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then think of my second national. And my second national I made finals. I don't know how I was

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incredibly shocked. But then to be competing alongside those kinds of people was, yeah,

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it's pretty crazy. Well, it's really cool that even though you were like intimidated at that

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first nationals, you kind of still felt that inkling of wanting to do this more full time

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or like become a professional in a way. I feel like I could never do that. So that's cool to hear.

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And so your parents didn't have any like climbing background as well.

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Oh, my dad used to do it in university. He was in the English gymnastics team when he was younger

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for a bit. And then he'd sort of... Yeah, I used to get him to do like tricks when I had my friends

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around to try and impress them. But he wasn't a climber, but he just did it for fun. So he took

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us with him. Okay, cool. Can he still do any tricks nowadays? I reckon he probably could.

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He's not... I haven't gotten to do it in a while, but I'm sure he could if I put the pressure off.

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Okay, cool. So do you feel like his gymnastics background and maybe like slight climbing

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background helped you at all when you were young and improving? I think it definitely helped that

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he had an athletic background because he got me involved in a lot of sports. Climbing wasn't the

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only one by far. It was one of so many, like I said, skateboarding and triathlon, so like swimming

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and cycling as well and surfing. And like I had so many options, which I think really helped

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because by the time I started getting properly into climbing, I was so confident in my ability

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in sports in general that I sort of felt less intimidated in this sporting environment, I guess.

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Did he ever put you through any training or like put together plans for you?

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I guess it always was... If it was training, it was always fun, like challenges. I guess

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it was sort of a way to just trick me into training by giving me challenges because I was stubborn

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enough to get involved. But definitely now he's really involved in my training and picks up on

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really niche things that I need to work on that's definitely helped. He's been really involved in

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like random weird exercises this off season that have improved tiny little things that I haven't

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noticed. Okay. Do you have any examples of that? Yeah. One of them was like power in my legs, but

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not power in the first part of a jump, like power in your ankles at the end. And he came up with

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loads of exercises to increase that last like little bit of a jump. And it's made like a massive...

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I think it was the main reason I made World Cup finals, Boulder World Cup finals, because I

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wouldn't have been able to do that jump without the like pop of my ankles. So yes, it's made a

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massive difference. Okay. So what are you supposed to work on? Because I could probably use some help

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with that as well. It's just sort of like focusing on... He's given me loads of like jumping exercises

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except that you aren't really allowed to bend your legs. So all of the jump comes from the ankles.

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Okay. I've actually seen that as like a trend on TikTok where you're supposed to try to jump as

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high as you can without bending your knees. Is that a helpful exercise? Yeah, so I've seen that as

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well. Yeah. You don't look the... I mean, it's not the most... You don't look like an athlete when

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you do it, but I promise it really helps. Okay. So then I assume you're really good at that one?

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Yeah. There's always room for improvement, but I'm okay. I might ask to see a video of it if I end

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up creating a short or a reel of that later. And then I'll try it as well. So it's not just you.

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No. Okay. Cool. So you had just sort of more recently come into the worldwide scene where

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you made finals. So people are kind of starting to become more familiar with what your climbing is

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like. But yeah, we haven't seen too much yet. And you've also done like a pretty good mix of both

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boulder and lead comps, and it looks like you're kind of equally strong in both. So which one is

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your preference? Probably bouldering, just because I think I'm more confident in bouldering. I've been

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focusing on it more, I think, for longer, but definitely still enjoy lead. And I've worked

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really hard on it over the last year, and I think I've gotten, well, I've definitely gotten a lot

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better. So I have started enjoying it more since I've gotten more confident at it and more

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comfortable as well. But yeah, boulder probably. Yeah. I mean, I didn't know you had a strong

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preference for it at all because you seem to be doing both quite well. It's like really not obvious

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which one you feel stronger at. So that's cool. And then in terms of characterizing your climbing,

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I think a similar thing, like with a lot of people, it's easier to tell if there are certain moves

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they're more comfortable with or what their strengths and skill sets lie. But yeah, how do

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you characterize your climbing? Yeah, I don't think that there's anything that I'm

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like, that I would say is a weakness. But I also don't think there's anything that stands

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out massively as a strength. I think I'm pretty okay at everything.

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That's a strength in a way. Yeah, definitely. I never come out to a climb and

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I'm worried about it, which is good. But I also never come out to a climb thinking I've 100% got

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it. There are definitely climbs where I look forward to it. I really enjoy jumps and coordination

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moves. So if I see one of those, I'm always excited to get on it. But I think slabs probably

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definitely used to be a weakness. And I've worked really hard on that over the last off season.

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So it's not so much of a weakness anymore. Yeah, I think you also mentioned earlier that

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you'll be going to Innsbruck to train for LEAD specifically. Do you feel like for things like

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LEAD and slabs, there's not as much experience that you can gain in the UK? Yeah, I think there's

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quite a lot of things in the UK that I've struggled to get on. LEAD is probably the main thing.

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I've managed to do it over the off season, but that's mainly because I've been focusing on my

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base. So I don't necessarily need really hard climbs. But now, especially after the last OQS,

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I wanted to get on 8Cs and stuff to feel more comfortable on those because I'm pretty

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comfortable on anything up to 8B plus. And you just don't get 8Cs in the UK. And for slabs,

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sort of the same. You don't really get slabs in the UK. I have pretty hard to find actual slabs

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that aren't there in the UK. So yeah, going abroad for that is also quite important.

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Do you have a favorite place that you've trained slabs? Any depot wall in the UK will always have

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a slab. So you can go there and be sure that you'll get onto a slab. And Boulder UK in Preston also

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is very good for slabs. I think most of the walls are slabs or a vert wall, which is really helpful

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for more training. I was going to talk about the GB climbing team a bit later, but

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this is kind of a better segue into it. Do you guys have a training team or a training facility,

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or do you just kind of go around to whatever gyms are near you? Yeah, at the moment, it's,

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we go around to gyms. We used to have a base in Sheffield, but we don't have that wall anymore.

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So recently we had a training weekend at London and we'll have another one coming up in a couple

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of weeks. And they were really good. We have setters in and they set specific jaw zone problems.

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And yeah, the setting was good and the whole selection was really good. And the wall was

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really good. So definitely still, there was so much effort put into it. So even though we don't have

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a wall, it was really, really beneficial before the OQS to have that. And we also had the GB

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coaches there, which is never going to be bad because they're good coaches. So it's nice to have

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them around. How often do you guys get together as a full team GB training session? As a full team,

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we had one before the Shanghai World Cup as a full team, so seniors and juniors and everybody

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down to quite young, which is actually really cool. And I hope we have more of them. But usually it's

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a little bit more segregated. So there'll be like the OQS group because they need to train different

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things. And also people are at different comps. People are at like youth comps and ECs and then

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World Cups and stuff. So it's quite hard to get them all together. But normally pre-season, it'll be full team.

