24: Madison Richardon, Canadian Boulderer

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The word back at home was like, oh my gosh, she's going to make finals.

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And I was like, well, that was probably as best as I can do this season.

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Like my husband and I were training lead in Czech Republic, and he actually decked me.

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So I fell to the ground.

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This past year, we weren't able to send a coach out to the IFSC

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events with our athletes due to lack of funding.

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I'm one of the more competitive competitors out there.

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We were engaged quote unquote for two weeks and then we got married

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and then we've been married ever since.

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Welcome to another episode of the That's Not Real Climbing podcast.

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I'm your host Jinni and I'm excited to introduce my guest, Madison Richardson.

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Madison is a boulder for Team Canada and you may have seen her YouTube videos

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with her husband, Zach, on their channel, Richardson's Climbing.

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In this episode, we'll learn about the issues the Canadian climbing team

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faces, such as not having a head coach, her loose streak when it comes to

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Canadian nationals, YouTube and deleting social media, and we'll get her take on

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getting married young and relationships among climbers.

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I really appreciated her honesty when it comes to having such a

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unique competitive mindset.

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So I really hope you enjoy this episode with Madison.

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Are you like training for any competitions coming up or do you have

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any plans for the upcoming few weeks or months?

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Yeah.

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Well, because of the Olympics, there's a bit of a gap.

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I'm only doing the world cup, like the bouldering season this year.

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I'm a boulder specialist.

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So I didn't go for the Olympics this past cycle.

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So I have like a really spaced out season this year.

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So yeah, all of August is completely free.

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And then we're training for the like Prague and Seoul World

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Cups at the end of the year.

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Oh, is Prague also bouldering?

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Prague and Seoul.

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I think one of them is like speed as well.

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I think it's Seoul has speed.

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I guess it kind of threw me off that they were even having bouldering

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at the end of the season this year.

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So no, yeah, I'm super thrown off too.

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Yeah.

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It'll be exciting to watch.

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Is it like different for you?

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Like having to train for I guess the first few World Cups and then

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you have a long break and then doing it again.

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Yeah, it's honestly, it's a little bit difficult like mentally

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just to be just on all season.

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Usually the season is like April to June and it's a really short,

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really quick, like super travel intensive couple of weeks.

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Super travel intensive couple months, but this year it's like you

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go to World Cup and you come home for a month.

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You go to another World Cup and so having to like think about

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performance all year basically from April to October is pretty

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crazy and I'm definitely ready for it to be done.

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I would have liked to be done like two months ago.

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It's honestly really hard to maintain like you're thinking about

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not getting injured and like I'm not getting better at climbing.

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I'm just kind of staying level.

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It's kind of just mentally.

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I'm like ready to start like improving for next season, but I have

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to finish this season.

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So it's difficult.

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So did this like August time well and also like most of July too.

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Did that not really feel like a break or like a training season?

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Yeah, it's I mean I had a bit of a heavier workload on in July just

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because we had two months to prepare for or two and a half almost

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three months to prepare between Innsbruck and Prague.

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Innsbruck was like end of June and Prague is like end of September.

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So there was a good couple months there to get some actual training

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in opposed to just kind of really low volume stuff that I usually

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do. So yeah, July was pretty intense on like working out, but it's

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still nowhere near the intensity.

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I have like coming right into like an off season.

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So it's it definitely doesn't feel the same.

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Yeah, I find it really interesting as like a non-athlete basically

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that the competition season, I guess I've heard it's kind of like

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you're just getting worse at climbing as the competition season

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goes on.

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Yeah, what's that like because I think a lot of people just like

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don't realize that's that's what happens.

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No, yeah, absolutely.

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It was actually interesting.

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The first World Cup of the season was like my like career best

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result. It was like seventh place and I was like really psyched

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but like seventh is like kind of close to finals.

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So like the word back at home was like, oh my gosh, she's going

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to make finals and I was like, well that was probably as best

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as I can do this season.

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Like the first one is like you're ready.

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You're trained up.

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You're like your mind is fresh.

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You're like motivated you go and do it and then you know, you

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have a month off and then okay another one.

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Let's try again.

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Okay, another month and yeah, it does it does go down.

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So the expectation was really high like just in terms of my like

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community around me and myself I guess but it's definitely really

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hard to top the earlier season results.

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Interesting.

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I mean, I guess you would think that everyone else would also

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be dealing with that same issue.

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So in that way is it kind of just like who's better at maintaining

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this state of awfulness like as a whole?

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Sure.

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Yeah, I mean this season was a bit of like an outlier.

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I'm sure it'll be kind of like this going forward now that the

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Olympics is a thing but not everyone was training for the same

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thing all season.

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Like I was just going for the circuit.

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So every World Cup certain like World Cup was like my priority

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whereas other people were trying to like peek in, you know, the

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towards July and August for the Olympics and some people were

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skipping World Cups and like trying to peek all over the place

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and I was just trying to like peek and then stay there and I

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guess there are a couple people in my boat, but I feel like a

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lot of people were going for the OQS Olympic Series.

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So I was a little bit alone.

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There weren't many people doing exactly what I was doing, but

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I'm just so not into lead that I just couldn't bring myself to

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do it.

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Okay, gotcha.

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I actually had a question about lead.

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Well, I'll get into it after.

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So yeah, in general, how did you get into climbing and competing?

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Yeah, it's probably a similar story to most people.

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You know, you have a local climbing gym and then there's

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like a kids program you get into that for me.

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It was my my stepdad was the first person in the family to

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get into climbing and he dragged, you know, the the stepchildren

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out and the you know, the whole family he once he gets into

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something he just like really gets into it.

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So he brings everyone down with him trying to like get them

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into his hobbies.

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So it took me actually quite a few months to get to the gym.

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I was not interested in it at all.

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I mostly didn't like the idea of being like pretty bad at

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something compared to him.

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I was only 10 at the time, but I really liked being in my

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comfort zone and things like I'm used to.

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So he brought me out and I actually happened to be like

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fairly decent at it, you know off the bat, you know, I joined

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a local like climbing club.

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It wasn't that the youth team.

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It wasn't the comp team.

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It was like a step below that was like a feeder youth program

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that goes into the competition team, which I think is a

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perfect way to get someone into the comp scene because it is

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quite intimidating to go from like a hobby to now you're

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competing at this which I feel like oftentimes people are

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being pushed like kids are being pushed to kind of go compete

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which I would definitely push kids to compete but like

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definitely not right away.

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It's pretty intimidating.

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It can often like kind of do the opposite for your motivation

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and love for the sport.

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So it was a nice slow like transition into competitions.

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I think it took me like three or four years to start competing.

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Sounds good.

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And you mostly you only do boulder then.

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Yeah, I used to do lead a lot.

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I used to I can't believe like something when I think about

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my memories with lead.

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I can't like I know that I used to love it.

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I know it used to be like people would ask me like which

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discipline do you like more?

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I'm like, well, whatever season it is is the discipline.

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I like more like in Ontario.

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We do bouldering for like two months and then we do a lead

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season and then we have like, you know, a combined Cup or

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whatever whatever it was back then.

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So it would always be a very harsh transition between boulder

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and lead you do boulder for like two months and then completely

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stop bouldering and then just focus on lead and I was fairly

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decent at it.

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I did make the youth national team one year.

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I came in like third at Nationals and went to China.

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I think was my youth world there and a couple like just a

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couple years in I just started to lose my passion for a little

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bit.

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It was endurance.

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I've just never been an endurance kind of person.

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I don't go for runs.

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I don't when I was in gym class, you know, I wouldn't like I

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would always dread the the laps or whatever that kind of

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endurance focus thing was.

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I'm sure I'm sure many people can relate with that.

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But yeah, I was definitely drawn towards the really quick

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like powerful side of bouldering and I remember there was my

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last youth Nationals in lead.

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I remember I made finals like by the skin of my teeth and I

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looked up at the final boulder right before I was about to

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do it and the thought in my head was like, I don't want to

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do this.

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That looks really tiring.

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This does not look like a good time.

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I'm not excited to do this final and final week out.

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Yeah, like the final route in the competition.

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So yeah, that was like that was just like a very clear like

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that can't be my mindset if I'm trying to do like compete like

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I can't be dreading what I'm about to do.

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So that was like a clear sign.

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I need to probably stop doing lead and focus on what I am

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actually still enjoying which was bouldering.

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Yeah, so looking at the past competitions, you've been to

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on the IFSU page.

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I saw that was mostly boulder, but I think you actually did

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do one lead competition in the Senior Circuit of

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Yeah, what was the reason for that one?

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Well, yeah, it's well, so I did actually when the Olympics

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got announced for climbing I like for 2024 when it was lead

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and boulder combined.

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I did make the decision to start training for it and I hadn't

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done lead in probably three or four years.

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So I was definitely, you know doing a Hail Mary trying to

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push for it.

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See if my lead could even like stack up on the World Circuit

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at that time.

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My bouldering was pretty good.

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I had made finally a semi and bouldering at the World Cup.

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So I was like, okay, maybe I could do it.

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You know, it'd be really cool.

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If you know, if there's even a shot that I could make the

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Olympics, I might as well go for it.

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So I spent two years training for lead and of course, I had

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to come I had to qualify for lead World Cups with the

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national team in order to even like have a shot at doing lead

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in the OQS.

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So I made the lead team at the time.

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It was like a combined thing.

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So my boulder score actually happened to be good enough that

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even though I had not very good lead scores because it was

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a combined ranking.

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I was able to actually make the combined team.

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So I did qualify for some lead World Cups.

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I actually qualified for three lead World Cups, but a week

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before I think it was the Edinburgh lead World Cup my

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husband and I were training lead in Czech Republic and he

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actually decked me so I fell to the ground and so it was

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only from second clip.

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So it wasn't so bad, but it was one of those like cement.

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There was just complete cement floor with like a thin carpet

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and I basically essentially just jumped from the second clip

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down landed flat on my feet.

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I didn't roll my ankle or anything, but I fell so hard

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that it bruised my bone on my heel.

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So it was kind of stressful.

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I had to go to like a hospital in like the Czech Republic

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and then all this sort of stuff.

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But long story short, I couldn't compete in two lead

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World Cups because I had to completely not weight my heel

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and then the only lead World Cup.

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I was able to do was the last one of the season in Jakarta.

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So I had to go all the way to Indonesia in order to qualify

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for for future World Cups and it was my first lead World Cup.

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It was like not I was literally not planning on doing that

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one. I was going to just stick to the two European ones

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because I was injured.

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I had to do Jakarta and yeah, I clipped.

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I think I miss miss clipped one of them on the first route.

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Like I clipped the third clip before I clipped the second clip.

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So I got disqualified on that route and then the other route

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I just didn't do well enough at.

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So it was quite the disastrous lead season for me.

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And then I at that point I was like, okay, this is just not

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happening. My my performance wasn't there and then I didn't

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have enough, you know experience in World Cup.

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So that was my sole lead adventure, but I am glad actually

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I had the experience of doing a lead World Cup in the IFC

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because it is extremely terrifying.

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It's so like nerve-wracking.

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Like I did not enjoy the process.

00:13:10,900 --> 00:13:13,200
Like I thought I wouldn't like I thought maybe it would be

00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:16,500
okay, but no that lead World Cups in the IFC are just like

00:13:16,500 --> 00:13:17,700
the hardest thing you can do.

00:13:17,700 --> 00:13:20,700
So I definitely look up to them.

00:13:20,700 --> 00:13:24,000
Yeah terrifying because of the route or because of the crowd

00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:27,300
or well, it's just well with lead you get like one shot.

00:13:27,300 --> 00:13:30,700
So when you step up, you're like, okay, let's you know,

00:13:30,700 --> 00:13:34,500
climb as tense as possible and as statically as possible to

00:13:34,500 --> 00:13:37,600
not fall and it just makes for a very bad performance.

00:13:37,600 --> 00:13:40,700
I find I've always wondered about that because I feel like

00:13:40,700 --> 00:13:43,800
that's so much pressure to not be able to mess up at all.

00:13:43,800 --> 00:13:47,500
Oh, yes, like this is probably like 50% of the reason I don't

00:13:47,500 --> 00:13:48,100
do lead anymore.

00:13:48,100 --> 00:13:51,300
Like I just I like having the security knowing you can try

00:13:51,300 --> 00:13:54,600
again and that almost lets me perform better in boulderings.

00:13:54,600 --> 00:13:57,900
I I'm more free to do the dynamic moves.

00:13:57,900 --> 00:13:59,200
Yeah, that makes sense.

00:13:59,200 --> 00:14:04,200
When you decked to do get injured like did you shatter your

00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:08,500
heel or yeah, so from we had to get an like an x-ray to make

00:14:08,500 --> 00:14:12,300
sure it wasn't a broken heel and I guess with a bone bruise

00:14:12,300 --> 00:14:16,300
you technically are like breaking the bone but not enough.

00:14:16,300 --> 00:14:17,800
Like it's just like small.

00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:20,300
It was almost like a it was like porous.

00:14:20,300 --> 00:14:24,100
Like if you look at the x-ray, it wasn't like all black or all

00:14:24,100 --> 00:14:25,300
white whatever it's supposed to be.

00:14:25,300 --> 00:14:28,800
It had like a little bit of like a different color at the bottom.

00:14:28,800 --> 00:14:32,300
So it's like it's like you're almost like you're about to

00:14:32,300 --> 00:14:32,800
break the bone.

00:14:32,800 --> 00:14:34,900
Like if you're about if you landed like that again, it would

00:14:34,900 --> 00:14:38,000
just be a complete shatter, you know, it's like this is like

00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:41,100
the first the last and final warning if you're going to do

00:14:41,100 --> 00:14:41,800
anything on your heel.

00:14:41,800 --> 00:14:45,700
So I couldn't I you can't take the risk of putting any weight

00:14:45,700 --> 00:14:47,700
on it after that interesting.

00:14:47,700 --> 00:14:48,100
Okay.

00:14:48,100 --> 00:14:52,700
So did that have any effect on your like mental side when it

00:14:52,700 --> 00:14:53,400
came to lead?

00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:57,100
I've never like decked so I don't know what that would feel like.

00:14:57,300 --> 00:15:01,300
Yeah, I mean there's feather decking which is when you like fall

00:15:01,300 --> 00:15:04,000
and but you kind of just graze the floor which I have done

00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:06,200
before in a gym setting with really thick mat.

00:15:06,200 --> 00:15:11,600
So it's like that's not very scary but my husband actually

00:15:11,600 --> 00:15:13,300
was bold is Boulder only as well.

00:15:13,300 --> 00:15:16,600
So when I started training lead, he actually learned how to

00:15:16,600 --> 00:15:17,200
lead belay.

00:15:17,500 --> 00:15:19,800
He had been climbing for like 10 years, but he never learned

00:15:19,800 --> 00:15:20,400
how to belay.

00:15:20,600 --> 00:15:21,100
Oh wow.

00:15:21,100 --> 00:15:25,500
So yeah, he was fairly inexperienced and he definitely

00:15:25,500 --> 00:15:28,700
it was the classic like a lot of slack waiting for me to like

00:15:28,700 --> 00:15:29,200
clip.

00:15:29,400 --> 00:15:32,200
So you just put all out but I hadn't even motion to clip yet

00:15:32,500 --> 00:15:35,400
and then I got into a position but then I slipped and then I

00:15:35,400 --> 00:15:38,700
fell and all the slack was just there is no time to bring it

00:15:38,700 --> 00:15:39,000
in.

00:15:39,600 --> 00:15:43,800
So his lack of experience I think was like the biggest issue

00:15:44,100 --> 00:15:46,400
but since then he's gotten a lot better.

00:15:47,500 --> 00:15:50,300
I trust him quite a bit more now and he learned a lot from

00:15:50,300 --> 00:15:51,100
that mistake.

00:15:51,500 --> 00:15:55,200
Yeah, the moral of the story is trust your belay partner and

00:15:55,200 --> 00:15:58,200
not just as a person but like trust the ability like I trusted

00:15:58,200 --> 00:16:03,300
him but I did not maybe necessarily trust his experience

00:16:03,300 --> 00:16:04,700
level and belaying.

00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:05,400
Yeah.

00:16:05,700 --> 00:16:06,200
Okay.

00:16:06,500 --> 00:16:09,400
So any interest in training lead climbing in the future or

00:16:09,400 --> 00:16:11,100
you done forever?

00:16:11,800 --> 00:16:15,300
Honestly, I didn't mind the training like it's it's actually

00:16:15,300 --> 00:16:16,200
kind of interesting.

00:16:16,200 --> 00:16:19,100
It's a good change of pace and I do still train endurance as

00:16:19,100 --> 00:16:19,700
a boulder.

00:16:19,700 --> 00:16:21,000
You do need a little bit of it.