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And do you only work with the team coaches or do you also have your own coach?

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I have my own coaches. I get my training plan from Oli Tor from Lattice. And then I have a

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strength and conditioning coach, Tom Parkington. And then I have Rachel, who is a GB coach and they

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all sort of work together to make sure that the training plan is coherent to all of their views.

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That's a lot of coaches.

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Yeah, I thought it would be, it's definitely a risk to have that many people because ideas and

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views clash. But they're very good at communicating. And I think each one of them brings something

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completely new to the plan, which has been vital for my season so far. So it's been good.

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So it's good that I guess they all have communication with each other.

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How long have you been working with those coaches?

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I've been working with Oli for maybe two years, but I've been with Lattice for quite a long time.

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Tom, just this like previous off season, I started working with him. And Rachel,

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worked with Rachel for quite a long time, but she's been more involved in my training for the

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past two years. And I see her, I see her a lot and have sessions with her a lot. So yeah, I think

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probably two years properly, but I've known her for quite a long time.

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Yeah. And I guess we can kind of get into your training a little bit more. Well, first of all,

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it's like, it's really interesting to me from an outsider's point of view to see how people

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seem to suddenly come out of nowhere, like season to season and like find really incredible form.

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What do you think you did in training during off season that really worked for you this year?

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I think that this off season, I basically pushed, I think it's hard because last off season,

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I worked hard, but sometimes you think you're working hard and you're maybe not working as hard

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as you can, but it's hard to know how hard you can work. And I remember Tom Greenall,

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who used to be like the head coach for GB before he retired was basically saying to my coaches,

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push her hard, harder. And if you reach a ceiling, then we know that she can't work that hard.

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And if she doesn't reach the ceiling, then we know that she can work harder because I think

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coaches are scared of overworking their athletes, which is fair, but then I didn't break and I could

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work harder. So is the ceiling like injury or?

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I think the ceiling is just, I wouldn't say injury, I guess. When you start getting

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like minor tweaks and stuff way more often, then you should lower it a bit.

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But I didn't get to the point where I was getting like tweaks every week. So I took that as that the

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training load was okay.

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So you felt like this season before you thought you were working hard and you actually just weren't?

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Yeah, I think there's a difference between being tired and being like, well, there's obviously a

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difference between being tired and being exhausted. And this past off season has definitely been like

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exhausted. It's been sort of like seven to nine hour days, six days a week.

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Oh, wow. All right. So what happens in seven to nine hours? Because that is quite a long time.

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And the depths of off season, I would be doing circuits every day. They wouldn't always be hard,

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but just to get the base in, I'd do that. And usually finger boarding, I guess. Obviously not

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every day, but usually in a normal day, finger boarding and then circuits and then like, so

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no, every day is different. But if I'm on the board, then two hours on the board or then boulders.

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And I guess every part of that day has to be really focused to what you're actually meant to be

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achieving. But when you actually put it all together, it actually takes a really long time to do.

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Yeah, I guess like, do you consider resting as part of those seven to nine hours? Obviously like,

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not like a full rest, but like taking some time or like having a snack or like,

00:25:07,280 --> 00:25:13,840
is nutrition part of those seven to nine hours? I'd say yeah, but I would never take more than like

00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:20,240
45 minutes to it. Because obviously if it's seven to nine hours, there's always going to be a meal

00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:28,720
in between. Yeah. I'd hope so. Yeah, maybe give or take 45 minutes. Oh, wow.

00:25:28,720 --> 00:25:35,920
Okay, that is a lot of training. More than I thought. I think, yeah, I guess like,

00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:43,120
I can't imagine doing that much. My body would definitely break. So it's good to hear that

00:25:43,760 --> 00:25:50,320
your body didn't break. The nine hour days were definitely, because obviously when I say I like

00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:56,320
work on slabs, you can really, you can sort of work on slabs for like three or four hours,

00:25:56,320 --> 00:26:03,440
and it's not too taxing. So if it was nine hours, I would be working, I would be having like slabs

00:26:03,440 --> 00:26:09,920
set for me for like four hours and then maybe some power endurance for an hour and then some

00:26:09,920 --> 00:26:17,920
conditioning for two hours and stuff. So it's all, yeah, it sounds like a lot, but the tiny things

00:26:17,920 --> 00:26:25,120
do add up. So then in terms of finding great form this year, do you think it was a good idea to

00:26:25,120 --> 00:26:28,960
do that? I mean, you've been doing a lot of great form this year. Do you think it was just like the

00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:35,120
hours that you put into the gym or was there like a mindset shift or anything like that?

00:26:35,120 --> 00:26:41,120
There was definitely a mindset shift. I think in competition climbing, even if you're really

00:26:41,120 --> 00:26:46,880
strong, you're not going to perform well or get good results if you don't have a good mindset.

00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:54,880
For the last like two months before the season started, I would be working on my mindset with

00:26:54,880 --> 00:27:05,760
Rachel mostly, and it was difficult because I'd had the same mindset for so long and I sort of

00:27:06,720 --> 00:27:13,600
felt like, because I think as athletes sometimes people feel like you have to be really serious

00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:19,360
take it really serious because it's your job. So you've got to be really focused, but that doesn't

00:27:19,360 --> 00:27:26,160
work for everybody and it definitely wasn't working for me. So I found that taking a more

00:27:26,160 --> 00:27:32,480
relaxed approach and smiling and laughing about things and messing about a little bit and

00:27:33,040 --> 00:27:40,720
just focusing on enjoying the whole experience of it. You know, the crowd and the atmosphere and the

00:27:40,720 --> 00:27:46,720
commentators and the tiny things that sort of make you a bit nervous, that's all part of the

00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:53,360
experience. So smiling along with it and enjoying it really helped me really help me climb well and

00:27:53,360 --> 00:27:59,200
perform well. Would you say that you do that in training as well or is training more just like

00:27:59,200 --> 00:28:05,280
it's got to be serious? Definitely try to implement it in training as well because I,

00:28:05,280 --> 00:28:11,600
there are definitely days where I get really angry with myself and it's, I guess anger can help you,

00:28:11,600 --> 00:28:17,520
it can motivate you, but it can also just, if it's just making you get annoyed, then it's not

00:28:17,520 --> 00:28:27,040
beneficial for training, not beneficial for performing in training. So guess learning when

00:28:27,040 --> 00:28:33,200
it's, learning when the anger is actually helping me try hard and learning when it's

00:28:33,200 --> 00:28:42,720
just making me not able to learn and get off a block. So yeah, I try to, if I'm, if I realize that

00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:48,960
it's not helping, I try to sort of like take a breath and smile and enjoy the process of

00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:54,080
learning something instead of getting really angry that I'm not able to do it first try.

00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:58,000
I feel like that's not super great for me to hear because I think I kind of reached that breaking

00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:04,560
point. I'm kind of over it. So everything you're saying is kind of like, oops, I think I kind of

00:29:05,520 --> 00:29:14,480
surpass that point, but that's okay. There's always next year. Yeah, I mean, training's always hard.

00:29:14,480 --> 00:29:19,920
Do you, did you ever just have the thought of like, I just want to quit it all? Yeah,

00:29:19,920 --> 00:29:26,880
so many times during the off season. I mean, there was a point before the off season where I had a

00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:33,840
bad comp and I got a bad one. Well, I didn't get a bad one. It was just a fun comp in the UK, but

00:29:34,160 --> 00:29:42,640
I didn't enjoy it. I was so stressed. I climbed really badly and I was just basically was thinking

00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:49,440
I either want to change the way that I view competition climbing or I don't want to do it

00:29:49,440 --> 00:29:56,000
anymore, which is part of the reason I changed my mindset. But also, yeah, during the off season,

00:29:56,560 --> 00:30:00,160
when you do something that much, there are going to be times when you don't want to do it.

00:30:01,200 --> 00:30:07,200
And I can remember a few sessions where I completely broke down and was like,

00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:15,120
yeah, I'm not doing this anymore. My mum had to be there a lot of the time to get me out of that.

00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:27,280
But I think it's all part of it. And I think making the jump up to the top level is always going to

00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:32,080
be hard when you don't, when you haven't done it yet, because maybe the belief isn't quite there.

00:30:32,080 --> 00:30:37,120
And if you're working so much for something and you don't necessarily know if you can do it,

00:30:37,120 --> 00:30:42,640
that's sort of, it's just hard to stay motivated.

00:30:43,200 --> 00:30:48,240
How did you kind of pull yourself out of those funks? Or I guess, how did your mum help you with that?

00:30:48,880 --> 00:30:51,440
I guess she always sort of is like,

00:30:51,440 --> 00:31:02,000
reminds me of my, what I've already done, which is helpful. But then also just saying that I'm

00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:09,760
doing my best. You do your best to improve, you do your best to get better. And if that's enough,

00:31:09,760 --> 00:31:17,520
then great. And if it's not, then you've done all you can do. So I think it's just, I think

00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:23,520
I was pushing as hard as I could. So if you get out of the off season and you're making finals,

00:31:23,520 --> 00:31:29,520
then great. And if you're not, then you've done everything you can.

00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:34,560
How long did those usually last for you? Like you're just back at it the next day?

00:31:34,560 --> 00:31:44,720
Sometimes I'll be back at it. I think, I think I was pushing as hard as I could. So I think I was

00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:52,400
back at it. I think some of them, it's just, if you have a terrible session, then you're not going

00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:58,960
to want to do it. I think the problem was that in the off season, there was quite a long period of

00:31:58,960 --> 00:32:07,200
time when I was just having bad session after bad session. But I think after this season,

00:32:07,200 --> 00:32:12,640
it's going to be easier because like last time I went to Innsbruck, I was flashing eight B pluses,

00:32:12,640 --> 00:32:19,280
but back in the off season, there were sessions where I was falling off seven A's. It's hard to

00:32:19,280 --> 00:32:26,320
believe when you're falling off something that my brother was getting up and he's not really that

00:32:26,320 --> 00:32:32,880
into climbing back then. And he was getting up stuff and I was falling off. I think it's

00:32:34,320 --> 00:32:40,880
hard not to lose it when that's happening. Yeah, fair. So he also goes with you to like train?

00:32:40,880 --> 00:32:46,480
Yeah. Only sometimes if he's around. He was climbing with me when I was

00:32:47,680 --> 00:32:53,360
younger, like we went, we were in the same club. So he saw a bit of a natural, I guess.

00:32:54,880 --> 00:32:56,800
Okay. But he doesn't like compete or anything.

00:32:57,840 --> 00:33:01,440
Nah, just, just, just for fun. He enjoys it, I guess.

00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:05,200
And I guess he enjoys beating you if you're having an off day.

00:33:05,200 --> 00:33:12,800
Right. Yes. He found it very amusing whilst I was questioning my life choices.

00:33:12,800 --> 00:33:18,160
Oh my God. Yeah, I would totally, I totally get that. That would send me into a spiral for sure.

00:33:19,360 --> 00:33:25,680
But I guess it's just like one year training and you're not recovered ever because you're doing

00:33:25,680 --> 00:33:31,680
seven to nine hour days, six days a week. That'll, that'll change what you're able to

00:33:31,680 --> 00:33:37,920
accomplish on the wall. Yeah. I don't know. I guess when you say it like that, it's so obvious that

00:33:37,920 --> 00:33:44,880
it's going to affect you, but I did not think that way when I was falling off so nice.

00:33:44,880 --> 00:33:49,760
Please excuse this brief intermission, but I would just like to remind you that if you are enjoying

00:33:49,760 --> 00:33:54,320
this podcast, please follow and rate it on your preferred listening platform. If you're watching

00:33:54,320 --> 00:33:59,760
on YouTube, I would love to hear your discussion and thoughts in the comments below. Anything helps

00:33:59,760 --> 00:34:06,960
to push this podcast out to more people and get even more amazing guests on. Back to the show.

00:34:06,960 --> 00:34:15,600
Yeah. And on the discord, someone had mentioned that they know Toby had like a four year plan

00:34:15,600 --> 00:34:22,400
aimed specifically for the Olympics in terms of training. Did you also have like this Olympic

00:34:22,400 --> 00:34:29,760
training plan in mind or were you kind of just training to get better and see where it takes you?