00:16:21,400 --> 00:16:26,800
So if my coach happens to put in like lead training as

00:16:26,800 --> 00:16:31,500
endurance, I am all for that actually but that said it's

00:16:31,500 --> 00:16:35,200
been probably a year now since my husband has belayed so we

00:16:35,200 --> 00:16:37,200
probably have to do a quick refresher if we were to jump

00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:37,900
back into it.

00:16:38,300 --> 00:16:39,400
Yeah, makes sense.

00:16:39,900 --> 00:16:40,200
Okay.

00:16:40,200 --> 00:16:42,700
So then what does your training look like nowadays?

00:16:43,100 --> 00:16:46,300
So I do have a coach his name is Libor Rosa.

00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:49,000
People probably don't remember who he is.

00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:52,000
He was a speed world champion back in the day.

00:16:53,500 --> 00:16:55,600
He's from the Czech team and he lives in Canada.

00:16:55,600 --> 00:16:55,700
Now.

00:16:55,700 --> 00:16:58,900
He's a Canadian citizen and he's been involved with the

00:16:58,900 --> 00:17:00,300
Canadian team for a while.

00:17:01,300 --> 00:17:02,900
I met him actually through the Canadian team.

00:17:02,900 --> 00:17:07,500
He was hired as our new like head coach and at the time he

00:17:07,500 --> 00:17:10,200
was overseeing all three disciplines today.

00:17:10,200 --> 00:17:11,300
He's just a speed coach.

00:17:11,300 --> 00:17:16,200
So he's not technically my national team coach, but he is

00:17:16,200 --> 00:17:17,300
just my personal coach now.

00:17:17,300 --> 00:17:20,100
So I kind of stole him and just took him for myself when he

00:17:20,100 --> 00:17:23,100
was hired and I just asked if he could do any because I was

00:17:23,100 --> 00:17:25,300
looking for a coach at the time and as he sees that here's

00:17:25,300 --> 00:17:28,200
a qualified coach and I said, can you do a little more for

00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:30,100
me because I'm looking for some actual coaching.

00:17:31,600 --> 00:17:33,800
So he does he does actually live across the country.

00:17:33,800 --> 00:17:37,700
He lives in BC, which is the West Coast and I'm in Montreal,

00:17:37,700 --> 00:17:39,100
which is like the Far East Coast.

00:17:39,100 --> 00:17:40,400
We couldn't be further away.

00:17:41,900 --> 00:17:43,400
So he does remote coaching for me.

00:17:43,400 --> 00:17:48,100
We've been doing it since 2021 and he's really great at

00:17:48,600 --> 00:17:52,200
programming. He's he just knows exactly what level to push

00:17:52,200 --> 00:17:56,100
me at like where the cap is for like what I'm able to do and

00:17:56,100 --> 00:17:58,600
he just like threads the line like so perfectly.

00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:02,300
It's a lot of endurance.

00:18:02,300 --> 00:18:06,200
I'd say like when it comes to the offseason like fitness is

00:18:06,200 --> 00:18:07,300
like the the whole goal.

00:18:07,300 --> 00:18:11,700
You basically don't climb as much as you do off off the wall

00:18:11,700 --> 00:18:13,800
training and conditioning, which is great.

00:18:13,800 --> 00:18:15,300
That's totally my mindset.

00:18:15,300 --> 00:18:19,800
I think I've deprioritized climbing a lot in my training

00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:21,900
just over the years.

00:18:21,900 --> 00:18:25,200
I've kind of tried to build like a good base of strength

00:18:25,200 --> 00:18:28,200
and conditioning and then I kind of flip to the performance

00:18:28,200 --> 00:18:32,300
side during certain times of the year or kind of in certain

00:18:32,300 --> 00:18:34,800
years of my whole climbing career.

00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:37,600
It's kind of a long-term approach that I've had to it.

00:18:38,300 --> 00:18:40,800
Just since I was a kid at the first thing was like you got

00:18:40,800 --> 00:18:41,500
to get strong.

00:18:41,500 --> 00:18:45,200
So I in the at the expense of my like climbing and technique

00:18:45,700 --> 00:18:46,400
development.

00:18:46,400 --> 00:18:49,200
I just got really strong and then I was able to flip the

00:18:49,200 --> 00:18:52,200
switch and do more of the technique side with already a

00:18:52,500 --> 00:18:53,500
good base of strength.

00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:56,500
So my coach Lebor really has the same kind of philosophy.

00:18:57,600 --> 00:19:00,300
So yeah offseason is all about getting strong and then on

00:19:00,300 --> 00:19:02,500
season slash maybe like two three months out.

00:19:02,500 --> 00:19:04,100
It's all about like climbing.

00:19:04,400 --> 00:19:09,500
So we almost do like, you know 20 to 80 in the on season of

00:19:09,500 --> 00:19:12,400
of off-the-wall conditioning to climbing.

00:19:12,700 --> 00:19:15,600
I wonder if that's something I should try.

00:19:15,900 --> 00:19:19,100
I've never tried like just getting strong and like not

00:19:19,100 --> 00:19:20,100
climbing at all.

00:19:20,900 --> 00:19:22,300
But interesting.

00:19:22,700 --> 00:19:24,200
I think I would hate that though.

00:19:24,200 --> 00:19:25,900
I don't know if I could handle doing that.

00:19:26,200 --> 00:19:28,800
I was going to say this is kind of like the like pro athlete

00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:29,300
side of it.

00:19:29,300 --> 00:19:34,600
It's like taking the bit of the fun out of it in in exchange

00:19:34,600 --> 00:19:36,700
for a little bit of performance enhancement.

00:19:36,700 --> 00:19:39,400
I mean if it would work I would consider it.

00:19:39,400 --> 00:19:41,800
Yeah, I mean I probably probably will.

00:19:41,800 --> 00:19:43,600
Yeah, interesting.

00:19:43,600 --> 00:19:44,100
Okay.

00:19:44,100 --> 00:19:49,700
And so you and your husband Zach have been moving around a

00:19:49,700 --> 00:19:50,200
little bit.

00:19:50,200 --> 00:19:52,900
You lived in Germany last year and now you're both back in

00:19:52,900 --> 00:19:54,600
Canada in Montreal.

00:19:54,600 --> 00:19:57,700
What was the purpose of both of these moves?

00:19:57,700 --> 00:20:01,100
Yeah, so we were from the Toronto area.

00:20:01,100 --> 00:20:02,400
He's from Burlington.

00:20:02,400 --> 00:20:04,200
I'm from my KW Kitchener.

00:20:04,200 --> 00:20:09,600
So they're fairly smaller areas and in Ontario the climbing

00:20:09,600 --> 00:20:13,200
scene is pretty I don't want to say bad.

00:20:13,200 --> 00:20:15,300
It's a little bit underdeveloped.

00:20:15,300 --> 00:20:18,800
Let's say that the gyms are pretty spaced out like few

00:20:18,800 --> 00:20:21,900
and far between if you want to kind of go to a couple different

00:20:21,900 --> 00:20:22,600
gyms in a day.

00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:24,200
It's going to be quite the trek.

00:20:24,200 --> 00:20:29,300
You'll have to have a car probably in denser cities like

00:20:29,300 --> 00:20:29,800
Montreal.

00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:32,000
For example, it's like all the gyms are really close to each

00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:32,200
other.

00:20:32,200 --> 00:20:35,900
So it does get it's a lot easier to get the volume in the

00:20:35,900 --> 00:20:40,300
exposure to different kind of moves, which is pretty essential.

00:20:40,300 --> 00:20:44,200
So back in Ontario, we were really struggling to get the

00:20:44,200 --> 00:20:49,700
like get different moves in our diet and we were seeing just

00:20:49,700 --> 00:20:51,800
kind of the same boulders day to day.

00:20:51,800 --> 00:20:54,800
There's not a lot of emphasis on competition climbing in

00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:59,100
Ontario either and we find that this seems like when you're

00:20:59,100 --> 00:21:01,700
just looking at the you know on social media or you're looking

00:21:01,700 --> 00:21:05,300
wherever you're looking it seems like other areas just have

00:21:05,300 --> 00:21:09,500
it more together seems like they they know what they're doing.

00:21:09,500 --> 00:21:12,800
You know, they have a nice community of competition climbing

00:21:12,800 --> 00:21:14,500
and we just never had that growing up.

00:21:14,900 --> 00:21:19,700
So around the time that I stopped doing lead climbing when

00:21:19,700 --> 00:21:20,800
I stopped pushing for it.

00:21:22,100 --> 00:21:26,200
We made the decision to move to Germany and we picked Germany

00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:30,400
because first of all, there was a one-year visa that was only

00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:34,000
available to I think it's like 30 year olds and under it's

00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:35,400
like a youth mobility visa.

00:21:37,400 --> 00:21:38,300
So you can only use it.

00:21:38,300 --> 00:21:41,200
You can only apply for it once and so, you know, now's the

00:21:41,200 --> 00:21:44,200
time or young, you know, we're we're able to do this.

00:21:44,200 --> 00:21:46,200
We were under we were living with our families.

00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:49,300
We had a lot of like family support and so we made the big

00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:53,500
bold move to move to Frankfurt and Frankfurt is where we've

00:21:53,500 --> 00:21:56,200
got like Studio Block, which is the gym that hosts Studio

00:21:56,200 --> 00:21:59,400
Block Masters and it's an awesome gym is probably one of

00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:00,200
our favorite gyms.

00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:03,600
We've been there a couple times before and it's just it's a

00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:07,200
it's just a playground of bouldering and it's very competition

00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:07,800
focused.

00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:09,600
It's a great community there.

00:22:09,900 --> 00:22:12,500
There's a couple other gyms in the area as well, but just

00:22:12,500 --> 00:22:15,100
being in Europe in general is just such a great place to be

00:22:15,100 --> 00:22:15,700
for climbing.

00:22:15,700 --> 00:22:18,700
It's like it's probably 10 years ahead of Canada.

00:22:20,200 --> 00:22:21,800
So that was a great move.

00:22:21,800 --> 00:22:24,900
We stayed there for I think it was 10 months in total.

00:22:25,900 --> 00:22:27,500
I happen to speak German as well.

00:22:27,500 --> 00:22:30,700
So that was a little bit of the draw from what like do you

00:22:30,700 --> 00:22:35,600
have German family or yeah, my my dad's side of the family

00:22:35,600 --> 00:22:39,200
is German and not fully like he's not a German citizen, but

00:22:39,200 --> 00:22:41,900
his I think his parents were and you know the generations

00:22:41,900 --> 00:22:42,500
before that.

00:22:42,500 --> 00:22:46,300
So I went to German school as a kid and I've always like,

00:22:46,300 --> 00:22:47,400
you know going to German school.

00:22:47,400 --> 00:22:48,500
You're like, what am I doing this for?

00:22:48,500 --> 00:22:51,700
I live in Canada like so my dream was always to go and use

00:22:51,700 --> 00:22:53,300
it in Germany.

00:22:53,300 --> 00:22:55,900
So when we had the opportunity, we're like, okay, it's a good

00:22:55,900 --> 00:22:57,600
climate community in Germany. Should we move there?

00:22:57,600 --> 00:22:59,600
I was like, I really want to do this.

00:22:59,600 --> 00:23:00,800
That sounds like a great time.

00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:04,500
So we had I had a great time in Germany.

00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:08,100
I think my husband was a little bit more kind of fish out of

00:23:08,100 --> 00:23:10,000
water didn't speak the language.

00:23:10,300 --> 00:23:12,800
So he's kind of relying on me and it's just hard to feel

00:23:12,800 --> 00:23:15,100
like a tourist every day when you're in a different country

00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:17,300
like some countries are better than others.

00:23:17,300 --> 00:23:20,400
Of course, Germany, there's lots of English spoken, but it's

00:23:20,400 --> 00:23:23,800
definitely nowhere near being in your own country or being

00:23:23,800 --> 00:23:25,100
in the States for example.

00:23:25,100 --> 00:23:25,600
Oh, yeah.

00:23:26,800 --> 00:23:27,200
Yeah.

00:23:27,200 --> 00:23:29,300
So towards the end we were starting to get a little bit

00:23:29,300 --> 00:23:31,000
like, okay, you know, this was cool.

00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:34,900
The climbing was great, but it's probably time to move home.

00:23:35,800 --> 00:23:37,000
There were a couple options in the air.

00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:38,000
We could have gone to Britain.

00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:40,400
We could have gone somewhere else, but we're like, you know

00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:40,600
what?

00:23:40,600 --> 00:23:42,800
We've never actually tried Montreal.

00:23:44,400 --> 00:23:47,400
As when we were living in Ontario, we would make monthly

00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:50,500
trips to Montreal because Montreal's gyms are just amazing

00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:54,200
and there's so many of them very competition focused.

00:23:54,200 --> 00:23:56,600
It's certainly one of the best cities I think in the world

00:23:56,600 --> 00:24:00,600
for climbing and it happens to be, you know, six-hour drive

00:24:00,600 --> 00:24:01,500
from our house.

00:24:01,800 --> 00:24:05,700
So when we were done with Germany and we moved back to

00:24:05,700 --> 00:24:08,800
Canada, the next step was to just move to Montreal we

00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:12,600
thought so three months ago we moved to Montreal and that

00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:15,000
is where we are now and we have absolutely no regrets.

00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:17,400
I'll say in Montreal.

00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:22,300
They do speak French which is we don't speak.

00:24:22,300 --> 00:24:23,200
We don't speak French.

00:24:23,200 --> 00:24:26,900
If you if you grow up anywhere outside of yeah, anywhere

00:24:26,900 --> 00:24:31,200
outside of Quebec in on in Canada, you don't really know

00:24:31,200 --> 00:24:35,300
French unless you take like French immersion in school, but

00:24:35,300 --> 00:24:37,900
the normal public school education they give you a bit of

00:24:37,900 --> 00:24:40,900
French but not nearly enough to be proficient at it.

00:24:40,900 --> 00:24:43,900
And once you hit high school, you can now drop French

00:24:43,900 --> 00:24:45,600
completely if you want to which I did.

00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:50,100
So yeah, French is pretty bad, but it's quite anglophone in

00:24:50,100 --> 00:24:50,900
Montreal.

00:24:50,900 --> 00:24:53,200
I've heard that it's a little bit less.

00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:55,200
There's a little bit less English outside of Montreal, but

00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:56,800
we're just going to stay in Montreal.

00:24:56,800 --> 00:24:58,300
So I think we'll be fine.

00:24:58,300 --> 00:25:01,200
We'll probably have to learn a bit of French, but it's

00:25:01,200 --> 00:25:04,200
definitely like a slight barrier when it comes to living

00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:06,200
here despite being Canada.

00:25:06,600 --> 00:25:10,000
I didn't know it was like so much more French than English

00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:11,400
like French is the default.

00:25:12,300 --> 00:25:15,200
It's actually so Quebec actually is the only province in

00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:18,400
Canada that has French as its only official language.

00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:20,700
It doesn't it the English isn't even official language in

00:25:20,700 --> 00:25:21,200
Quebec.

00:25:21,700 --> 00:25:22,100
Okay.

00:25:22,100 --> 00:25:25,400
Yeah, I thought it was more English and then just like a

00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:29,000
bit more French than most people are used to know like all

00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:32,100
the signs like the road signs are all in French like sometimes

00:25:32,100 --> 00:25:34,300
we'll be driving on the highway and they'll be like a sign

00:25:34,300 --> 00:25:36,600
and we'll be like, I hope that's not something important

00:25:36,600 --> 00:25:38,800
because I have no idea what that says.

00:25:39,300 --> 00:25:41,300
So yeah, it's it's a little bit.

00:25:41,600 --> 00:25:42,100
I'm not going to lie.

00:25:42,100 --> 00:25:44,900
It's a little bit frustrating because it's like we we didn't

00:25:44,900 --> 00:25:47,600
learn the French like we don't we just can't and it's it's

00:25:47,600 --> 00:25:50,000
hard to like have a whole province that you're just a

00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:53,600
little bit less almost welcoming, but I think they're

00:25:53,600 --> 00:25:57,400
they're very like they were colonized by France is like

00:25:57,400 --> 00:26:00,300
the Quebec thing and the rest of Canada was colonized by

00:26:00,300 --> 00:26:00,800
Britain.

00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:03,500
So they do try to keep those kind of French roots, which I

00:26:03,500 --> 00:26:04,200
do respect.

00:26:05,300 --> 00:26:07,500
It's just it just makes it hard and I now have to learn

00:26:07,500 --> 00:26:10,800
another language to live in my own country, you know, yeah,

00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:11,200
cheese.

00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:12,800
That's that's rough.

00:26:12,900 --> 00:26:17,200
But yeah, so let's get into Canada climbing in general.

00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:20,700
You're the first Canadian climber I've had on I think in

00:26:20,700 --> 00:26:24,300
general people don't know that much about climbing in Canada

00:26:25,700 --> 00:26:30,300
since I guess the biggest stars have not come from Canada

00:26:30,300 --> 00:26:31,000
recently.