00:34:29,760 --> 00:34:35,200
I definitely didn't have a four year Olympic plan. I don't think I would have ever thought that I'd

00:34:35,200 --> 00:34:45,200
be in this position four years ago, but I definitely had goals, competition goals, like training for

00:34:45,200 --> 00:34:53,040
specific comps. And I remember I was training for getting onto the senior GB team for a while,

00:34:54,480 --> 00:35:01,440
but I was always just sort of training within like a year. So I was training for next year's

00:35:01,440 --> 00:35:07,120
competitions or next year's selections. I didn't really ever have a, I didn't ever have a four year

00:35:07,120 --> 00:35:13,120
plan, but now I'll probably try and implement something that I think it would be helpful.

00:35:13,120 --> 00:35:19,760
Yeah. I mean, I guess it depends. I mean, I think doing just a year out makes a lot of sense. Like

00:35:19,760 --> 00:35:27,360
who knows what's going to happen in four years. Personally, I feel like if I put together a four

00:35:27,360 --> 00:35:33,680
year plan and the goal was the Olympics, I would just get really stressed about not getting anywhere

00:35:33,680 --> 00:35:39,920
near that goal because that is quite lofty. So, but yeah, depends on, depends on the person and the

00:35:39,920 --> 00:35:47,840
mindset. Also, I think I heard in an interview, you mentioned that it was hard for you to keep

00:35:47,840 --> 00:35:53,280
up with friends who didn't climb due to your training schedule. And I think this will actually

00:35:53,280 --> 00:35:59,040
be pretty relevant because there was recently a discussion in the discord as well about being

00:35:59,040 --> 00:36:04,400
afraid of ending up alone because of like schedule and compatibility with training.

00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:10,640
Is there, was that, was there something you like found to be able to push through that or like

00:36:11,360 --> 00:36:15,440
make specific climbing friends or did you ever resolve that issue?

00:36:15,440 --> 00:36:26,320
And sort of resolve, but I think that it will always be a problem and I'm sure other athletes

00:36:26,320 --> 00:36:35,440
will agree. Yeah, in school, especially it was more noticeable because I think everybody,

00:36:38,240 --> 00:36:42,240
school is like the perfect place to have friends and make friends and everything,

00:36:42,240 --> 00:36:48,720
but it was still quite difficult for me, especially like hanging out outside of school. Like

00:36:48,720 --> 00:36:55,920
if people wanted to spend the entire day together, then there was no time for me to train or

00:36:56,480 --> 00:37:02,480
if they wanted to do go out or something, like I couldn't do that because I needed to train or

00:37:02,480 --> 00:37:09,360
I was just not in the country because I was competing. So there wasn't really much time

00:37:09,360 --> 00:37:14,240
for it. And I think a lot of people don't like that. So they weren't really interested in

00:37:14,240 --> 00:37:23,520
being my friend because they didn't like that I didn't have time for them. But yeah, I think

00:37:24,720 --> 00:37:30,400
the thing that resolved it was just finding people who did understand. I know I had like

00:37:31,120 --> 00:37:37,600
a really good, I still do and she isn't a climber and she isn't an athlete, but she really understands

00:37:37,600 --> 00:37:46,320
and having people like that is basically made my school life durable. I guess now that you're no

00:37:46,320 --> 00:37:54,240
longer in school, do you feel like it's easier for you since you have a little bit more time,

00:37:54,240 --> 00:38:00,240
I think, since like kind of before school is like your full day and then you also have to do climbing,

00:38:00,240 --> 00:38:04,640
but now climbing is your full day and then maybe after climbing, you're like,

00:38:04,640 --> 00:38:08,640
now climbing is your full day and then maybe after climbing, you have some time.

00:38:09,280 --> 00:38:15,680
Yeah, it's definitely easier. Even in winter when I was doing massive hours, it was,

00:38:15,680 --> 00:38:22,240
I still had way more time than I did at school because unfortunately I did care about school

00:38:22,240 --> 00:38:29,520
and I couldn't sort of just go through it and not really mind how it went. I was

00:38:29,520 --> 00:38:38,640
really focused. So yeah, I basically didn't have any extra time and now I can spend time with my

00:38:38,640 --> 00:38:47,600
friends. So I would say, yeah, it's easier now. And I also just think that I've met more people

00:38:47,600 --> 00:38:54,160
through climbing since doing it full time who I would consider friends. So yeah, definitely easier.

00:38:54,160 --> 00:38:59,760
Yeah, that makes sense. Would you say like most of your friends are climbing friends?

00:39:00,400 --> 00:39:06,560
Because also now that you're not in school, you're kind of dealing with the adult issue,

00:39:06,560 --> 00:39:10,560
the perpetual issue of not really knowing where else to meet friends.

00:39:11,200 --> 00:39:19,920
Yeah, I think most of my friends are probably climbing friends. I think I have maybe three

00:39:19,920 --> 00:39:25,680
friends who I still talk to from school and the rest are all climbing. And yeah, I don't

00:39:26,160 --> 00:39:32,800
really know where else I'd meet people outside of climbing who I would be friends with.

00:39:34,240 --> 00:39:37,040
So yeah, mostly climbing friends.

00:39:37,040 --> 00:39:39,040
Don't worry, it's a perpetual issue.

00:39:41,520 --> 00:39:42,160
Yeah.

00:39:42,160 --> 00:39:47,040
Okay. And yeah, you're also like one of the younger climbers that I've interviewed so far.

00:39:47,040 --> 00:39:54,000
What is it like? I guess like who are your idols and what is it like climbing and competing against

00:39:54,880 --> 00:39:55,680
them?

00:39:55,680 --> 00:39:59,920
I think it's, I mean, it's an elite sport. So obviously, there are going to be so many

00:39:59,920 --> 00:40:14,080
inspirational people around you. I know as a kid, I always used to look up to like Molly,

00:40:14,080 --> 00:40:20,880
Molly Thompson Smith and Shawna just because they're, well, they're amazing. But also they're

00:40:21,680 --> 00:40:28,720
from Great Britain. So it's just inspiring to see someone, I guess, like you who is

00:40:29,360 --> 00:40:39,360
being so successful in something. But every international climber has, I think every

00:40:39,360 --> 00:40:47,360
international climber has something unique about them that makes them inspiring and gives

00:40:47,680 --> 00:40:55,360
something that you can learn from. I know I've learned something from the majority of the top

00:40:55,360 --> 00:41:02,080
competitors, whether it's before I competed directly with them or afterwards.

00:41:02,080 --> 00:41:11,360
Do you feel intimidated when you compete against them? Or in the case where you maybe get a better

00:41:11,360 --> 00:41:16,720
result, do you feel like bad? Or do you feel great about that?

00:41:17,360 --> 00:41:26,720
I definitely think there's like imposter syndrome sometimes. But I don't think that any of the,

00:41:26,720 --> 00:41:33,600
I would hope that none of them, the competitors think that, or like embarrassed that you've

00:41:33,600 --> 00:41:41,600
beaten them. I think when you're at that top level, it, any time someone beats you, it's,

00:41:43,040 --> 00:41:49,200
they just feel sort of, because they're at that top level as well and they're working as hard as you.

00:41:49,200 --> 00:41:56,400
So they just understand that you've worked really hard to get to that point. Yeah, like none of the

00:41:56,960 --> 00:42:04,640
people who I've met through finals have like disappointed me by how they are. They've all

00:42:04,640 --> 00:42:15,440
been wonderful and really supportive. So I don't feel bad when I beat them and I, and how they've

00:42:15,440 --> 00:42:23,040
beaten them and I'm happy to get the result. And I hope that I always want to beat people

00:42:23,040 --> 00:42:29,200
when they're at their best. I don't want people to mess up so that I can get there. So yeah,

00:42:29,200 --> 00:42:35,440
I just, I want to beat people when they're at their best. And if I do, then that's going to,

00:42:35,440 --> 00:42:45,280
that's nice. Okay. No, yeah, good way of putting it. Okay. Going back to UK climbing real

00:42:45,280 --> 00:42:52,240
quick. I think people are always kind of interested in knowing how federations support their athletes.

00:42:53,600 --> 00:43:00,800
Do you get any stipend from like the GB climbing team or do you have to pay your own way?

00:43:01,600 --> 00:43:12,560
We have to pay for our travel and accommodation to comps. And that's it's a big comp like World

00:43:12,560 --> 00:43:18,560
Champs and stuff, which is sort of partially funded, but we do get obviously training weekends and

00:43:19,520 --> 00:43:28,560
we also get free, like we can use the in-house GB coaches for free whenever we want. We can

00:43:28,560 --> 00:43:36,160
have sessions with them, which is really vital for, well, was really helpful for me this off season.

00:43:36,160 --> 00:43:43,280
And also I think you can get like a training plan basically written for you for free,

00:43:43,280 --> 00:43:49,520
which is also pretty, like a pretty big thing to be given. So I think they help us in lots of other

00:43:49,520 --> 00:43:55,840
ways, but yeah, we have to fund ourselves. Okay. So I guess you kind of feel like

00:43:56,640 --> 00:44:03,440
there's, you were getting enough like resources from the GB team for your competition journey.

00:44:03,440 --> 00:44:09,360
Yeah, obviously it would be nice to be funded for competitions, especially if,

00:44:10,240 --> 00:44:16,240
I mean, I've gone to Shanghai twice already this year, so that's a bit of a, it's not cheap,

00:44:16,880 --> 00:44:30,480
but I think there are other ways of support that are always more vital for success. Like having

00:44:30,480 --> 00:44:36,640
in-house coaching is really important and having to fund yourself is annoying, but

00:44:38,080 --> 00:44:41,680
it doesn't necessarily help your performance like the coaching does.

00:44:41,680 --> 00:44:50,560
Yeah. Cause a lot of, or I wouldn't say a lot, a few federations do provide like stipends or funding

00:44:50,560 --> 00:44:58,960
for their athletes, which is really nice. How do you go about supporting yourself? Do you like work

00:44:58,960 --> 00:45:05,360
another job or I guess you are pretty young, so it would also make sense if your parents are just

00:45:05,360 --> 00:45:11,760
supporting you through this time, but yeah, do you have like plans on getting funding in the future?

00:45:12,400 --> 00:45:21,920
I'm trying to sort of get help from sponsors and I have started getting help from sponsors,

00:45:21,920 --> 00:45:30,000
which has been, well, it's looking good for future travel and my parents do obviously help me a lot.

00:45:31,280 --> 00:45:36,640
I would not be going to comps without them, so that's very grateful for that, but also

00:45:38,080 --> 00:45:46,720
local competitions in the UK. So like Battle of Britain and Ploughed Masters and Kwiff and stuff,

00:45:46,720 --> 00:45:53,680
I think that last year I got about £10,000 from doing those to sort of fund the comp season.

00:45:54,640 --> 00:45:59,680
So yeah, I think that's how most of the UK scene do it, other than working jobs, they

00:46:00,240 --> 00:46:02,960
try and win money from those types of comps.

00:46:03,520 --> 00:46:10,160
Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, I just had another discussion previous interview about funding for

00:46:10,160 --> 00:46:17,840
athletes and how prize money is just not really there, especially at the World Cups. It actually

00:46:17,840 --> 00:46:26,160
seems like a little better at local comps depending on where you're going, but yeah, that's always a

00:46:26,160 --> 00:46:32,000
difficult part. So if there are any sponsors listening, I hope they could reach out.

00:46:32,000 --> 00:46:33,120
Yes, please.

00:46:33,120 --> 00:46:40,560
Okay, so for the future, if you qualify for the Olympics, you only get six-ish weeks before the

00:46:40,560 --> 00:46:44,080
Olympics happens, I think? Yeah, six weeks.

00:46:44,640 --> 00:46:49,200
Yeah. So what would be the plan in that quick turnaround time?

00:46:49,760 --> 00:46:55,760
I guess it depends how, like if any weaknesses are highlighted in the Budapest, but

00:46:55,760 --> 00:47:07,280
if I got selected for the Olympics, I would probably focus on skills. So like certain,

00:47:08,720 --> 00:47:13,760
there are certain dinos that I don't really get on because they aren't set in the UK. So I'd focus on

00:47:14,400 --> 00:47:20,720
getting them set for me. And then I'd probably also go back to Innsbruck because I just, I think

00:47:20,720 --> 00:47:26,080
it's good practice just getting on the routes. I don't think I'd go to the Innsbruck World Cup,

00:47:26,080 --> 00:47:33,600
but definitely afterwards I'd go and get on some hard routes. And then, yeah, I think I'd

00:47:34,640 --> 00:47:44,080
not necessarily go into like intense training, but focused sessions would be the main thing I'd do.

00:47:44,080 --> 00:47:48,560
What are some of those dinos that you don't really feel like you get practice in the UK?

00:47:48,560 --> 00:47:57,120
Anything that's complex basically. So in the World Cup in Shanghai, the paddle dino from finals,

00:47:57,760 --> 00:48:02,080
like I just, I don't understand the movement of those types of things because I don't really get

00:48:02,080 --> 00:48:12,480
on them. And then finals again in OQS, the last boulder didn't really, I don't, my body just

00:48:12,480 --> 00:48:19,280
isn't intuitive to understanding them because I haven't necessarily worked the intuition for

00:48:19,280 --> 00:48:26,240
those types of moves. So having them set for me to actually learn how to do them is really important.