00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:33,300
There's just not that much info out there.

00:26:34,500 --> 00:26:35,100
For now.

00:26:35,100 --> 00:26:38,000
I think you mentioned that you were on the Athletes Commission

00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:40,900
for the climbing Escalade Canada.

00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:42,300
Yeah, I'm working on it.

00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:44,200
Yeah, not yeah, not quite.

00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:50,000
Okay, do you know like any like some of the issues that the

00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:55,100
CC yeah, the CC many of like the issues that they're working

00:26:55,100 --> 00:26:55,900
on at the moment.

00:26:56,600 --> 00:27:00,700
Yeah, I think for the past probably ever like like forever.

00:27:00,700 --> 00:27:02,300
We've just been working on funding.

00:27:02,700 --> 00:27:04,500
I think that's our biggest thing.

00:27:04,500 --> 00:27:08,900
We try to optimize as much as we can with our funding constraints.

00:27:09,800 --> 00:27:12,900
But I think that's just that's just the elephant in the room

00:27:12,900 --> 00:27:17,600
with any topic we ever have to talk about this past year.

00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:22,400
We weren't able to send a coach out to the IFSC events with

00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:26,800
our athletes due to lack of funding and I think potentially

00:27:26,800 --> 00:27:30,400
lack of like just like we didn't maybe find an applicant.

00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:33,100
I'm not sure if that's the case, but I know it was definitely

00:27:33,100 --> 00:27:37,500
funding related and we don't pay our athletes.

00:27:37,500 --> 00:27:41,400
We don't cover accommodation costs or flights and it's that's

00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:45,000
just been the status quo forever and it's actually it's hard

00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:48,800
to talk to other countries knowing that they're you know,

00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:51,900
getting paid to go to the World Cups and I just feel like

00:27:51,900 --> 00:27:54,600
that's the dream when in reality for a lot of countries.

00:27:54,600 --> 00:27:55,800
It's like the status quo.

00:27:56,100 --> 00:27:58,700
So it's definitely a bit of an uphill battle when it comes

00:27:58,700 --> 00:28:00,400
to climbing in Canada.

00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:03,900
It's just so underdeveloped and we don't have is like we don't

00:28:03,900 --> 00:28:04,900
have a Canadian shoe brand.

00:28:04,900 --> 00:28:09,200
We don't have as many Canadian based brands that are in the

00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:11,500
climbing scene other than Arc'teryx.

00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:15,900
But yeah, it's it's it's a definite struggle.

00:28:16,700 --> 00:28:17,900
We've as the athletes.

00:28:17,900 --> 00:28:21,400
I think we feel it the most but I can I'm sure the CEC would

00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:24,300
say that like the climbing Escalade Canada would say that

00:28:24,800 --> 00:28:26,600
you know, it's hard just for everyone.

00:28:26,600 --> 00:28:30,300
We it's hard to like pay people to do the jobs in order to

00:28:30,300 --> 00:28:31,200
get more funding.

00:28:31,500 --> 00:28:34,400
It's just kind of an endless cycle and feel like the answer

00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:36,900
is always funding funding funding and it's just so hard

00:28:36,900 --> 00:28:38,100
to get it.

00:28:38,100 --> 00:28:41,100
So you mentioned that you guys don't have a coach this year.

00:28:41,100 --> 00:28:42,900
Is this just for the team in general?

00:28:43,800 --> 00:28:49,400
Yeah, we had a coach last year, but I think we he resigned

00:28:49,400 --> 00:28:52,900
towards the end of the year and then we haven't we just didn't

00:28:52,900 --> 00:28:53,800
get a new one this year.

00:28:53,800 --> 00:28:55,800
It was kind of announced at the beginning of the season that

00:28:55,800 --> 00:28:58,300
we're not going to be sending a team or a coach to any of

00:28:58,300 --> 00:29:01,000
the World Cups apart from the OQS events.

00:29:01,200 --> 00:29:03,600
We were able to send one guy out there.

00:29:03,600 --> 00:29:05,200
He wasn't actually an official coach.

00:29:05,200 --> 00:29:08,800
He went to the Pan-Ems last year and that was his first event

00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:09,900
and then he went straight to OQS.

00:29:09,900 --> 00:29:13,200
So he's only done Pan-Ems and the two OQS events the biggest

00:29:13,200 --> 00:29:17,100
ones. Yeah, that must be stressful for the coach as well.

00:29:17,100 --> 00:29:17,700
Of course.

00:29:17,700 --> 00:29:19,100
Yeah, I mean, he's a great guy too.

00:29:19,100 --> 00:29:20,300
He's like a climbing coach.

00:29:20,300 --> 00:29:23,600
Like it's not like he doesn't know how to coach and it would

00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:25,700
be great if he was the like national coach.

00:29:25,700 --> 00:29:28,100
I don't know what we're I don't think we have any plans kind

00:29:28,100 --> 00:29:29,000
of in store for that.

00:29:30,700 --> 00:29:31,900
But yeah, it was announced.

00:29:31,900 --> 00:29:35,700
I remember I was selected to go to the China World Cup and then

00:29:35,700 --> 00:29:39,100
they said, okay, there's also no coach and I accepted it and

00:29:39,100 --> 00:29:41,300
then they told us that and I was like kind of second-guessing

00:29:41,300 --> 00:29:43,600
it a little bit because it was you know, I haven't been to

00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:47,300
China in like five years and I was actually the oldest person

00:29:47,300 --> 00:29:50,000
going to China like all the other athletes teammates were a

00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:51,200
year or two younger than me.

00:29:51,200 --> 00:29:54,300
So I felt like I was kind of the the person in charge and I

00:29:54,300 --> 00:29:57,200
didn't feel very competent at all going to China.

00:29:57,700 --> 00:30:00,000
So it was a little bit stressful.

00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:03,100
I had to do a lot of research and really kind of rely on

00:30:03,100 --> 00:30:06,300
myself to get around and you know, it was quite the

00:30:06,300 --> 00:30:10,800
responsibility and luckily we had the US national team coach

00:30:10,800 --> 00:30:11,900
help us out in China.

00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:14,400
He yeah, he grabbed our bibs.

00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:16,800
He told us whatever from the technical meeting.

00:30:17,500 --> 00:30:21,700
He like set me a boulder in the semi-qualification zone.

00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:23,200
So that was great.

00:30:23,200 --> 00:30:23,800
He was great.

00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:27,100
But then I guess as the season went on, I think he was focusing

00:30:27,100 --> 00:30:32,500
on OQS and then we kind of lost our US coach help and so some

00:30:32,500 --> 00:30:35,400
athletes stepped up and started going to the technical meetings

00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:36,100
for the team.

00:30:37,100 --> 00:30:39,800
We had one athlete that was injured that was just showing

00:30:39,800 --> 00:30:43,800
up to support his brother is Victor Bodrand and he went to

00:30:43,800 --> 00:30:46,400
the technical meetings for us and he would like text us

00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:47,600
updates and all that sort of stuff.

00:30:47,600 --> 00:30:48,600
So he was amazing.

00:30:49,900 --> 00:30:53,000
But it is kind of a we're almost it's almost like unifying

00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:56,000
us as a team because we kind of have to step up for ourselves

00:30:56,000 --> 00:30:57,900
and support each other a little bit more than when we had a

00:30:57,900 --> 00:30:58,300
coach.

00:30:58,700 --> 00:31:00,600
So I actually don't really mind it.

00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:04,300
But at the same time it can be stressful when there's actually

00:31:04,300 --> 00:31:08,800
like important appeals to be done or or things to really

00:31:08,800 --> 00:31:09,500
navigate born.

00:31:09,500 --> 00:31:10,600
It's like smooth sailing.

00:31:10,600 --> 00:31:11,500
It's not so bad.

00:31:11,700 --> 00:31:12,100
Okay.

00:31:12,500 --> 00:31:18,100
Yeah, I guess I didn't realize like what kind of what kind of

00:31:18,100 --> 00:31:22,300
rules the coach takes on like when I think about a coach.

00:31:22,300 --> 00:31:24,900
I just think like oh someone who helps you with training or

00:31:24,900 --> 00:31:29,100
someone who helps you with your technique or things like that

00:31:29,100 --> 00:31:34,400
rather than all of the little logistical things that it sounds

00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:37,800
like a coach was working through for the Canadian team.

00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:41,400
Yeah, I'd say probably don't take the Canadian team definition

00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:45,500
of a coach as like the general coach role in teams.

00:31:45,900 --> 00:31:47,800
I'm not I don't have a great understanding of what other

00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:48,500
teams are doing.

00:31:48,500 --> 00:31:51,400
I know the US coach a little bit better and I know he's a

00:31:51,400 --> 00:31:53,600
bit more involved in like the actual training part.

00:31:53,600 --> 00:31:56,700
But for us in the Canadian team like as long as I've been on

00:31:56,700 --> 00:32:02,200
the team our coach position has really just been he would run

00:32:02,200 --> 00:32:05,500
kind of training camps in Canada and that would be all we'd

00:32:05,500 --> 00:32:09,000
see of him other than the World Cups and then we wouldn't

00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:11,800
get any programming specifically from the coach.

00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:15,000
It would be kind of personal coaches are our own person like

00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:16,200
our own coaching of ourselves.

00:32:16,200 --> 00:32:19,700
But yeah, it is more of like an administrative task when it

00:32:19,700 --> 00:32:22,800
comes to World Cups like going to the going to the technical

00:32:22,800 --> 00:32:26,800
meeting getting the bibs hearing the rules asking questions

00:32:27,100 --> 00:32:29,600
and then at the actual event like just going into ISO with

00:32:29,600 --> 00:32:33,400
us making sure we're we know where we're going checking the

00:32:33,400 --> 00:32:36,800
running order kind of list and then going out watching us

00:32:36,800 --> 00:32:40,900
climb noting down our scores so that in case there's an

00:32:40,900 --> 00:32:46,500
appeal he can he or she can go and file that with the IFSC.

00:32:46,700 --> 00:32:51,400
So then does the Canada team train together much at all you

00:32:51,400 --> 00:32:54,300
like maybe have some training camps, but not that much.

00:32:55,000 --> 00:32:55,400
Yeah.

00:32:55,400 --> 00:32:57,800
Well, so our funding is kind of taking a dip in the last

00:32:57,800 --> 00:32:58,500
couple years.

00:32:58,800 --> 00:33:02,100
So we used to do lots of training camps probably I think

00:33:02,100 --> 00:33:04,300
we did like twice or three times a year.

00:33:04,600 --> 00:33:08,300
We have our selection event and then we'd have a training

00:33:08,300 --> 00:33:10,600
camp or two throughout the season in the past.

00:33:10,600 --> 00:33:13,300
We've all we've also had training camps between World

00:33:13,300 --> 00:33:16,000
Cups in certain countries because we're all just kind of

00:33:16,200 --> 00:33:18,300
if it's the same kind of group of people going from one World

00:33:18,300 --> 00:33:20,600
Cup to the other and then there's like a week between we'll

00:33:20,600 --> 00:33:21,900
just throw a training camp in there.

00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:24,300
So we've definitely done a lot more than we've done it this

00:33:24,300 --> 00:33:28,000
past year because we've been so we just haven't had the

00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:30,800
funding for it and the World Cups have also been really

00:33:30,800 --> 00:33:31,400
spaced out.

00:33:31,400 --> 00:33:35,100
So the in between World Cup training camps are like

00:33:35,100 --> 00:33:36,800
nonexistent even if we had the funding for it.

00:33:36,800 --> 00:33:39,700
It's like you can't we're not no one's sticking around after

00:33:39,700 --> 00:33:40,300
a World Cup.

00:33:40,300 --> 00:33:43,000
We just go home because it's expensive to have accommodation

00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:45,900
costs, but they're also just so far apart that it's not

00:33:45,900 --> 00:33:46,500
feasible.

00:33:46,500 --> 00:33:51,000
But yeah, Canada is a really really big country and the

00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:53,700
States is too, but I think the difference is the National

00:33:53,700 --> 00:33:54,900
Training Center.

00:33:54,900 --> 00:34:00,600
We don't really have one gym or one city that we kind of

00:34:00,600 --> 00:34:04,400
call athletes to Montreal is obviously I think one of the

00:34:04,400 --> 00:34:08,300
best gym cities in Canada and some people just naturally

00:34:08,300 --> 00:34:08,900
live here.

00:34:08,900 --> 00:34:13,500
But Zach and I my husband have been the only ones to really

00:34:13,500 --> 00:34:15,900
make the move to Montreal for training.

00:34:15,900 --> 00:34:18,300
There's been no other national team athletes that have done

00:34:18,300 --> 00:34:18,600
that.

00:34:18,600 --> 00:34:21,900
There's one there's been one Victor Bodrand who moved from

00:34:21,900 --> 00:34:24,500
Salt Lake City to Montreal a couple years ago for school

00:34:24,500 --> 00:34:26,100
and for climbing I'm assuming.

00:34:26,100 --> 00:34:30,800
But yeah, it's it's really hard to get together with national

00:34:30,800 --> 00:34:34,300
team athletes, especially when they live in BC and like the

00:34:34,300 --> 00:34:37,100
cost to go from like a ticket to take a whole flight to get

00:34:37,100 --> 00:34:38,400
over to train with them.

00:34:38,400 --> 00:34:44,600
So unless the the CC could fund us more to to come together

00:34:44,600 --> 00:34:47,800
for a training camp, it's really not in the cards unless they

00:34:47,800 --> 00:34:49,800
live in the same city as you.

00:34:49,800 --> 00:34:54,000
Yeah, because BC would be like the other place where there's

00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:56,500
a lot of climbers right like that's where the outdoor

00:34:56,500 --> 00:34:58,400
climbing is as well like exactly.

00:34:58,400 --> 00:35:03,600
Yeah, so that's where Sean Atlanta lived and competed and

00:35:03,600 --> 00:35:06,600
trained and then the McNamee twins are there as well.

00:35:06,600 --> 00:35:10,000
And we have Becca Frangos at West.

00:35:10,000 --> 00:35:12,300
There's a whole bunch of people out there and then it feels

00:35:12,300 --> 00:35:16,800
like you're either in BC or you're in either Ontario or

00:35:16,800 --> 00:35:20,000
Quebec. So so every once in a while someone from some

00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:22,800
athletes from Ontario will drive up to Montreal, but it

00:35:22,800 --> 00:35:25,900
won't be for more than a weekend and oftentimes just because

00:35:25,900 --> 00:35:27,500
we've never really hung out together.

00:35:27,500 --> 00:35:29,400
We don't really know each other that well either.

00:35:29,400 --> 00:35:32,100
So oftentimes they'll come up but they'll just kind of do

00:35:32,100 --> 00:35:34,800
their own thing or we happen to run into them in the gym.

00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:36,600
We don't really climb together anyway.

00:35:36,600 --> 00:35:38,700
So it's really tough.

00:35:38,700 --> 00:35:40,600
It's we were starting to make friends.

00:35:40,600 --> 00:35:44,400
I think in Montreal just me and Zach specifically which I've

00:35:44,400 --> 00:35:47,000
never really made friends in the past on the national team

00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:51,700
just because of the geography and just just naturally it

00:35:51,700 --> 00:35:52,700
just hasn't really happened.

00:35:52,700 --> 00:35:56,400
But when you just live in the same area as someone for a

00:35:56,400 --> 00:35:58,900
couple months, you just start to see him more often then you

00:35:58,900 --> 00:36:01,400
get to know them more and it just happens naturally and I

00:36:01,400 --> 00:36:04,100
think in the past the CC has tried to almost like force it

00:36:04,100 --> 00:36:08,200
a little bit not in like an aggressive way, but more like

00:36:08,200 --> 00:36:10,100
hey, we're going to host like a friendship camp and they'll

00:36:10,100 --> 00:36:12,500
call it friendship camp and then they'll say, okay make

00:36:12,500 --> 00:36:16,400
friends and we just feel like this isn't really how friendship

00:36:16,400 --> 00:36:19,900
works like you kind of need to like go about it naturally.

00:36:19,900 --> 00:36:24,000
So I think for us I've now finally realized what natural

00:36:24,200 --> 00:36:27,100
national team friendships are like and it's really awesome,

00:36:27,800 --> 00:36:30,700
but it's hard to get everyone on board when we don't see

00:36:30,700 --> 00:36:31,500
each other enough.

00:36:31,800 --> 00:36:35,600
Yeah, I think proximity is like one of the pain drivers of

00:36:35,600 --> 00:36:37,000
friendship just for sure.

00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:41,900
Yeah, it's a shame that there's just so much like nothingness

00:36:41,900 --> 00:36:43,300
in between in Canada.

00:36:43,300 --> 00:36:44,100
I guess.