00:48:27,120 --> 00:48:31,600
Yeah, it's really hard to just learn that on the spot while you're in front of an audience.

00:48:33,280 --> 00:48:39,280
Yeah, I'll try to find videos of those and so people can be reminded of what those are.

00:48:39,280 --> 00:48:44,880
Do you feel like there are any advantages to qualifying later for the Olympics or is it all

00:48:44,880 --> 00:48:51,040
just you wish that you could have qualified sooner? I think it's nicer mentally obviously

00:48:51,040 --> 00:48:57,920
to have already qualified. I know Trish, Toby's dad was really happy, obviously happy because he

00:48:57,920 --> 00:49:01,440
qualified for the Olympics, but also just so that they have time to plan everything.

00:49:01,440 --> 00:49:09,680
But I also think it's quite good timing really. You finish Budapest and you have six weeks, maybe

00:49:10,480 --> 00:49:15,680
one of them is like a D-load and then you have four hard training weeks and then one of them is a

00:49:15,680 --> 00:49:20,640
D-load again before the Olympics. Actually works quite well as a training phase. So

00:49:21,440 --> 00:49:24,880
I don't think it's too much of a disadvantage to qualify later.

00:49:24,880 --> 00:49:31,040
Well, that's a good mindset going into it. And in terms of the future, have you created

00:49:31,040 --> 00:49:37,920
like more future climbing goals? Not necessarily. I think it's all the usual stuff really like

00:49:39,440 --> 00:49:45,520
podiuming at a World Cup and stuff like that. I think of my main climbing goals,

00:49:45,520 --> 00:49:53,120
I think obviously LA as well. Maybe the four-year plan can kick in now. You can get going on ahead.

00:49:53,840 --> 00:49:59,280
Do you have any goals in terms of the Olympics that you've created at this point?

00:50:00,160 --> 00:50:09,200
I'm being careful not to jinx things. So I don't want to say like, oh for the Paris Games or

00:50:09,200 --> 00:50:16,000
for the LA Games, but in general, should I knock on wood? I don't know.

00:50:17,200 --> 00:50:24,240
Obviously, if I do go to the Paris Games, I want to be competitive. I don't just want to go,

00:50:24,240 --> 00:50:30,080
I want to go and be at my strongest and have a proper chance at competing at the level.

00:50:30,080 --> 00:50:38,480
But I guess I don't have like a, I want to make finals, I want to make podium. I just want to

00:50:39,040 --> 00:50:43,920
climb my best and be at my strongest. If I do, hopefully go to the Paris Games.

00:50:44,720 --> 00:50:49,440
That makes sense. And we can leave it there in terms of Olympics in the future.

00:50:49,440 --> 00:50:58,000
Don't want to say anything more about it. Okay, so I think that's a good way to go.

00:50:58,000 --> 00:51:07,120
Okay, so in terms of a little bit more of your personal life, you had mentioned that you postpone

00:51:07,120 --> 00:51:13,520
university to focus on pro climbing. What do you think you would have chosen to do if climbing

00:51:13,520 --> 00:51:23,600
hadn't been in your life? I had a scholarship for sport and exercise science at Sheffield Hallam

00:51:23,600 --> 00:51:33,120
University. But then I had a gap year and then I sort of wanted to do space science or planetology,

00:51:33,760 --> 00:51:38,800
which is a bit of a change, a massive change. How did you, why?

00:51:40,800 --> 00:51:47,040
I was always interested in it and I really enjoyed science. And I sort of,

00:51:47,040 --> 00:51:55,120
in my gap year, because I wasn't studying, I sort of used my free time to look into it.

00:51:55,840 --> 00:52:04,160
And I learned loads of art space and suddenly became a bit obsessed with it. So that was my,

00:52:04,160 --> 00:52:09,680
I sort of changed my mind. But then obviously that's a very intense degree and I would not

00:52:09,680 --> 00:52:15,680
have the time to do that and train. Yeah, that makes sense. You,

00:52:15,680 --> 00:52:23,920
I guess at this point, you're kind of going to keep postponing it until the climbing stuff is,

00:52:23,920 --> 00:52:27,600
well, that's going to be a while from now, until the climbing stuff is done, I guess.

00:52:28,240 --> 00:52:36,080
Yeah, I think you can go to uni at any point in your life. And I was never going to be able

00:52:36,080 --> 00:52:43,840
to have the sort of like uni social life. So it's not necessarily going to be any different.

00:52:43,840 --> 00:52:49,360
It's not really going to be any different to me going there when I'm a bit older. And I,

00:52:50,160 --> 00:52:55,040
with the amount that I have to train at the moment to get to the level and to stay at the level,

00:52:55,760 --> 00:53:00,400
maybe in a couple of years, I'll be able to do four or five hour days in the off-season.

00:53:00,400 --> 00:53:07,200
But at the moment, I don't have the fitness to do that. So I have to carry on with the longer days

00:53:07,200 --> 00:53:15,440
and I just wouldn't be able to do uni or I would, but my climbing would take a hit definitely.

00:53:15,440 --> 00:53:21,600
Okay. And so switching gears, this is kind of just like a grab bag of personal questions.

00:53:22,960 --> 00:53:27,200
Sure. I also heard that you had lived in Malaysia at some point.

00:53:28,480 --> 00:53:34,160
Yeah. So what was the reason for that? And what was it like there?

00:53:34,160 --> 00:53:42,480
My dad got a job in Malaysia. So we moved there. We sort of moved around a lot when I was a kid.

00:53:43,280 --> 00:53:48,400
I moved around a lot. So we lived in like Hong Kong and then England and Malaysia.

00:53:48,400 --> 00:53:56,720
And it was always because of his job, but that's probably didn't help with friends either.

00:53:57,600 --> 00:53:59,200
Yeah, that definitely makes it hard.

00:53:59,200 --> 00:54:02,320
I was always in trouble with friends really.

00:54:02,320 --> 00:54:03,600
Oh God.

00:54:06,000 --> 00:54:08,080
It was surprisingly good for the training really.

00:54:08,720 --> 00:54:17,920
Really? It didn't like make it difficult. Well, I guess it was good to get like different styles of

00:54:17,920 --> 00:54:22,720
training in or different styles of climbing in based on how they set in different countries.