00:36:44,400 --> 00:36:48,100
Yeah, there's actually so we've got 13 provinces and territories

00:36:48,100 --> 00:36:52,300
in total and I think only like eight or seven of them are

00:36:52,300 --> 00:36:55,100
actually registered provinces with the CEC.

00:36:55,700 --> 00:36:59,500
So like Saskatchewan for example, I'm pretty sure Saskatchewan

00:36:59,500 --> 00:37:01,900
is one of the ones in between there's I think there's

00:37:01,900 --> 00:37:05,300
Alberta Saskatchewan and Manitoba are all between Ontario

00:37:05,300 --> 00:37:09,700
and BC and Alberta is definitely a big player in the CEC,

00:37:09,700 --> 00:37:13,900
but the Manitoba and Saskatchewan are very few athletes

00:37:13,900 --> 00:37:15,900
there and it's a huge amount of area.

00:37:15,900 --> 00:37:18,800
So like got to really jump all the way over those two provinces

00:37:18,800 --> 00:37:21,100
if you want to go connect with some other athletes.

00:37:21,500 --> 00:37:22,700
Yeah, that definitely makes it rough.

00:37:22,700 --> 00:37:24,300
So makes a lot of sense.

00:37:25,400 --> 00:37:29,200
So one of the discord questions that came in I think kind of

00:37:29,200 --> 00:37:30,200
fit in here.

00:37:30,900 --> 00:37:34,800
They asked with Alana and Sean retiring the season what

00:37:34,800 --> 00:37:37,600
obstacles will the new generation of Canadian athletes

00:37:37,600 --> 00:37:41,600
need to overcome to outperform their precursors?

00:37:41,900 --> 00:37:44,800
Yeah, so I've actually thought about this a little bit.

00:37:45,300 --> 00:37:48,200
I find I'm pretty competitive with Alana.

00:37:48,600 --> 00:37:51,300
I think towards the end of her career when she was still

00:37:51,300 --> 00:37:53,000
competing in the IFSC World Cups.

00:37:53,400 --> 00:37:55,800
I was starting to be a little neck-and-neck with her and then

00:37:55,800 --> 00:37:57,800
there was a point where I was like, oh my gosh, I'm starting

00:37:57,800 --> 00:38:00,000
to like outperform her and it was like the craziest thing

00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:05,300
considering all the semi she's made the final and the Olympics

00:38:05,300 --> 00:38:10,300
like it's just a crazy kind of torch to try to hold and I

00:38:10,300 --> 00:38:14,200
think climbing in general is also changing a lot and back

00:38:14,200 --> 00:38:18,200
in the day it was I think we saw a lot more consistency in

00:38:18,200 --> 00:38:19,800
our semi-finalist and finalists.

00:38:20,600 --> 00:38:23,700
That's how we kind of created like almost like the old guard

00:38:24,100 --> 00:38:27,200
which like like you kind of would be able to predict who's

00:38:27,200 --> 00:38:29,900
in like almost every final and every semi-final.

00:38:29,900 --> 00:38:34,600
And so Sean and Lana were like in a lot of the finals and

00:38:34,600 --> 00:38:37,400
semis and as their careers got went on, of course, they got

00:38:37,400 --> 00:38:38,100
stronger as well.

00:38:38,100 --> 00:38:40,800
They kept making semis, but it would be a little like more

00:38:40,800 --> 00:38:43,400
few and far between because the dynamic nature of boulders

00:38:43,900 --> 00:38:46,700
and the low percentage moves and all that sort of new school

00:38:46,700 --> 00:38:49,200
moves are really shaking it up a little bit.

00:38:49,700 --> 00:38:53,700
And so it's almost like it's you almost try to now think of

00:38:53,700 --> 00:38:56,700
it like I'm not directly comparing one-to-one with Alana

00:38:56,700 --> 00:39:00,500
for example anymore because it is such it's not a different

00:39:00,500 --> 00:39:03,900
sport, but it's pretty pretty different if we're comparing

00:39:03,900 --> 00:39:05,700
2014 to 2024.

00:39:05,700 --> 00:39:06,900
It's huge difference.

00:39:07,400 --> 00:39:13,000
And so for that reason I try to try to not to like compare

00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:16,200
my results exactly to hers and you know in the back of my

00:39:16,200 --> 00:39:16,400
mind.

00:39:16,400 --> 00:39:18,500
I'm like, okay, well she made this many semis.

00:39:18,500 --> 00:39:21,300
Maybe I can try to like try to live up to that.

00:39:21,300 --> 00:39:23,900
Maybe that's a number I can try to beat but it's just really

00:39:23,900 --> 00:39:25,200
not the exact same.

00:39:25,200 --> 00:39:30,700
So it's more just like I just want to you know, be like her

00:39:30,700 --> 00:39:35,900
but not be who she was if that makes sense is I guess do you

00:39:35,900 --> 00:39:40,600
feel like comparison is a big part of the competition for you

00:39:40,600 --> 00:39:44,400
because I know some people try to like not have comparison

00:39:44,400 --> 00:39:45,500
in the back of their mind.

00:39:45,500 --> 00:39:49,000
It like depends on their how they like to mentally approach

00:39:49,000 --> 00:39:49,100
it.

00:39:49,100 --> 00:39:49,500
I guess.

00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:53,600
Yeah, I mean, it's tough to to not you know, like especially

00:39:53,600 --> 00:39:56,000
if you're one-to-one in a competition with someone and

00:39:56,000 --> 00:39:57,200
you're on the exact same boulders.

00:39:57,200 --> 00:40:00,200
It's like how can you how can you not compare everyone's

00:40:00,200 --> 00:40:01,300
performance against each other?

00:40:01,700 --> 00:40:04,700
Please excuse this brief intermission, but I've gotten a

00:40:04,700 --> 00:40:05,700
few requests for this.

00:40:05,700 --> 00:40:09,100
So I just wanted to announce that if you're interested in

00:40:09,100 --> 00:40:14,100
helping support the show my patreon page is now live some

00:40:14,100 --> 00:40:17,600
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submit video questions and enamel pin is shipped to you

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after two months of membership and much more to come the

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proceeds go back into the podcast help me break even and

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like to support the podcast on monetarily liking commenting

00:40:37,600 --> 00:40:41,100
and sharing helps a great deal as well back to the show

00:40:41,600 --> 00:40:43,700
especially climbing is an individual sport.

00:40:43,700 --> 00:40:47,000
So it's like you are you're like it's just you like even

00:40:47,000 --> 00:40:49,700
being on a national team doesn't mean quite as much as

00:40:49,700 --> 00:40:53,600
it would on like a team sport where it is a team like the

00:40:53,600 --> 00:40:56,100
national team in Canada is really just a bunch of Canadians

00:40:56,300 --> 00:40:59,800
competing against each other now not in Canada, but in a

00:40:59,800 --> 00:41:00,600
different country.

00:41:02,000 --> 00:41:04,400
So yeah, you definitely compare against the Canadians more

00:41:04,400 --> 00:41:06,700
like I compare against the Canadians more than anyone

00:41:06,700 --> 00:41:08,500
else. There's a couple people.

00:41:08,500 --> 00:41:11,100
I'm now like kind of chasing and kind of have my eye on in

00:41:11,100 --> 00:41:14,400
the World Cup circuit as someone I think like athletes that

00:41:14,400 --> 00:41:17,300
perform similarly to me like maybe someone I can kind of

00:41:17,300 --> 00:41:21,500
chase and be motivated by but I find that the most difficult

00:41:21,500 --> 00:41:24,200
competition is definitely the national level because we're

00:41:24,200 --> 00:41:28,600
all kind of vying for the the like fame does the support

00:41:28,600 --> 00:41:30,500
and admiration I guess of our country.

00:41:30,800 --> 00:41:33,700
So you kind of want to be like the the country favorite.

00:41:33,700 --> 00:41:37,600
I think is what we're all trying to to go for and yeah,

00:41:37,600 --> 00:41:39,900
it's hard to have all this stuff flying around like I'm

00:41:39,900 --> 00:41:42,400
trying to compete in World Cups and do my best there, but

00:41:42,400 --> 00:41:46,100
I'm also trying to like do well nationally and like keep

00:41:46,100 --> 00:41:49,500
going with the the people that I've grown up with competing

00:41:49,800 --> 00:41:54,200
against. So yeah, like competition like it's good and it's

00:41:54,200 --> 00:41:58,800
bad and it just is ever-present and it's hard to ignore and

00:41:59,600 --> 00:42:02,100
I think just you kind of got to go day by day and case by

00:42:02,100 --> 00:42:05,800
case like event by event like trying not to let it be the

00:42:05,800 --> 00:42:07,400
negative over the positive.

00:42:07,600 --> 00:42:09,900
So the comparison kind of fuels you in a way.

00:42:10,100 --> 00:42:13,300
Yeah, as long as it doesn't get it doesn't go too far.

00:42:13,300 --> 00:42:17,800
I find like with Nationals specifically national finals

00:42:17,800 --> 00:42:21,500
like trying to win Nationals is very difficult task and I

00:42:21,500 --> 00:42:24,000
think it has the most pressure of any competition I go to

00:42:25,700 --> 00:42:28,800
like World Cups are great and I've seen lots of success in

00:42:28,800 --> 00:42:32,300
World Cups, but Nationals I've never actually won Nationals

00:42:32,700 --> 00:42:36,700
and I've made finals seven years in a row now and I've

00:42:36,700 --> 00:42:39,200
made the podium six years in a row and it's starting to be

00:42:39,200 --> 00:42:43,200
very frustrating and like I said, like we're all kind of

00:42:43,200 --> 00:42:48,200
vying for the the best in Canada like the title and I just

00:42:48,200 --> 00:42:51,500
feel like you know my World Cup results aside.

00:42:51,500 --> 00:42:53,500
I feel like I've never really punched that ticket.

00:42:53,500 --> 00:42:58,000
I've never really like found that success and I think for

00:42:58,000 --> 00:43:01,800
a lot of athletes now it's like at the national team level

00:43:01,900 --> 00:43:04,800
that is like a tech box.

00:43:04,800 --> 00:43:07,700
You have to like check off at some point in your career.

00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:10,700
And so the pressure when it comes down to finals at

00:43:10,700 --> 00:43:15,400
Nationals is humongous and it's yeah, it's become kind of

00:43:15,400 --> 00:43:16,100
a competition.

00:43:16,100 --> 00:43:20,100
I dread a little bit at times, especially given my history

00:43:20,100 --> 00:43:23,200
at the event, but this year it's in Montreal, which is

00:43:23,200 --> 00:43:26,400
awesome because it's a bit more comfortable know the gym

00:43:26,400 --> 00:43:28,900
know the community but at the same time it could be more

00:43:28,900 --> 00:43:32,000
pressure because you know, my whole peer group is there

00:43:32,000 --> 00:43:35,400
and the community is there but I don't know how I'm going

00:43:35,400 --> 00:43:38,400
to to approach Nationals this year, but I know my mindset

00:43:38,400 --> 00:43:42,100
has been way too hyper comparison focused and competition

00:43:42,100 --> 00:43:45,100
focused at Nationals and I need to find a way to put that

00:43:45,100 --> 00:43:48,500
aside and just focus on climbing itself.

00:43:48,700 --> 00:43:49,000
Okay.

00:43:49,000 --> 00:43:52,400
Well best of luck to you at that Nationals and hopefully

00:43:52,400 --> 00:43:57,100
you can find maybe like a I don't know one of those mental

00:43:57,200 --> 00:43:58,000
coaches.

00:43:58,000 --> 00:43:59,700
Maybe that can help you push through honestly.

00:43:59,700 --> 00:44:01,200
I think that is probably the next step.

00:44:01,200 --> 00:44:01,600
Yeah.

00:44:01,900 --> 00:44:03,100
Well, good luck to you there.

00:44:03,800 --> 00:44:08,100
So moving on to I guess like your social media and YouTube

00:44:08,100 --> 00:44:09,200
side of things.

00:44:09,900 --> 00:44:12,400
Well, I guess lack of social media.

00:44:12,800 --> 00:44:15,000
You mentioned that you've been off of social media since

00:44:15,000 --> 00:44:16,900
you were 18 to focus on training.

00:44:18,000 --> 00:44:22,800
Did you have social media before then like you or like

00:44:23,000 --> 00:44:25,500
did you super have social media where you were on it all

00:44:25,500 --> 00:44:27,700
the time and you like found it super distracting?

00:44:27,800 --> 00:44:30,600
Yeah, I was a super social media kind of person.

00:44:31,100 --> 00:44:34,100
It's actually the more years that go by the like less the

00:44:34,100 --> 00:44:36,200
more I start to forget what it really was like.

00:44:36,200 --> 00:44:39,600
I remember when I first quit it was a big it was a big

00:44:39,600 --> 00:44:41,800
change in my life because it was all consuming.

00:44:41,800 --> 00:44:43,300
It was it was in my head.

00:44:43,300 --> 00:44:45,200
It was like in my in the training room.

00:44:45,200 --> 00:44:46,600
Like it was it was everywhere.

00:44:47,900 --> 00:44:50,200
Yeah, so I you know, I was on social media kind of as a

00:44:50,200 --> 00:44:53,600
kid would be you know social media Instagram specifically

00:44:53,600 --> 00:44:57,900
came about just as I was about I think like 14 or 13.

00:44:58,200 --> 00:45:00,900
So it was right like right exactly when I should have

00:45:00,900 --> 00:45:03,000
joined it and that's when it became a thing.

00:45:03,000 --> 00:45:05,500
So it was like all the rage everyone that's everyone

00:45:05,500 --> 00:45:06,200
joined it.

00:45:06,300 --> 00:45:10,000
So I did as well and it was only when I started seeing

00:45:10,000 --> 00:45:13,300
some success in climbing that it started turning into a

00:45:13,300 --> 00:45:14,400
bigger thing in my life.

00:45:14,400 --> 00:45:17,100
It never used to be it was always just you know chatting

00:45:17,100 --> 00:45:20,600
with friends posting random photos that no one cares about

00:45:20,700 --> 00:45:23,400
and then all of a sudden I was like winning youth nationals

00:45:23,400 --> 00:45:26,800
and I was like going to World Cups and it became very

00:45:26,800 --> 00:45:29,200
important to me and it felt like it was becoming part of

00:45:29,200 --> 00:45:31,900
the the how to be how to make a career in climbing.

00:45:31,900 --> 00:45:37,900
So I was on it a lot and I definitely got carried away

00:45:37,900 --> 00:45:42,800
with it and I think I got carried away kind of not because

00:45:42,800 --> 00:45:44,700
of my own not because of me.

00:45:44,700 --> 00:45:46,500
It was more because of the the platform.

00:45:46,500 --> 00:45:52,000
It's just made to be addictive I find and as a competitor

00:45:52,000 --> 00:45:55,300
I feel like I'm one of the more competitive competitors

00:45:55,300 --> 00:45:55,800
out there.

00:45:55,800 --> 00:46:01,000
And so just seeing other athletes other teammates on

00:46:01,000 --> 00:46:03,700
social media doing what they're doing, you know looking

00:46:03,700 --> 00:46:04,300
strong.

00:46:04,300 --> 00:46:05,600
They sent that boulder.

00:46:05,600 --> 00:46:06,600
I was just at that gym.

00:46:06,600 --> 00:46:07,900
I didn't send that boulder.

00:46:08,500 --> 00:46:10,000
They're sending hard outside.

00:46:10,000 --> 00:46:11,000
I don't climb outside.

00:46:11,000 --> 00:46:14,800
So it's like I don't know if I would even like ever be

00:46:14,800 --> 00:46:17,700
able to do that kind of thing, you know seeing their

00:46:17,700 --> 00:46:20,500
results seeing what they're eating like it just was way

00:46:20,500 --> 00:46:23,800
too much for me and I only realized that probably two or

00:46:23,800 --> 00:46:26,500
three years in when I saw it was starting to kind of

00:46:26,500 --> 00:46:29,600
impact my my performance and my mindset and my mental

00:46:29,600 --> 00:46:34,600
health. So when I was 18, I was doing a lot of reading

00:46:34,600 --> 00:46:39,900
about ego and philosophy and all that sort of stuff and

00:46:39,900 --> 00:46:42,500
I realized that I think social media was kind of at the

00:46:42,500 --> 00:46:46,100
heart of some of the negativity I found in my mental

00:46:46,100 --> 00:46:52,400
state and so it was I right before one of the open

00:46:52,400 --> 00:46:56,200
national championships that I decided to completely get

00:46:56,200 --> 00:46:59,200
rid of the app get rid of my account and just leave

00:46:59,200 --> 00:47:03,700
social media permanently and it to this day.

00:47:03,700 --> 00:47:05,600
I think it's one of the most important decisions I've

00:47:05,600 --> 00:47:06,800
made as a person.

00:47:07,800 --> 00:47:09,200
I did it for the training side.

00:47:09,200 --> 00:47:12,100
I think mostly sure there were some pretty compelling

00:47:12,900 --> 00:47:14,900
mental health reasons behind it as well.

00:47:14,900 --> 00:47:18,800
But the benefit it had to my training immediately was

00:47:18,800 --> 00:47:21,800
just it was unparalleled all of a sudden.

00:47:21,800 --> 00:47:24,400
I would go to the gym and my mind would just be quiet.

00:47:24,400 --> 00:47:26,800
Like I wasn't I didn't know what other people were doing.

00:47:26,800 --> 00:47:29,600
I was just like I had my head down and I was just like

00:47:29,600 --> 00:47:33,100
focusing on myself and my training and my climbing and

00:47:33,100 --> 00:47:35,800
when Nationals rolled around it ended up being one of

00:47:35,800 --> 00:47:37,400
the best Nationals of my life.

00:47:37,400 --> 00:47:41,100
I almost beat a Lana as I said like my lifelong competitor

00:47:41,100 --> 00:47:44,000
and at the time I had no business being beating a Lana.

00:47:44,000 --> 00:47:46,500
It was not definitely I was not in my prime.

00:47:46,500 --> 00:47:49,500
I was she was definitely the best in Canada at the time,

00:47:49,500 --> 00:47:52,800
but I came very close and it shocked me and it really

00:47:52,800 --> 00:47:58,800
motivated me and it was I think largely due to my departure

00:47:58,800 --> 00:48:00,700
from social media just a few months earlier.

00:48:01,800 --> 00:48:04,700
And yeah to this day I am still off of Instagram.

00:48:04,700 --> 00:48:08,900
I don't have any social media platforms other than YouTube.

00:48:10,200 --> 00:48:12,800
And so yeah, it's a pretty quiet life.

00:48:12,800 --> 00:48:14,400
My phone is very quiet.

00:48:14,400 --> 00:48:16,300
Like I don't get very many notifications.

00:48:17,300 --> 00:48:19,700
If people want to message me, they typically message my

00:48:19,700 --> 00:48:23,100
husband and they kind of speak to him as if they're

00:48:23,100 --> 00:48:25,500
speaking to me, which is a little bit strange, but I do

00:48:25,500 --> 00:48:27,400
have a phone number so that people could text me but for

00:48:27,400 --> 00:48:30,800
whatever reason Instagram is still the platform of choice

00:48:30,800 --> 00:48:31,700
for instant messaging.

00:48:32,000 --> 00:48:33,100
Yeah, that's a big one.

00:48:33,500 --> 00:48:34,000
Yeah.

00:48:34,000 --> 00:48:35,900
So yeah, there are absolutely drawbacks.

00:48:35,900 --> 00:48:37,500
Like I don't get as many messages.

00:48:37,500 --> 00:48:41,600
I don't get maybe as many opportunities for hanging out

00:48:41,600 --> 00:48:44,800
with people or going to events whatever it happens to be.

00:48:45,200 --> 00:48:47,200
But I think I've at least for me.

00:48:47,200 --> 00:48:50,700
I think I've made a pretty fair trade-off in terms of the

00:48:50,700 --> 00:48:53,400
mental health side benefits from it.

00:48:53,800 --> 00:48:58,300
So yeah, a bit of FOMO, but I think my husband he does

00:48:58,300 --> 00:48:59,400
have a social media account.

00:48:59,400 --> 00:49:01,900
He did delete it for a while when we first started dating.

00:49:02,100 --> 00:49:06,200
I convinced him to delete it of course and but he got it

00:49:06,200 --> 00:49:09,500
back probably a year later and I think like I'm okay with

00:49:09,500 --> 00:49:12,200
it. I think one of us I think it's good to have us kind

00:49:12,200 --> 00:49:13,200
of more out there.

00:49:13,200 --> 00:49:19,100
It is hard to make a career in Canada in climbing when you

00:49:19,100 --> 00:49:21,100
have no, you know online presence.

00:49:21,100 --> 00:49:23,900
So he helps a lot with that and then the YouTube I think

00:49:23,900 --> 00:49:25,300
does the rest of the legwork.

00:49:25,500 --> 00:49:28,800
You mentioned that for a lot of climbers.

00:49:28,800 --> 00:49:33,100
It kind of seems like social media is partially how you

00:49:33,200 --> 00:49:35,800
fund your pro climber journey.

00:49:36,200 --> 00:49:39,600
Have you found it hurts like sponsorship prospects without

00:49:39,600 --> 00:49:40,700
having social media?

00:49:40,700 --> 00:49:44,600
Yeah, it probably did for the first few years.

00:49:45,100 --> 00:49:48,900
Luckily, I had a couple sponsors at the time and they

00:49:48,900 --> 00:49:52,300
did not they didn't care that I left social media and I

00:49:52,300 --> 00:49:55,000
think that's that's a good it was almost like it's kind of

00:49:55,000 --> 00:49:55,900
like a data point.

00:49:55,900 --> 00:49:58,600
I use when I'm kind of saying this other people that people

00:49:58,600 --> 00:50:02,600
are afraid of losing the sponsorship side and you know of

00:50:02,600 --> 00:50:04,100
all the sponsors I've spoken to you.

00:50:04,100 --> 00:50:07,100
There's a couple outliers, but most of them say like we

00:50:07,100 --> 00:50:08,900
don't really care about the social media side.

00:50:08,900 --> 00:50:10,800
We don't care how many followers you have.

00:50:10,800 --> 00:50:13,400
It's more about who you are and what you represent and

00:50:13,400 --> 00:50:14,200
what you're doing.

00:50:14,700 --> 00:50:18,200
And of course it does help to show more people what you're

00:50:18,200 --> 00:50:21,800
doing, but I think a lot of people have Instagram and

00:50:21,800 --> 00:50:24,200
it's not as much of a unique thing anymore.

00:50:25,200 --> 00:50:27,600
I think what's unique is kind of putting yourself out

00:50:27,600 --> 00:50:28,600
there in different ways.

00:50:29,000 --> 00:50:31,500
And for me we found I found like a blog.

00:50:31,500 --> 00:50:33,300
I've been blogging this whole time.

00:50:33,300 --> 00:50:35,700
I've never stopped blogging since leading social media.

00:50:36,100 --> 00:50:38,700
I probably blogged more to be honest and it's it's a more

00:50:38,700 --> 00:50:43,800
I feel like high quality just more more thinking goes into

00:50:43,800 --> 00:50:47,700
my blogs more more attention and I think I'm putting out

00:50:47,700 --> 00:50:52,500
something that I really am proud of on my blog and same

00:50:52,500 --> 00:50:53,000
with YouTube.

00:50:53,000 --> 00:50:55,700
You know, we're putting together really, you know difficult

00:50:55,700 --> 00:50:59,000
to put together videos and it's not quite as easy as just

00:50:59,000 --> 00:51:00,000
posting a photo.

00:51:00,300 --> 00:51:03,600
I think there's there's some inherent extra value when it

00:51:03,600 --> 00:51:07,600
comes to sponsors in that and yeah, so but yeah for the

00:51:07,600 --> 00:51:10,000
first two years it probably did hurt because I didn't have

00:51:10,000 --> 00:51:13,400
the YouTube and my blog was it was okay, but it definitely

00:51:13,400 --> 00:51:15,400
wasn't very popular.

00:51:16,000 --> 00:51:20,000
So it wasn't until we started YouTube that the sponsorship

00:51:20,000 --> 00:51:22,900
started coming and it is is kind of when I joined forces

00:51:22,900 --> 00:51:26,400
with Zach to when we got married that we started to kind

00:51:26,400 --> 00:51:31,500
of have a combined almost not celebrity status, but we had

00:51:31,500 --> 00:51:33,700
more supporters together and we were together.

00:51:33,700 --> 00:51:38,300
We kind of almost advertise ourselves together. And so in

00:51:38,300 --> 00:51:40,500
this past year, we've seen I've seen more sponsors and I've

00:51:40,500 --> 00:51:44,500
seen in the last five years and it's been without Instagram.

00:51:44,500 --> 00:51:46,400
I think our Instagram has nothing to do with it.

00:51:46,400 --> 00:51:48,900
His Instagram is not super popular.

00:51:48,900 --> 00:51:53,200
He only started it like a year ago or so and it's more just

00:51:53,200 --> 00:51:56,000
about what we're doing and how we're involved in our Montreal

00:51:56,000 --> 00:51:56,900
community right now.

00:51:57,200 --> 00:52:01,600
Yeah, do you have any plans or interests of getting back on

00:52:01,600 --> 00:52:04,600
social media in the future? Maybe when you're done competing

00:52:04,600 --> 00:52:09,000
or yeah, it absolutely crosses my mind probably like once

00:52:09,000 --> 00:52:11,100
every six months or so I start thinking.

00:52:11,100 --> 00:52:14,300
Okay, am I really am I really hurting myself here?

00:52:14,700 --> 00:52:18,700
But I think the further away I get from my time on social

00:52:18,700 --> 00:52:23,600
media the more I forget how much I didn't enjoy my headspace

00:52:23,600 --> 00:52:24,700
when I was on social media.

00:52:25,100 --> 00:52:29,300
So I have a blog post on like an article on my blog that

00:52:29,300 --> 00:52:32,700
kind of tells my whole story about how I went from social

00:52:32,700 --> 00:52:36,000
media to deleting it and it was actually pretty popular got

00:52:36,000 --> 00:52:39,200
picked up by another blog like a really big blog and it

00:52:39,200 --> 00:52:44,400
started kind of getting like semi-viral and it kind of really

00:52:44,400 --> 00:52:47,000
like all the comments on the other blog like the people who

00:52:47,000 --> 00:52:49,800
saw this article it went pretty big and like so many people

00:52:49,800 --> 00:52:52,900
like messaged me after saying after reading your blog I

00:52:52,900 --> 00:52:55,900
deleted social media or you know, this really like made me

00:52:55,900 --> 00:52:57,600
think harder about what I'm doing online.

00:52:57,600 --> 00:53:00,000
It really gave me some positive reinforcement for what I

00:53:00,000 --> 00:53:00,600
was doing.

00:53:01,000 --> 00:53:03,600
So every once in a while I'll go back and read that article

00:53:03,600 --> 00:53:06,200
because I just I don't want to ever forget the headspace

00:53:06,200 --> 00:53:11,400
I was in because it is really easy to forget about it because

00:53:11,400 --> 00:53:14,800
I've lived so long as I do now which is like without tons

00:53:14,800 --> 00:53:17,600
of notifications on my phone and like there'll be days

00:53:17,600 --> 00:53:20,100
where I leave the house and I forget to bring my phone because

00:53:20,100 --> 00:53:22,400
it's just not a thing in my life.

00:53:22,400 --> 00:53:23,900
It's not like an important thing.

00:53:23,900 --> 00:53:24,600
I don't have a YouTube.

00:53:24,600 --> 00:53:25,900
I don't even have YouTube on my phone.

00:53:25,900 --> 00:53:30,600
It's really just for texting and for checking maybe the YouTube

00:53:30,600 --> 00:53:34,300
studio app which is the the app you use to just check all your

00:53:34,300 --> 00:53:36,500
comments and stuff on YouTube.

00:53:38,200 --> 00:53:42,100
So yeah, I you know the FOMO kind of gets you thinking maybe

00:53:42,100 --> 00:53:43,100
I should go back to it.

00:53:43,100 --> 00:53:46,700
But then I just always try to bring myself back to why I did

00:53:46,700 --> 00:53:49,600
it in the first place and I think just long-term not even

00:53:49,600 --> 00:53:50,600
about training anymore.

00:53:50,600 --> 00:53:53,300
Like it like when I started it was because of training.

00:53:53,300 --> 00:53:56,500
I was like I want a better headspace to do better in competitions.

00:53:56,800 --> 00:53:57,400
That was it.

00:53:57,700 --> 00:53:59,600
And today I think it's a lot more than that.

00:53:59,600 --> 00:54:05,100
I think it's more about how I want my my my mind to be, you

00:54:05,100 --> 00:54:05,900
know going forward.

00:54:05,900 --> 00:54:09,000
I don't want to be cluttered with notifications and and thoughts

00:54:09,000 --> 00:54:11,800
and I don't want to see everyone's lives, you know, it seems

00:54:11,800 --> 00:54:15,700
a little bit cliche perhaps but you know, we weren't meant to

00:54:15,700 --> 00:54:18,800
see all this stuff, you know, like, you know 20 years ago.

00:54:19,100 --> 00:54:20,200
This wasn't here at all.

00:54:20,500 --> 00:54:23,200
You know, we would have to go talk to people in person.

00:54:23,200 --> 00:54:25,300
If we wanted to hear about their lives and I think that's just

00:54:25,300 --> 00:54:30,000
a more high-quality way of interacting with people in your

00:54:30,000 --> 00:54:33,600
life and it's something I try to straight stay true to as much

00:54:33,600 --> 00:54:35,000
as possible and sure.

00:54:35,000 --> 00:54:37,200
Maybe I don't talk to as many people as other people do.

00:54:37,200 --> 00:54:39,800
I don't have as many friends or as many relationships.

00:54:40,300 --> 00:54:44,300
But again, I think we weren't meant to have the huge network

00:54:44,300 --> 00:54:47,200
of people in our lives as we do today.

00:54:47,500 --> 00:54:50,800
So I try to stay pretty I try to stay close-knit and have just

00:54:50,800 --> 00:54:54,200
the people I want to really stay my life in my life.

00:54:54,300 --> 00:54:59,300
I will definitely link that blog post in the description so

00:54:59,300 --> 00:55:01,800
people can take a look and the blog in general as well.

00:55:02,800 --> 00:55:06,300
But yeah, you mentioned that you did I guess YouTube is kind

00:55:06,300 --> 00:55:10,800
of social media and you sort of made exception for that even

00:55:10,800 --> 00:55:14,000
though video making is like way more time-consuming.

00:55:14,100 --> 00:55:14,700
Sure.

00:55:15,100 --> 00:55:16,400
Like so much effort.

00:55:17,500 --> 00:55:20,000
I guess why did you decide to make the exception for YouTube?

00:55:20,000 --> 00:55:23,900
Yeah, so of course this this crossed my mind too, and it

00:55:23,900 --> 00:55:26,200
actually wasn't me that started the YouTube channel is my

00:55:26,200 --> 00:55:30,900
husband and he also wasn't completely sold on it at first.

00:55:30,900 --> 00:55:32,300
It was to be honest.

00:55:32,300 --> 00:55:33,900
It all goes back to my stepdad.

00:55:33,900 --> 00:55:37,800
He was the one who really pushed us to do social to do YouTube

00:55:39,000 --> 00:55:40,500
because again, it's hard to know.

00:55:40,900 --> 00:55:41,300
I know.

00:55:41,300 --> 00:55:45,800
Yeah, but yeah in Canadian climbing again, like we were very

00:55:46,100 --> 00:55:46,900
poorly funded.

00:55:46,900 --> 00:55:49,700
So, you know that goes down to athlete sponsorships as well.

00:55:49,700 --> 00:55:51,800
Like it's not just that the national team doesn't pay us is

00:55:51,800 --> 00:55:54,700
that the there's not as many people and companies out there

00:55:54,700 --> 00:55:56,500
that are looking to support Canadian athletes.

00:55:56,900 --> 00:56:00,300
So the dream of just being a professional athlete and having

00:56:00,300 --> 00:56:04,500
that fund our entire livelihood is just not a thing in Canada

00:56:04,500 --> 00:56:05,800
and we there has to be something else.

00:56:05,800 --> 00:56:09,600
So either we get like a part-time job or we do something

00:56:09,600 --> 00:56:13,200
online or something like YouTube and I think YouTube was the

00:56:13,200 --> 00:56:18,200
best option because we just have we have somewhat I'd say

00:56:18,200 --> 00:56:19,000
interesting lives.

00:56:19,000 --> 00:56:20,200
You know, we're going to World Cups.

00:56:20,600 --> 00:56:21,500
We're traveling around.

00:56:21,500 --> 00:56:23,100
We're training full-time for climbing.

00:56:23,300 --> 00:56:24,300
It's an interesting story.

00:56:24,300 --> 00:56:24,900
We're married.

00:56:24,900 --> 00:56:25,700
We're really young.

00:56:26,300 --> 00:56:27,800
We're both on the national team.

00:56:27,800 --> 00:56:29,400
We're both bouldering only athletes.

00:56:29,400 --> 00:56:32,800
Like it was just a good kind of hook story that I think lended

00:56:32,800 --> 00:56:34,200
itself very well to YouTube.

00:56:34,600 --> 00:56:40,600
So my stepdad convinced my husband to start YouTube and at

00:56:40,600 --> 00:56:43,800
first his plan was to record every single training session.

00:56:43,800 --> 00:56:46,900
He does like just film it all and then kind of voice it over

00:56:46,900 --> 00:56:50,500
kind of like a YouTube like like a video game streaming kind

00:56:50,500 --> 00:56:53,000
of like Twitch but for climbing training.