00:54:22,720 --> 00:54:27,040
Yeah, it's definitely different. And the lead wall was absolutely massive,

00:54:27,040 --> 00:54:29,280
bigger than really anything in the UK.

00:54:29,840 --> 00:54:30,560
In Malaysia?

00:54:30,560 --> 00:54:34,400
Yeah. Oh, really? I had no idea about that.

00:54:36,720 --> 00:54:37,520
Pretty big, yeah.

00:54:38,160 --> 00:54:48,000
Yeah, I guess I've never been to Malaysia or Hong Kong, but based on like representation

00:54:48,000 --> 00:54:53,920
within like World Cup athletes, I would have thought that maybe they don't have as much

00:54:53,920 --> 00:54:57,920
in terms of climbing in those countries. Is that not the case?

00:54:57,920 --> 00:55:04,560
They probably don't have that many places where I climbed most of the times campfires.

00:55:05,360 --> 00:55:09,920
And their ballroom wasn't that extensive, I don't think, but they had a lot of top rope

00:55:09,920 --> 00:55:17,840
and a lot of lead and they're really quite tall walls. And I don't know about the grading because

00:55:17,840 --> 00:55:25,600
I was quite young. I wasn't doing anything hard at that point, but yeah, the walls were quite big.

00:55:25,600 --> 00:55:30,640
And the walls in the UK are probably not, definitely not as tall.

00:55:31,520 --> 00:55:35,760
Interesting. And so at that point, were you still just like climbing for fun or were you

00:55:36,640 --> 00:55:38,000
actually doing training as well?

00:55:38,720 --> 00:55:45,680
I think we were in Malaysia when I was about nine to 12. So I was still just doing it for fun. But

00:55:45,680 --> 00:55:52,880
that's when I started getting more interested in it. I had a coach in Malaysia, Francis, who

00:55:52,880 --> 00:55:59,680
I still talk to now. And he was one of the main reasons that I got really interested in that,

00:55:59,680 --> 00:56:02,480
or maybe one of the main reasons that I really started enjoying it.

00:56:03,200 --> 00:56:05,520
Okay, that's nice. Does he know that?

00:56:06,320 --> 00:56:07,520
He knows it now, I'm sure.

00:56:08,160 --> 00:56:14,960
Okay. Yeah. Awesome. Okay. And switching gears again,

00:56:16,480 --> 00:56:21,200
Matt Groom has mentioned your Instagram handle a bit during the live stream. I think he really

00:56:21,200 --> 00:56:24,560
wants to know where the Aaron McBeath nickname came from.

00:56:27,040 --> 00:56:35,280
It came from Liam Briden. He's a GV coach and he'll be very happy that I'm giving him credit.

00:56:36,240 --> 00:56:45,120
It came from 2022 Youth Worlds in Dallas. It was originally McBeath because apparently I'd like

00:56:45,120 --> 00:56:49,520
to fight with everybody. I don't really know what, that's completely untrue.

00:56:49,520 --> 00:56:52,560
That's completely untrue. And then it changed to McBeath.

00:56:53,200 --> 00:56:58,720
Okay. So you liked fighting with people in like a competitive aspect?

00:57:02,160 --> 00:57:11,600
Honestly, I don't know. He doesn't make much sense a lot of the time. He just does his own

00:57:11,600 --> 00:57:17,040
narrative and everybody else has to deal with it. Every time I say that I'm going to change it,

00:57:17,040 --> 00:57:20,080
he's like, no, you can't change it. So I kept it.

00:57:20,720 --> 00:57:26,320
Yeah. I mean, now you definitely can't because Matt's talked about it. The whole live stream has

00:57:26,320 --> 00:57:31,840
seen it. Everyone knows about it. So I think it's going to stick, but it's good to know that that's

00:57:31,840 --> 00:57:37,360
where it came from. Another thing that I think people always just generally want to know,

00:57:37,360 --> 00:57:44,560
Matt always wants to know, what do you do when you're an ISO? Do you listen to music or do you

00:57:44,560 --> 00:57:50,560
have a specific routine? I guess other than the obvious of warming up, I definitely have to have

00:57:51,440 --> 00:57:57,680
things that entertain me because my world ranking is quite low at the moment. So I come out quite

00:57:57,680 --> 00:58:03,680
late because obviously the highest ranked athletes go up first. But mostly it's just

00:58:05,600 --> 00:58:11,520
hanging out with the GV coaches. They're quite entertaining on their own, like playing card games

00:58:11,520 --> 00:58:20,320
with athletes or the coaches. Just keeping the mood really light because you don't want to be an

00:58:20,320 --> 00:58:29,920
ISO for ages, like stressing out. So yeah, anything that keeps the conversation light and just fun.

00:58:29,920 --> 00:58:35,680
How long do you have to stay in ISO right now, given the world ranking?

00:58:35,680 --> 00:58:47,600
In OQS, I was bib number 36, so I was ranked 36. So probably whatever five times 35 is,

00:58:47,600 --> 00:58:52,640
that's how long I was in there for Boulder. Hopefully in the future it'll improve. Does

00:58:52,640 --> 00:59:02,720
that improve year to year or comp to comp? Year to year. I think, or maybe not. I'm not sure.

00:59:02,720 --> 00:59:08,800
I think it's comp to comp actually. Oh, okay. I kind of thought that's something you would know

00:59:08,800 --> 00:59:17,040
about, but okay. We'll see. We'll see next time. Yeah, I don't actually know that. Okay. Well,

00:59:18,000 --> 00:59:27,440
good luck for next time. Maybe it'll go faster. I hope so. Yeah. Okay. And so last section,

00:59:27,440 --> 00:59:33,440
just a few discord questions that came in. The first one being you more recently made the

00:59:33,440 --> 00:59:42,320
transition from youth to the elite circuit. Was it, or I guess like, yeah, from youth to elite

00:59:42,320 --> 00:59:48,720
circuit and youth to like being a pro climber. Was it easy for you to make the decision to

00:59:49,280 --> 00:59:56,720
go all in or was there a lot of doubt involved? I think it was relatively easy.

00:59:56,720 --> 01:00:04,480
I've been doing senior comps or I did my first senior comp when I was

01:00:07,440 --> 01:00:15,040
18, 17 or 18 in 2022. I did my first European cup. So I've been doing them for quite a long time,

01:00:15,040 --> 01:00:22,880
but I think the hardest decision was whether to start doing them or whether to carry on focusing

01:00:22,880 --> 01:00:30,320
on youth comps because I could have focused more on youth comps and maybe gotten a medal in like

01:00:31,200 --> 01:00:36,160
some youth comp or I could have gotten the experience I needed in senior competitions.