00:56:54,600 --> 00:56:55,800
So true to his word.

00:56:55,800 --> 00:56:56,900
He did exactly that.

00:56:56,900 --> 00:56:59,800
I think he spent like two months preparing for a North American

00:56:59,800 --> 00:57:03,100
Cup and he filmed every single training session he did and

00:57:03,100 --> 00:57:06,000
he talked about it and he posted it every single day.

00:57:06,000 --> 00:57:10,700
We did daily videos back then and it was crazy and it was

00:57:10,700 --> 00:57:12,800
really high quality because he had some really insightful

00:57:12,800 --> 00:57:16,400
things to say about climbing and very specific kind of beta

00:57:16,400 --> 00:57:21,100
advice and like very just like climbing tips and knowledge

00:57:21,100 --> 00:57:23,000
that just really isn't out there on the internet.

00:57:23,300 --> 00:57:25,600
And I think that really struck a chord with a lot of people

00:57:26,100 --> 00:57:30,300
and he got some great feedback from it and he started kind

00:57:30,300 --> 00:57:33,700
of developing a bit of community around his his journey

00:57:33,700 --> 00:57:35,300
as a competition climber.

00:57:35,900 --> 00:57:41,400
And so it reached a certain point where I was like at first

00:57:41,400 --> 00:57:43,300
I didn't really want to do it because of the social media

00:57:43,300 --> 00:57:43,800
element.

00:57:44,000 --> 00:57:45,600
I was like, I don't want to see the comments.

00:57:45,600 --> 00:57:49,500
I don't want to have to do have to think about filming myself.

00:57:49,500 --> 00:57:52,200
Like I don't want to I just want to focus on training.

00:57:52,700 --> 00:57:55,200
But then it got to a point where I was like, okay, like I

00:57:55,200 --> 00:57:58,400
watched him do this for six months now and it doesn't look

00:57:58,400 --> 00:58:01,100
that invasive and the comments you don't know who's making

00:58:01,100 --> 00:58:01,300
them.

00:58:01,300 --> 00:58:03,300
You're not watching other people on YouTube.

00:58:03,300 --> 00:58:05,700
You're just watching YouTube like, you know, the experience

00:58:05,700 --> 00:58:06,200
on YouTube.

00:58:06,200 --> 00:58:08,600
It's not you're not seeing your friends everywhere because

00:58:08,600 --> 00:58:10,500
not your friends don't have YouTube channels.

00:58:10,500 --> 00:58:13,300
Generally you're seeing kind of strangers or you're watching

00:58:13,300 --> 00:58:15,700
tutorial videos and all that sort of stuff.

00:58:15,800 --> 00:58:20,500
So I realized that the I didn't think it would actually be

00:58:20,500 --> 00:58:25,400
that harmful and to like true to my word like it really isn't

00:58:26,400 --> 00:58:29,600
it's a lot more detached than you think it is sure you're

00:58:29,600 --> 00:58:32,000
checking comments and maybe you're stressing a little bit

00:58:32,000 --> 00:58:34,200
over how many views of videos going to get or something

00:58:34,200 --> 00:58:37,900
like that, but it never goes down to like your core like

00:58:37,900 --> 00:58:38,500
self-worth.

00:58:38,500 --> 00:58:41,800
It doesn't go down to like I posted like a like a picture

00:58:41,800 --> 00:58:45,000
and it only got five likes or 10 likes to people not like

00:58:45,000 --> 00:58:45,200
me.

00:58:45,200 --> 00:58:46,400
Like it's very personal.

00:58:46,400 --> 00:58:50,800
I find on social media like Instagram or whatever but on

00:58:50,800 --> 00:58:52,700
YouTube, you know, you put out a video and it's like it's

00:58:52,700 --> 00:58:53,600
actually about the video.

00:58:53,600 --> 00:58:54,400
It's not about you.

00:58:54,400 --> 00:58:57,400
It's about how good was your video and what was your content

00:58:57,400 --> 00:59:03,100
like so for that reason I really took to YouTube at first.

00:59:03,100 --> 00:59:05,100
I was trying to maybe copy what he was doing.

00:59:05,300 --> 00:59:08,200
But then over time I try to kind of developed my own little

00:59:08,200 --> 00:59:12,400
niche within our Channel and now I do more educational style

00:59:12,400 --> 00:59:16,100
kind of beginner intermediate focused just purely climbing

00:59:16,100 --> 00:59:19,600
tips and technique kind of stuff and I think that does really

00:59:19,600 --> 00:59:23,000
well in our Channel and my whole philosophy with the Channel

00:59:23,000 --> 00:59:24,500
is that it isn't about me.

00:59:24,500 --> 00:59:27,800
So I don't introduce myself typically in my videos.

00:59:27,800 --> 00:59:29,800
I just get straight to the content.

00:59:29,800 --> 00:59:32,100
I you know, there was one video that did really well.

00:59:32,100 --> 00:59:35,600
It was just me going through almost every footwork kind of

00:59:35,600 --> 00:59:37,000
technique I could think of.

00:59:37,000 --> 00:59:38,300
So I took it.

00:59:38,300 --> 00:59:41,000
I took a notebook because I'm a I like being analog.

00:59:41,000 --> 00:59:44,300
So I took a notebook and I just wrote down every single footwork

00:59:44,300 --> 00:59:48,800
thing I could think of like switching feet, you know, stemming

00:59:48,800 --> 00:59:52,100
all that sort of stuff and then I made a video about it and

00:59:52,100 --> 00:59:53,300
I didn't introduce myself.

00:59:53,300 --> 00:59:55,500
It was just strike within 10 seconds.

00:59:55,500 --> 00:59:58,700
We're already talking about footwork and it did really well

00:59:58,700 --> 01:00:00,800
and I was able to stay really far away from it.

01:00:00,800 --> 01:00:02,900
The comments were about the content not me.

01:00:03,700 --> 01:00:06,300
Whereas Zach has a bit more personality in his because he's

01:00:06,300 --> 01:00:07,200
talking about his day.

01:00:07,200 --> 01:00:09,100
He's talking about how he feels on the wall.

01:00:09,400 --> 01:00:12,500
And so comments are very like, you know, great job Zach.

01:00:12,500 --> 01:00:15,500
Like you can do it all that sort of stuff or like asking him

01:00:15,500 --> 01:00:16,700
questions about his life.

01:00:17,000 --> 01:00:20,200
The questions on mine are about the content and I and I love it.

01:00:21,900 --> 01:00:25,500
But yeah, it is it we're at the point now where it does feel

01:00:25,500 --> 01:00:29,300
like a job like kind of a side thing and it's great because

01:00:29,300 --> 01:00:32,700
it's we're starting to get income from it and we're starting

01:00:32,700 --> 01:00:36,200
to fuel our pro climbing adventures.

01:00:36,500 --> 01:00:39,000
You know, it's not what I thought of when I thought of being

01:00:39,000 --> 01:00:40,000
a professional climber.

01:00:40,000 --> 01:00:43,000
I thought I would be just climbing and I didn't have to worry

01:00:43,000 --> 01:00:43,800
about anything else.

01:00:44,100 --> 01:00:48,000
But you know, the realities of just life say that, you know,

01:00:48,000 --> 01:00:50,500
there has to be that's just not how it works.

01:00:50,900 --> 01:00:53,900
So I'm actually really happy on YouTube and I think this is

01:00:53,900 --> 01:00:56,300
something that I'll be able to sustain like we will be able

01:00:56,300 --> 01:00:59,500
to sustain like soon as we're done competing when our careers

01:00:59,500 --> 01:01:02,700
over we just have this like waiting for us.

01:01:02,700 --> 01:01:06,000
So yeah, it's been a really awesome journey and I would

01:01:06,000 --> 01:01:10,600
definitely recommend YouTube like creating on YouTube to

01:01:10,600 --> 01:01:11,100
everyone.

01:01:11,100 --> 01:01:13,500
Like I think it's just a great way to give out more high

01:01:13,500 --> 01:01:17,300
quality just like down to Earth better content.

01:01:17,300 --> 01:01:21,000
I find yeah, that's a really interesting perspective on it

01:01:21,000 --> 01:01:23,600
because I feel like you hear a lot of youtubers talk about

01:01:23,600 --> 01:01:28,000
how emotionally invested they get in the numbers and the

01:01:28,000 --> 01:01:32,300
comments and stuff like that and I definitely wouldn't say

01:01:32,300 --> 01:01:35,500
that I'm not invested in that way.

01:01:35,500 --> 01:01:38,100
So it's interesting to hear that it doesn't really affect

01:01:38,100 --> 01:01:38,300
you.

01:01:38,600 --> 01:01:40,900
Well, I'll say it used to affect me for sure.

01:01:40,900 --> 01:01:44,300
Like when I didn't really know how YouTube worked because it

01:01:44,300 --> 01:01:45,800
does it is a learning curve.

01:01:45,800 --> 01:01:48,000
Like it's not just about making videos.

01:01:48,000 --> 01:01:51,500
It's about optimizing the first 10 seconds and the thumbnail

01:01:51,500 --> 01:01:52,300
and all this sort of stuff.

01:01:52,300 --> 01:01:53,900
Like it's definitely a different ball game.

01:01:54,300 --> 01:01:56,200
And yeah, at first when I didn't know what I was doing,

01:01:56,200 --> 01:01:59,600
I thought I was putting that genius content like 24 7 and

01:01:59,600 --> 01:02:02,600
then when it only had whatever amount of use I was like very

01:02:02,600 --> 01:02:03,200
destroyed.

01:02:03,500 --> 01:02:06,400
But then it only took me a few months to realize that it's

01:02:06,800 --> 01:02:09,100
it's almost like competing, you know, you go to a comp and

01:02:09,100 --> 01:02:12,300
you don't do well and you don't just take that as like I tried

01:02:12,300 --> 01:02:14,700
my best and that's just it and like no you to go back to the

01:02:14,700 --> 01:02:17,900
gym you try and train and you figure out a different approach.

01:02:17,900 --> 01:02:20,400
So that's exactly what I did with YouTube.

01:02:20,400 --> 01:02:23,700
I would just take a badly performing video and say, okay,

01:02:23,700 --> 01:02:24,700
what didn't work?

01:02:24,700 --> 01:02:26,100
What do I need to learn?

01:02:26,100 --> 01:02:27,900
What is the next step?

01:02:27,900 --> 01:02:28,900
What's the next video?

01:02:29,200 --> 01:02:33,100
Okay, so getting into your personal life a little bit.

01:02:33,800 --> 01:02:37,700
You mentioned that you got married super young and I think

01:02:37,700 --> 01:02:40,600
some people in the discord are also familiar with that one

01:02:40,600 --> 01:02:43,900
person said that it still feels illegal for anyone born after

01:02:43,900 --> 01:02:47,300
the year 2000 to be married, which I totally agree with.

01:02:48,300 --> 01:02:49,600
I mean, I'm not that old.

01:02:49,600 --> 01:02:52,900
I'm just I'm not surrounded by many people who are married

01:02:52,900 --> 01:02:55,300
and I was born before 2000.

01:02:55,300 --> 01:03:00,900
So yeah, tell me about how your relationship started and I

01:03:00,900 --> 01:03:03,600
guess why you decided to get married young.

01:03:03,600 --> 01:03:04,100
Right.

01:03:04,900 --> 01:03:05,300
Yeah.

01:03:05,300 --> 01:03:09,100
So Zach and I Zach was always on the national team like, you

01:03:09,100 --> 01:03:11,000
know, you're a youth climber you make the national team for

01:03:11,000 --> 01:03:13,200
the first year and then you've got all your little youth

01:03:13,200 --> 01:03:17,600
national teammates and he was one of them and he was a little

01:03:17,600 --> 01:03:21,200
bit more I'd say like standoff ish than most people on the

01:03:21,200 --> 01:03:27,200
youth team. He didn't really like just being around people

01:03:27,200 --> 01:03:28,600
who's pretty competitive at the time.

01:03:28,900 --> 01:03:29,800
He didn't like lead.

01:03:29,800 --> 01:03:32,500
He was always bolder only like from the start, which I found

01:03:32,500 --> 01:03:35,900
interesting, but we didn't really talk for many many years

01:03:37,100 --> 01:03:41,100
until there was a Pan American Championship in 2018.

01:03:41,400 --> 01:03:45,400
This is now three or four years after we had met for the

01:03:45,400 --> 01:03:48,800
first time and that was when we first actually talked to

01:03:48,800 --> 01:03:52,300
each other because there were only four athletes sent to

01:03:52,300 --> 01:03:54,900
that event like only four people wanted to go to Ecuador

01:03:54,900 --> 01:03:58,400
for that event and he and I were one of the word two of them.

01:03:59,100 --> 01:04:02,400
So right when we first spoke and we first had a conversation

01:04:02,400 --> 01:04:04,700
I was like, okay, he's really like nice.

01:04:04,700 --> 01:04:05,800
He's just a nice person.

01:04:05,800 --> 01:04:06,600
Like this is great.

01:04:07,100 --> 01:04:13,300
But then it took us another I guess four years to actually

01:04:13,400 --> 01:04:15,100
like become friends.

01:04:15,300 --> 01:04:17,900
Like like I said, like it's hard on the national team to

01:04:17,900 --> 01:04:20,600
be friends with each other because we're all competitive.

01:04:20,600 --> 01:04:23,000
We're all living all over the place and it just doesn't

01:04:23,000 --> 01:04:23,800
happen naturally.

01:04:24,300 --> 01:04:29,800
And so there was a flight we so Zach and I think we were

01:04:29,800 --> 01:04:32,000
really alike because we were the ones that went to the

01:04:32,000 --> 01:04:33,200
events that no one else went to.

01:04:33,700 --> 01:04:36,000
So we went to the Ecuador event.

01:04:36,000 --> 01:04:38,400
We would always kind of see each other at events, but we

01:04:38,600 --> 01:04:41,600
know we never happened to talk and then there was an event

01:04:41,600 --> 01:04:46,200
in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 2021 and we both were two

01:04:46,200 --> 01:04:49,600
of the only Canadians to go to that event again and I saw

01:04:49,600 --> 01:04:52,500
him at the airport and I noticed he was like really early

01:04:52,500 --> 01:04:53,200
for his flight.

01:04:53,200 --> 01:04:54,300
Like it was like 6 a.m.

01:04:54,300 --> 01:04:55,400
I had to get up at like 4 a.m.

01:04:55,400 --> 01:04:58,000
for my flight and I got to the airport and I see him there

01:04:58,000 --> 01:04:59,900
and he's like already at the gate.

01:04:59,900 --> 01:05:01,100
I'm like, okay, that's kind of weird.

01:05:01,300 --> 01:05:03,500
And then I got on my flight and I realized he's not getting

01:05:03,500 --> 01:05:04,100
on the flight.

01:05:04,100 --> 01:05:06,300
He's just sitting there still and his flight was actually

01:05:06,300 --> 01:05:07,400
an hour later than mine.

01:05:07,600 --> 01:05:10,900
So he got there earlier to get to a later flight and it was

01:05:10,900 --> 01:05:13,000
just like he probably had to get up at like 3 in the morning

01:05:13,000 --> 01:05:14,800
to like go to this flight and I thought it was crazy.

01:05:14,800 --> 01:05:17,500
But then I happened to see him at my connecting flight.

01:05:17,500 --> 01:05:22,300
We both connected in Denver and so I saw him sitting like

01:05:22,300 --> 01:05:25,200
there and I went over and I basically just confronted him

01:05:25,200 --> 01:05:27,300
and said, why were you so early to that flight?

01:05:27,300 --> 01:05:28,200
That was ridiculous.

01:05:28,200 --> 01:05:29,100
And how did you end up here?

01:05:29,100 --> 01:05:32,300
Your flight was like later than mine and that was the day

01:05:32,300 --> 01:05:33,600
I think we became friends.

01:05:34,600 --> 01:05:35,400
I don't know.

01:05:35,400 --> 01:05:38,100
I don't know why like it was just I just have a problem.

01:05:38,100 --> 01:05:41,400
I like to be like exactly on time or like late for things.

01:05:41,400 --> 01:05:46,500
He's like an hour early kind of person. His mom was in the

01:05:46,500 --> 01:05:47,100
military.

01:05:47,100 --> 01:05:51,700
So he's like born to be like really rigid about timing and

01:05:51,700 --> 01:05:54,700
I just was not so I found that really fascinating to be honest

01:05:55,100 --> 01:05:57,800
and yeah, so we became friends.

01:05:57,800 --> 01:06:00,400
I think it like we were friends for like a year that time

01:06:00,400 --> 01:06:01,900
and we would actually train together.

01:06:01,900 --> 01:06:03,900
Like I thought it was the coolest thing to like train with

01:06:03,900 --> 01:06:05,000
someone on the national team.

01:06:05,300 --> 01:06:07,700
Like I hadn't even climbed with any like female national

01:06:07,700 --> 01:06:08,400
team athletes.

01:06:08,400 --> 01:06:11,300
He was like basically the first like national team person

01:06:11,300 --> 01:06:14,000
I climbed with so I thought it was the coolest thing and then

01:06:14,000 --> 01:06:18,200
he was super fun and nice and and then we just turned into

01:06:18,200 --> 01:06:23,400
relationship and I think when we went to so we went to World

01:06:23,400 --> 01:06:26,200
Cups together and we you know traveled Europe together and

01:06:26,200 --> 01:06:29,800
it was just like the craziest like like almost like fairytale

01:06:29,800 --> 01:06:30,300
kind of thing.

01:06:30,300 --> 01:06:32,200
Like it seemed like the perfect relationship.

01:06:32,200 --> 01:06:34,300
I was like it can't get any better than this.

01:06:34,300 --> 01:06:37,700
Like this is he's like just he's perfect basically and I

01:06:37,700 --> 01:06:42,200
was like if I really if that's really true then like seems

01:06:42,200 --> 01:06:43,800
like marriage is like the next step, right?

01:06:43,800 --> 01:06:48,000
So there was there was a day where I kind of just we were

01:06:48,000 --> 01:06:50,400
just like lounging around sitting on the couch or whatever

01:06:50,800 --> 01:06:51,800
and I turned to him.

01:06:51,800 --> 01:06:54,200
I was like, do you think we should get married and he's

01:06:54,200 --> 01:06:55,300
like, yeah, sure.

01:06:55,300 --> 01:06:55,900
Why not?

01:06:56,300 --> 01:06:58,300
And that was basically it.

01:06:59,100 --> 01:07:03,200
It just yeah, it just seemed like too perfect to ignore and

01:07:03,200 --> 01:07:06,100
if we really were like that literally can't get any better

01:07:06,100 --> 01:07:08,700
than this we're like, okay, this is it then and might as

01:07:08,700 --> 01:07:10,700
well tie a knot on it.

01:07:10,700 --> 01:07:15,500
I guess so was that like the proposal or it was actually

01:07:15,500 --> 01:07:20,700
we had planned to move to Germany actually a month later

01:07:22,000 --> 01:07:26,700
just like as boyfriend girlfriend and so a couple weeks

01:07:26,700 --> 01:07:28,100
before we were supposed to fly out.

01:07:28,100 --> 01:07:33,000
We had the proposal conversation, I guess and we decided

01:07:33,000 --> 01:07:35,700
to delay our flight by a couple weeks in order to get married

01:07:35,700 --> 01:07:38,800
right before we left because it would either be it would

01:07:38,800 --> 01:07:41,300
either get married before or after there was no getting

01:07:41,300 --> 01:07:43,500
married abroad because that was just too common.

01:07:43,500 --> 01:07:44,100
We looked into it.

01:07:44,100 --> 01:07:45,500
We're like, that's way too complicated.

01:07:46,000 --> 01:07:50,700
So we were engaged quote unquote for two weeks and then

01:07:50,700 --> 01:07:53,100
we got married and then we've been married ever since.

01:07:53,600 --> 01:07:56,200
Wow, that's a more wild story than I was expecting.

01:07:56,800 --> 01:08:00,000
Yeah, trust me our family definitely thought it was a

01:08:00,000 --> 01:08:00,900
bit wild as well.

01:08:00,900 --> 01:08:04,200
If we I was 21 and he was 22 at the time and you know,

01:08:04,200 --> 01:08:08,100
we're born after 2000 and we're from Ontario and now that

01:08:08,100 --> 01:08:10,400
we've moved moved to Montreal.

01:08:11,400 --> 01:08:14,100
It's even weirder because people from Montreal are very

01:08:14,100 --> 01:08:16,400
I'd say hipster is what is the vibe.

01:08:16,400 --> 01:08:20,200
I'm trying to I'm starting to get here and so very very

01:08:20,200 --> 01:08:24,600
uncommon and so people actually assume we're siblings before

01:08:24,600 --> 01:08:27,100
we are married because I did I took his last name.

01:08:27,600 --> 01:08:32,000
So yeah, we're we're the Richardson's but like it's very

01:08:32,000 --> 01:08:34,400
unclear if you don't like really pay attention is to

01:08:34,400 --> 01:08:37,800
whether we're siblings or not and on YouTube it looks very

01:08:37,800 --> 01:08:38,500
similar.

01:08:38,500 --> 01:08:41,000
So I know like it could be step siblings.

01:08:41,000 --> 01:08:44,800
It could be, you know, different parent whatever I was

01:08:44,800 --> 01:08:45,800
like a charitable.

01:08:45,800 --> 01:08:49,100
Yes, I guess there could be a situation but it was starting

01:08:49,100 --> 01:08:53,400
to be a little bit weird on YouTube because like the whole

01:08:53,400 --> 01:08:55,700
premise was that we're married pro climbers.

01:08:55,700 --> 01:08:59,400
So it was kind of we didn't want to be known as as siblings.

01:08:59,400 --> 01:09:01,600
So there was actually a couple weeks ago where we decided

01:09:01,600 --> 01:09:05,800
to make a video called married pro climbers versus block shop

01:09:05,800 --> 01:09:08,200
and we just did like a vlog saying hey, we just got to clear

01:09:08,200 --> 01:09:08,700
the air here.

01:09:08,700 --> 01:09:12,400
We're married actually not siblings and so many comments

01:09:12,400 --> 01:09:15,600
said like from long-term subscribers saying I totally

01:09:15,600 --> 01:09:18,600
thought you guys were siblings and we were just like that's

01:09:18,600 --> 01:09:19,200
really weird.

01:09:19,800 --> 01:09:24,300
Just saying I don't think I ever got that because I actually

01:09:24,300 --> 01:09:28,100
I saw your guys's YouTube channel like close to when it

01:09:28,100 --> 01:09:28,800
first started.

01:09:28,800 --> 01:09:32,600
I think I was very involved in the climbing YouTube scene.

01:09:32,600 --> 01:09:37,300
I don't think I ever got the idea that you guys were siblings.

01:09:37,300 --> 01:09:38,800
I'm not sure where people got that.

01:09:38,800 --> 01:09:40,800
I feel like I appreciate that.

01:09:41,200 --> 01:09:45,200
Yeah, no, I was super confused too because we you know, we

01:09:45,200 --> 01:09:46,200
were living together.

01:09:46,200 --> 01:09:48,300
We're like, okay, we're going to move to Montreal now.

01:09:48,300 --> 01:09:49,900
We're going to move to Frankfurt now.

01:09:49,900 --> 01:09:53,300
He's talking about me in his videos and our profile picture

01:09:53,300 --> 01:09:56,500
is together and we're talking as like we it's just like we

01:09:56,500 --> 01:10:00,200
either are like the super like very very close family like

01:10:00,300 --> 01:10:03,900
the point where we move across the world with each other or

01:10:03,900 --> 01:10:07,100
married and I guess it was just like the weirdness of being

01:10:07,100 --> 01:10:10,900
this young and married and taking the last name to you is

01:10:10,900 --> 01:10:13,600
just like definitely not known these days.

01:10:13,600 --> 01:10:16,700
So I guess I charitably I think that's where they were came

01:10:16,700 --> 01:10:17,800
coming from personally.

01:10:17,900 --> 01:10:20,300
I'm like you I thought it was very obvious that we were

01:10:20,300 --> 01:10:20,800
married.

01:10:21,100 --> 01:10:23,600
Yeah, I mean I swear it was like in a bio or something but

01:10:23,600 --> 01:10:25,800
I guess not everyone reads that I was going to say.

01:10:25,800 --> 01:10:28,900
Yeah, we definitely like we say it places we say all over

01:10:28,900 --> 01:10:31,000
the place but apparently it's not known enough.

01:10:31,900 --> 01:10:33,400
So we're clearing the air once again.

01:10:34,100 --> 01:10:34,500
Yeah.

01:10:34,900 --> 01:10:35,300
Okay.

01:10:36,000 --> 01:10:38,700
Yeah, so something I've always been kind of curious about is

01:10:38,700 --> 01:10:41,200
relationships between climbers in the circuit.

01:10:42,100 --> 01:10:45,400
Like I mean people always say like oh don't shit where you

01:10:45,400 --> 01:10:45,800
eat.

01:10:46,300 --> 01:10:50,100
So have what's your take on relationships within the

01:10:50,100 --> 01:10:53,400
climbing community and the in the World Cup circuit and you

01:10:53,400 --> 01:10:55,800
mean like friendships or actual relationships.

01:10:56,100 --> 01:10:59,500
I meant like actual relationships, but well, I mean

01:10:59,500 --> 01:11:01,900
friendships are actual relationships, right?

01:11:01,900 --> 01:11:04,600
But I mean, yeah also friendships because I'm sure

01:11:04,600 --> 01:11:06,900
that gets hard as well with like competitiveness.

01:11:07,400 --> 01:11:11,300
Yeah, I mean so Zach actually when we first started dating

01:11:11,300 --> 01:11:13,900
he was on the national team and he was going to World Cups

01:11:14,300 --> 01:11:17,200
but then there was a year where they took the quota down from

01:11:17,200 --> 01:11:21,100
five per country to two and that's to kind of with an

01:11:21,100 --> 01:11:23,700
asterisk. I guess if you if you have a number of athletes in

01:11:23,700 --> 01:11:26,900
like the top 10 and top 40 you get extra quota for the country

01:11:27,300 --> 01:11:28,000
at the time though.

01:11:28,000 --> 01:11:29,900
We didn't have any men in the top 40.

01:11:30,300 --> 01:11:33,600
So it was just to to each country and he was essentially

01:11:33,600 --> 01:11:34,900
kind of like kicked off the team.

01:11:35,800 --> 01:11:38,000
I think he was like ranked third or fourth like something

01:11:38,000 --> 01:11:42,000
just under the quota and because people just want it like

01:11:42,000 --> 01:11:44,200
people like Canadians always say yes to World Cups.

01:11:44,200 --> 01:11:45,400
Like we always fill up our quota.

01:11:45,400 --> 01:11:45,900
Typically.

01:11:46,600 --> 01:11:50,300
We just didn't he just didn't have an opportunity for a year

01:11:50,300 --> 01:11:54,400
and a bit so it was actually a little bit tough when I was

01:11:54,400 --> 01:11:57,100
going to World Cups and he wasn't because it was the first

01:11:57,100 --> 01:11:59,400
time in his career that he'd not been selected to a World

01:11:59,400 --> 01:12:04,400
Cup and if it were in reverse and I was not going to World

01:12:04,400 --> 01:12:08,300
Cups and he was I can tell you I would be upset.

01:12:08,300 --> 01:12:09,200
You know, I wouldn't want to go.

01:12:09,200 --> 01:12:10,700
I wouldn't really want to go with him.

01:12:10,700 --> 01:12:14,000
I'd probably go and watch him or whatever and cheer him on

01:12:14,000 --> 01:12:16,300
just to be supportive but in the back of my mind, I'm like

01:12:16,300 --> 01:12:17,200
dreading being there.

01:12:17,200 --> 01:12:18,700
I don't want to I don't want to be there.

01:12:18,700 --> 01:12:22,600
But I you know, again, you have to ask him but I'm fairly

01:12:22,600 --> 01:12:26,300
certain he is just such a good guy that he doesn't it doesn't

01:12:26,300 --> 01:12:29,100
he's just supportive like like straight up.

01:12:29,100 --> 01:12:34,500
But yeah, it can be tricky when there are some World Cups

01:12:34,500 --> 01:12:37,500
that are really far away like China where it's just like not

01:12:37,500 --> 01:12:41,300
feasible all to come with me and I have to just go by myself

01:12:41,300 --> 01:12:45,700
and it's tough to just be kind of doing the long distance for

01:12:45,700 --> 01:12:47,100
even just like a couple weeks.

01:12:47,100 --> 01:12:49,500
It's just kind of tough when you're doing something so intense

01:12:49,500 --> 01:12:52,500
like a World Cup where you really kind of need that that

01:12:52,800 --> 01:12:56,500
like family support and you know, the team is great.

01:12:56,500 --> 01:12:58,900
I've got lots of friends on the national team the Canadian

01:12:58,900 --> 01:13:01,700
team, but we don't see each other very often.

01:13:01,700 --> 01:13:04,300
So it does feel a little bit lonely being on the World Cup

01:13:04,300 --> 01:13:09,100
circuit without a coach with just a few teammates and then

01:13:09,400 --> 01:13:11,100
because he wasn't on the national team.

01:13:11,100 --> 01:13:14,800
There was a point where he had to do qualifying events in

01:13:14,800 --> 01:13:17,300
the States which are North American Cups that qualify you

01:13:17,300 --> 01:13:19,900
for the national team in Canada and then I was doing World

01:13:19,900 --> 01:13:20,800
Cups at the same time.

01:13:20,800 --> 01:13:24,600
So last year we didn't see each other for a whole month and

01:13:24,600 --> 01:13:27,800
I did two World Cups in that time and he did a couple events

01:13:27,800 --> 01:13:31,700
and it was pretty crazy and not very enjoyable.

01:13:31,700 --> 01:13:37,000
So I you know, just even a month of not seeing him was pretty

01:13:37,000 --> 01:13:39,500
bad, but I know that you know, if you're in a relationship

01:13:39,500 --> 01:13:42,600
with someone that is on a different national team than you

01:13:42,600 --> 01:13:47,600
it's probably even worse and I commend those people for going

01:13:47,600 --> 01:13:52,000
through that but I don't wish it on on myself.

01:13:52,000 --> 01:13:55,600
Like it just it sounds like just difficult.

01:13:55,600 --> 01:13:56,500
It just sounds difficult.

01:13:56,500 --> 01:13:59,300
But you know, if there is someone that's just like really

01:13:59,600 --> 01:14:02,000
like you really stick it out for this person then definitely

01:14:02,000 --> 01:14:02,700
go for it.

01:14:03,100 --> 01:14:06,700
But yeah, no not my cup of tea for sure.

01:14:07,000 --> 01:14:10,200
Were you ever concerned about like, oh if we broke up we'll

01:14:10,200 --> 01:14:14,200
see each other at the national team and like competitions.

01:14:14,200 --> 01:14:17,600
Yeah, you know breaking up really has never crossed my mind.

01:14:17,600 --> 01:14:20,200
You know, like we got married immediately because I was like

01:14:20,200 --> 01:14:21,400
this is definitely it.

01:14:22,600 --> 01:14:25,500
So yeah, I I wish I like that isn't I've actually never

01:14:25,500 --> 01:14:26,400
thought about that before.

01:14:26,600 --> 01:14:27,600
Okay, that's awesome.

01:14:28,000 --> 01:14:31,700
Yeah, I I you know, I like to think that I would just be

01:14:31,700 --> 01:14:34,400
I'm always just so focused on the climbing that I'm sure it

01:14:34,400 --> 01:14:35,300
would be fine.

01:14:36,900 --> 01:14:39,600
But yeah, no, this is the first time totally considering that

01:14:39,600 --> 01:14:41,600
so it doesn't sound very nice.

01:14:41,600 --> 01:14:42,300
Don't think about it.

01:14:42,300 --> 01:14:43,400
You don't need to think about it.

01:14:44,200 --> 01:14:44,600
Okay.

01:14:45,200 --> 01:14:48,800
Have you ever like felt competitive against Zach?

01:14:49,100 --> 01:14:51,100
I mean you said you're a very competitive person.

01:14:51,900 --> 01:14:53,500
Yeah, no, absolutely.

01:14:53,800 --> 01:14:58,100
He's won Nationals twice and so that's just like that's like

01:14:58,100 --> 01:14:58,400
for me.

01:14:58,400 --> 01:15:00,900
That's like enough said like it's like man.

01:15:00,900 --> 01:15:04,800
I I've done a lot on the World Cup circuit, but I haven't

01:15:04,800 --> 01:15:07,800
done what I really want to do which is win Nationals and he's

01:15:07,800 --> 01:15:11,600
done it twice and he did it last year and last year I actually

01:15:11,600 --> 01:15:15,400
came in third which was which was a little bit harder like I

01:15:15,700 --> 01:15:17,900
I typically come in second to be honest and then I came in

01:15:17,900 --> 01:15:19,900
third even and it's like, okay, I'm getting further away

01:15:19,900 --> 01:15:22,700
from this and he came in first that year and it was like

01:15:22,700 --> 01:15:25,200
really like we're really it's also added pressure because

01:15:25,200 --> 01:15:26,900
we're trying to do like a double win like we've never

01:15:26,900 --> 01:15:30,000
double won something and so we're like, okay, we're going

01:15:30,000 --> 01:15:30,500
to Nationals.

01:15:30,500 --> 01:15:31,300
We're both in finals.