01:00:36,960 --> 01:00:43,520
So that was probably the hardest thing. There was never a struggle with deciding whether I wanted to

01:00:44,560 --> 01:00:52,400
go all in. I think sort of after I got onto the GME team, I was all in.

01:00:52,400 --> 01:00:55,600
Do you win like prize money for youth comps as well?

01:00:56,320 --> 01:01:00,080
I have absolutely no idea. I've never got a medal in youth.

01:01:00,880 --> 01:01:03,840
Oh, okay. But I would hope so,

01:01:03,840 --> 01:01:09,120
and I'm not sure. Yeah, I mean, I'm just, I'm never sure with these things, you would assume,

01:01:09,120 --> 01:01:16,080
but then you kind of like learn stuff and it's like, oh, yeah, maybe not. Okay. Yeah. So then

01:01:16,080 --> 01:01:23,520
how did you decide to just get experience from the, I guess, elite circuit instead of continuing

01:01:23,520 --> 01:01:29,760
and trying to like medal in it in the youth comps? I guess just looking to the future.

01:01:32,480 --> 01:01:41,280
I was sort of not lucky, but when I tried out for the senior team, I got onto the senior team and

01:01:41,280 --> 01:01:47,600
then was immediately given comps because of how I did in selection. So it wasn't a case of being on

01:01:47,600 --> 01:01:55,360
the senior team and not given comps. So I guess I got a little bit excited and I went for those comps.

01:01:55,360 --> 01:02:02,640
But I made, like I said, the European Cup in 2022 was my first one and I made semis.

01:02:02,640 --> 01:02:12,720
And then my first European League Cup was that same year and I made finals. So I sort of wanted

01:02:12,720 --> 01:02:18,080
to carry on getting that experience. And I knew I sort of wasn't at the level to be podiuming, but

01:02:19,200 --> 01:02:25,360
I thought that that experience was more beneficial for the long term than going to youth cups.

01:02:25,920 --> 01:02:31,520
Yeah, I think that makes sense. Probably a good decision. Okay. So next question,

01:02:31,520 --> 01:02:37,840
do you prefer to train at your home gym? Like, does it feel more comfortable for you or do you

01:02:37,840 --> 01:02:47,920
prefer to travel and get that different experience? I think both have their positives. I think

01:02:48,560 --> 01:02:53,600
training at home is really nice because you're surrounded by family and friends and it's a

01:02:53,600 --> 01:03:00,160
comfortable environment and you know the venue and you know what your facilities are, which is

01:03:00,160 --> 01:03:08,960
helpful. But training abroad is really great. If you go to places that are more well known for

01:03:08,960 --> 01:03:15,360
having good facilities, then you'll often be up to train with other national teams, which is really,

01:03:16,640 --> 01:03:28,080
really important. Well, not important, but it's nice. And also, abroad is just different too at

01:03:28,080 --> 01:03:36,240
home, so it's useful to get on different things. So both definitely have their place. I guess in

01:03:36,240 --> 01:03:43,760
general, do you like traveling or is it kind of a nuisance for you? I'd say I quite like it.

01:03:44,880 --> 01:03:49,520
I quite like it when it's with other people. I think if I'm going on my own, it's a bit boring

01:03:49,520 --> 01:03:55,280
and I don't look forward to it as much. But if it's with my family or if it's with the coaches or

01:03:55,280 --> 01:04:03,840
the other athletes or something, I quite enjoy it. And then the last question, do you currently

01:04:03,840 --> 01:04:11,280
participate in any other sports? I know you had mentioned you've done some before, but I guess

01:04:11,280 --> 01:04:17,440
you dropped all the other ones to focus on climbing. I don't do any sports at the moment,

01:04:17,440 --> 01:04:25,040
but yeah, I was really into football and I was still doing football when I got onto the GB team,

01:04:25,040 --> 01:04:31,360
but I quickly dropped it. Do you feel like there was any cross-training benefit from football?

01:04:32,640 --> 01:04:39,840
I'm sure there was some sort of fitness benefit from it, but it was really, I think it was

01:04:39,840 --> 01:04:47,760
probably quite damaging for my knees and hips. I always had knee and hip problems, so ever since

01:04:47,760 --> 01:04:53,280
dropping that, I don't have them as much. So I think that the benefits probably didn't outweigh

01:04:53,280 --> 01:05:02,240
the cost. Nice. Yeah. I mean, you said that you don't have a lot of tweaks or anything from

01:05:02,240 --> 01:05:10,800
climbing, but I guess you've had issues from playing football. Yeah. I think because it was

01:05:11,760 --> 01:05:18,720
I only played for a small club that did it for fun, so they weren't really into warming up. So

01:05:18,720 --> 01:05:23,840
I probably just probably had tweaks from not warming up, but they went away pretty quickly

01:05:23,840 --> 01:05:30,080
once I dropped it, so it was okay. Any climbing injuries that you've had that you're dealing with?

01:05:30,080 --> 01:05:37,440
I've been really good with injuries. I've never had a serious injury. I just have tweaks. I tweaked

01:05:37,440 --> 01:05:43,200
my finger a few months ago, but it was cleared up before the first World Cup. It wasn't anything

01:05:43,200 --> 01:05:51,360
major, so I've been pretty lucky with that. Awesome. Well, I hope that continues. Okay,

01:05:51,360 --> 01:05:58,000
I think that's all the questions I had. Thanks for joining me. I'm going to go ahead and wrap

01:05:58,000 --> 01:06:03,920
it up. Thanks for joining me. Is there anything that you want to shout out or let people know

01:06:03,920 --> 01:06:11,440
where they can find you or any closing thoughts that you have? You can find me at Aramatebeast

01:06:11,440 --> 01:06:17,600
by Instagram, as he says. Okay, awesome. Well, thank you again. It was amazing to talk to you.

01:06:17,600 --> 01:06:26,400
Good luck in Budapest and hopefully the Olympics are in your future. Thank you. I hope so. Thank

01:06:26,400 --> 01:06:31,360
you so much for making it to the end of the podcast. Don't forget to like and subscribe if

01:06:31,360 --> 01:06:36,880
you enjoyed. Otherwise, you are a super fake climber. If you're listening on a podcasting

01:06:36,880 --> 01:06:42,000
platform, I'd appreciate if you rated it five stars and you can continue the discussion on the

01:06:42,000 --> 01:06:57,440
free competition climbing discord linked in the description. Thanks again for listening.