01:15:31,300 --> 01:15:32,700
We've both got really good odds.

01:15:32,700 --> 01:15:35,100
This is it and then he wins and I don't win and then it's

01:15:35,100 --> 01:15:39,200
just like that was really rough. I'd say it probably added

01:15:39,200 --> 01:15:41,900
to the like the sting of that competition a little bit that

01:15:41,900 --> 01:15:42,700
he did win it.

01:15:44,100 --> 01:15:47,100
But at the same time, you know, he's in the men's side.

01:15:47,100 --> 01:15:49,800
So it's like it's not we're not directly competing against

01:15:49,800 --> 01:15:50,300
each other ever.

01:15:50,300 --> 01:15:53,200
So it's not that bad that said though.

01:15:53,300 --> 01:15:57,000
I do train with him from time to time and he is a lot stronger

01:15:57,000 --> 01:16:00,600
than me and not maybe not even just stronger but just like

01:16:00,600 --> 01:16:03,600
he's just really good at rock climbing and sure.

01:16:03,600 --> 01:16:07,000
I'm better at him than a few things like I'm probably a

01:16:07,000 --> 01:16:08,100
little better at slab.

01:16:08,800 --> 01:16:12,600
There's a couple technical things like here and there but

01:16:12,600 --> 01:16:15,400
as a whole it's hard to train with him because he is he is

01:16:15,400 --> 01:16:17,600
quite a bit better than me probably like a grade or two

01:16:17,600 --> 01:16:21,300
higher. So I am constantly chasing him.

01:16:21,300 --> 01:16:24,500
I'm constantly comparing myself against him when I really

01:16:24,500 --> 01:16:28,700
shouldn't be and I should kind of like just take it as like

01:16:28,700 --> 01:16:29,700
this really good climber.

01:16:29,700 --> 01:16:32,400
I have the opportunity to climb with and just learn from him

01:16:32,400 --> 01:16:36,400
and watch him and just be all that but I I'm still working

01:16:36,400 --> 01:16:40,000
on letting go of that a little bit and it's it's difficult.

01:16:40,000 --> 01:16:43,500
It's because we are just so we're doing the same thing.

01:16:43,500 --> 01:16:46,500
We're going for the same goals and we're both trying to be

01:16:46,500 --> 01:16:48,900
really good at competition climbing and he's just a little

01:16:48,900 --> 01:16:49,900
bit better at the thing.

01:16:49,900 --> 01:16:54,100
I'm really trying hard to be really good at and yeah, so

01:16:54,100 --> 01:16:56,400
it's I I'm getting better.

01:16:56,400 --> 01:16:58,800
I'd say like a year ago was probably way worse than it is

01:16:58,800 --> 01:17:01,700
today, but it's nowhere near how I want it to be like I'd

01:17:01,700 --> 01:17:05,000
love to just walk into the gym and have like absolutely no

01:17:05,000 --> 01:17:06,500
ego when it comes to climbing with him.

01:17:06,500 --> 01:17:10,900
But yeah, he's just sending way too many boulders like it's

01:17:10,900 --> 01:17:12,200
like I can't keep up with it.

01:17:12,200 --> 01:17:17,100
I mean at least with general climbing you can just justify

01:17:17,100 --> 01:17:18,800
it as like oh, he's a lot stronger.

01:17:18,800 --> 01:17:22,300
So it's a bit different between like men and women.

01:17:22,300 --> 01:17:27,200
But yeah, how do you manage those feelings like when like

01:17:27,200 --> 01:17:28,300
what happened at Nationals?

01:17:28,300 --> 01:17:33,000
It's honestly Nationals was the first time it like the first

01:17:33,000 --> 01:17:35,700
most recent competition that really hit me poorly.

01:17:35,700 --> 01:17:39,100
I'm typically pretty level-headed when it comes to competition

01:17:39,100 --> 01:17:39,600
results.

01:17:39,600 --> 01:17:43,900
But like I said Nationals is just really it's about it's not

01:17:43,900 --> 01:17:46,800
even about qualifying for the national team anymore.

01:17:46,800 --> 01:17:50,700
These days with national team qualifications for Canada, you

01:17:50,700 --> 01:17:54,500
actually can qualify via World Cups or North American Cups

01:17:54,500 --> 01:17:56,900
and those are worth a little bit more points than a national

01:17:56,900 --> 01:17:57,200
would be.

01:17:57,200 --> 01:17:59,900
So there's actually nothing really on the line when it comes

01:17:59,900 --> 01:18:04,100
to Nationals except for the glory I'd say so for me to

01:18:04,100 --> 01:18:07,100
enter Nationals, you know, I'm looking to win it and to not

01:18:07,100 --> 01:18:11,200
win it is like just I what did I even do like I didn't get

01:18:11,200 --> 01:18:11,700
any points.

01:18:11,700 --> 01:18:12,300
I did nothing.

01:18:12,300 --> 01:18:14,600
I just wasted a bunch of skin is basically what happened.

01:18:14,600 --> 01:18:18,700
So yeah, when when Zach's winning it sure.

01:18:18,700 --> 01:18:21,700
I'm happy for him for sure.

01:18:21,700 --> 01:18:25,200
Like I like I really want to see him succeed at the time.

01:18:25,200 --> 01:18:26,700
He hadn't even qualified yet.

01:18:26,700 --> 01:18:29,400
Like hadn't been qualified for World Cups any for a while.

01:18:29,400 --> 01:18:31,800
So I'm definitely rooting for him to go to World Cups.

01:18:31,800 --> 01:18:34,200
That's absolutely I would never want him to not make the team.

01:18:34,200 --> 01:18:35,500
That's just that's terrible.

01:18:35,500 --> 01:18:39,600
But yeah Nationals honestly is just a different story than

01:18:39,600 --> 01:18:40,000
everything.

01:18:40,000 --> 01:18:43,100
Like I feel like I'm super supportive and it's not like

01:18:43,100 --> 01:18:44,300
I'm not supportive of Nationals.

01:18:44,300 --> 01:18:48,600
It's just like it's Nationals is like it's like about me.

01:18:48,600 --> 01:18:51,700
I guess like it's just like I'm really concerned about myself

01:18:51,700 --> 01:18:53,100
when it comes to Nationals because I'm really trying to

01:18:53,100 --> 01:18:56,600
prove something to myself and the the kind of thing that

01:18:56,600 --> 01:18:59,700
kind of stuff that's going on around me like like Zach Zach's

01:18:59,700 --> 01:19:04,400
performance at Nationals is just like it doesn't really factor

01:19:04,400 --> 01:19:09,800
in as much and it's hard for me to to see him achieve what

01:19:09,800 --> 01:19:11,400
I've always wanted to achieve.

01:19:11,800 --> 01:19:14,300
But then at the same time he's kind of seeing me achieve what

01:19:14,300 --> 01:19:15,300
he wants to achieve.

01:19:15,300 --> 01:19:17,500
So it's like he seems to be dealing with it.

01:19:17,500 --> 01:19:20,600
Well, whereas I'm like just really focused on like one

01:19:20,600 --> 01:19:23,600
specific placement at one comp and it's like super stressful.

01:19:23,600 --> 01:19:28,200
So Nationals aside I'd say I'm I'm very supportive of his

01:19:28,200 --> 01:19:33,000
career and his successes are my successes and I think we we

01:19:33,000 --> 01:19:35,400
both know what we're like, we both know how much we're putting

01:19:35,400 --> 01:19:39,000
into this kind of the training and all that but Nationals is

01:19:39,000 --> 01:19:41,200
just is a whole nother thing.

01:19:41,500 --> 01:19:45,600
Well, geez I seven years it is it is hard to deal with.

01:19:46,100 --> 01:19:46,900
It's too much.

01:19:46,900 --> 01:19:47,700
It's too many.

01:19:48,700 --> 01:19:50,800
Yeah, I mean I love Atlanta too.

01:19:50,800 --> 01:19:54,500
So it's it's hard but yeah, it would be great to see you break

01:19:54,500 --> 01:19:55,200
that streak.

01:19:55,200 --> 01:19:57,500
It sounds like it surely weighs on you.

01:19:57,900 --> 01:19:59,100
Yeah, it's funny though.

01:19:59,100 --> 01:20:02,800
Like it seems like people don't actually know like I obviously

01:20:02,800 --> 01:20:05,600
know my placements at all the past seven Nationals, but who

01:20:05,600 --> 01:20:08,900
else is actually like knows the stats and knows exactly how

01:20:08,900 --> 01:20:12,600
many Nationals I've lost right like I was talking to a setter

01:20:12,600 --> 01:20:15,600
at Beta Block the other day and actually no he was talking

01:20:15,600 --> 01:20:17,500
to someone else and then that girl told me what they were

01:20:17,500 --> 01:20:20,200
talking about and he said, oh yeah, it's so nice that Maddie

01:20:20,200 --> 01:20:22,100
shows up to Nationals every year and like and she's always

01:20:22,100 --> 01:20:25,600
winning and then my friend because she knows my you know,

01:20:25,600 --> 01:20:28,700
I've been like venting about Nationals for however long.

01:20:28,900 --> 01:20:31,000
She's like, oh well like you know Maddie's never actually

01:20:31,000 --> 01:20:31,400
won.

01:20:31,400 --> 01:20:33,900
He actually didn't know that he actually like didn't assume

01:20:33,900 --> 01:20:37,300
that and I think that conversation really I think about

01:20:37,300 --> 01:20:38,200
it from time to time.

01:20:38,500 --> 01:20:40,400
She told me about this like a month ago or maybe two months

01:20:40,400 --> 01:20:43,000
ago and I think about it a lot because it makes me feel a lot

01:20:43,000 --> 01:20:45,900
better because it's like I do feel like I'm almost like

01:20:45,900 --> 01:20:50,400
failing publicly like I'm I'm like not I'm losing Nationals

01:20:50,400 --> 01:20:53,700
in front of everyone in front of the country when in fact,

01:20:53,700 --> 01:20:58,000
you know making the podium is not a bad result like that is

01:20:58,100 --> 01:21:01,900
very hard to achieve in and of itself and I think I I really

01:21:01,900 --> 01:21:03,200
need to step back and realize.

01:21:03,200 --> 01:21:03,800
Okay.

01:21:04,100 --> 01:21:06,800
I'm I'm on the podium every year like come on like this is

01:21:06,800 --> 01:21:10,900
not I'm not failing at Nationals every year and it does

01:21:10,900 --> 01:21:14,600
still look like success because that is success like there's

01:21:14,600 --> 01:21:17,300
a reason for second and third are all up on a little podium.

01:21:17,300 --> 01:21:19,300
You know, it's like it's these are all great results.

01:21:19,500 --> 01:21:22,800
Yeah, I mean I was I was going to say like it's not really

01:21:22,800 --> 01:21:27,800
losing to get on the podium like I'm pretty sure as a win.

01:21:28,300 --> 01:21:31,700
Yeah, so yeah, I yeah, it's definitely better.

01:21:31,800 --> 01:21:34,000
He but the only said this I wish he said this to me like

01:21:34,100 --> 01:21:36,700
four years ago, you know, and then I could really take the

01:21:36,700 --> 01:21:39,700
the stress off of it and realize that I'm doing great and

01:21:39,700 --> 01:21:41,200
I just need to like keep doing me.

01:21:41,200 --> 01:21:43,900
But yeah, it's it's it's interesting for sure.

01:21:44,300 --> 01:21:48,000
Yeah, I mean, I definitely get like the competitive vibe.

01:21:49,000 --> 01:21:52,100
Does does a lot of know that you kind of have this like

01:21:52,900 --> 01:21:57,200
mortal enemy type going on, you know, she definitely does.

01:21:57,300 --> 01:22:03,600
I yeah, so we actually we never really spoke like friend

01:22:03,600 --> 01:22:06,900
to friend like personal kind of her entire career.

01:22:07,200 --> 01:22:09,800
I was always looking up to her and then one day I started

01:22:09,800 --> 01:22:14,000
performing well in World Cups and then all of a sudden

01:22:14,000 --> 01:22:16,600
it was like kind of a peer-to-peer relationship that my

01:22:16,600 --> 01:22:19,400
at least from my perspective it kind of turned into and

01:22:19,400 --> 01:22:22,000
just the whole while we just never really connected and

01:22:22,000 --> 01:22:24,400
I think it's because like I am very competitive.

01:22:24,400 --> 01:22:29,000
So I was never looking to like make friends I guess and

01:22:29,000 --> 01:22:31,500
it was always about just like, you know, she's someone to

01:22:31,500 --> 01:22:35,000
look up to and to like strive to be and you know, I always

01:22:35,000 --> 01:22:36,400
had the most respect for her.

01:22:36,400 --> 01:22:39,800
And I never, you know, I don't think she ever knew that

01:22:39,800 --> 01:22:42,900
maybe or maybe I never said it and maybe didn't come across

01:22:42,900 --> 01:22:46,000
and just the way I present myself, you know, I'm very I

01:22:46,000 --> 01:22:48,700
don't smile when I compete, you know, I'm like very focused

01:22:48,900 --> 01:22:50,400
and that's just how I am.

01:22:50,400 --> 01:22:53,000
I I wish I was one of the people like Elena that just

01:22:53,000 --> 01:22:55,400
like smiles all the time and is like super psyched to

01:22:55,400 --> 01:22:58,000
stand the boulder but in my mind, you know sending one

01:22:58,000 --> 01:22:59,100
boulder doesn't mean you win.

01:22:59,100 --> 01:23:01,900
So I'm like, I'm not going to celebrate yet, you know,

01:23:01,900 --> 01:23:05,100
but recently actually she spent some time in Montreal.

01:23:05,100 --> 01:23:07,700
Like I randomly showed up to the gym to climb with Babette

01:23:07,700 --> 01:23:10,000
one of the other national team members and she was just

01:23:10,000 --> 01:23:13,300
there and we ended up spending the net we climbed together

01:23:13,300 --> 01:23:15,500
that day and then the next day and this is the first time

01:23:15,500 --> 01:23:18,200
we'd ever climbed together and this was right before her

01:23:18,200 --> 01:23:21,300
final IFC event, which was a little bit unfortunate.

01:23:21,300 --> 01:23:23,900
Like I wish this kind of happened maybe three years ago.

01:23:25,400 --> 01:23:27,700
But we finally I think we we talked about it a little bit

01:23:27,700 --> 01:23:30,500
before the event and I think it was like the first time

01:23:30,500 --> 01:23:33,900
we finally I think we we talked a little bit more and I

01:23:33,900 --> 01:23:36,800
feel a lot better about our relationship and I think the

01:23:36,800 --> 01:23:39,000
problem was definitely just communication.

01:23:39,000 --> 01:23:42,100
Like we just never really clicked and we never tried to

01:23:42,400 --> 01:23:47,000
be friends or or you know, just be anything close to just

01:23:47,000 --> 01:23:47,700
like chummy.

01:23:48,600 --> 01:23:51,000
We were just kind of on the same team and she does her

01:23:51,000 --> 01:23:53,800
thing and she has her friends and I've got mine but we

01:23:53,800 --> 01:23:58,100
finally connected and it was really nice and I told her

01:23:58,100 --> 01:24:01,000
like I remember I hugged her goodbye because I probably

01:24:01,000 --> 01:24:02,500
wouldn't see her for a while because she was about to

01:24:02,500 --> 01:24:06,700
retire and I was like I wish I said to her I'm like I wish

01:24:06,700 --> 01:24:09,400
we did this three years ago, but I'm glad we had the

01:24:09,400 --> 01:24:12,000
chance to like hang out finally and she was like coaching

01:24:12,000 --> 01:24:14,300
me through a boulder and like it was all good.

01:24:14,900 --> 01:24:17,300
But yeah, it was it was pretty tense for a few years

01:24:17,300 --> 01:24:21,600
there and there was nothing there's never like we never

01:24:21,600 --> 01:24:24,800
said anything to each other or did anything like bean.

01:24:24,800 --> 01:24:29,000
It was just kind of like a vibe and so I'm really happy

01:24:29,000 --> 01:24:31,000
with the way well we left it off at least.

01:24:31,200 --> 01:24:31,700
Awesome.

01:24:31,700 --> 01:24:32,800
Well, that's really great to hear.

01:24:34,300 --> 01:24:38,700
Yeah, so I think that is a good place to end those we

01:24:38,700 --> 01:24:43,000
can get into a couple of the discord questions and then

01:24:43,000 --> 01:24:45,700
I think that'll be a good place to end it.

01:24:45,700 --> 01:24:51,000
So the first discord question, what do you think about

01:24:51,000 --> 01:24:54,000
the current field of Canadian comp climbing women compared

01:24:54,000 --> 01:24:57,000
to other nations that you could train with?

01:24:57,300 --> 01:25:00,500
Yeah, I mean I don't like we're super strong.

01:25:00,500 --> 01:25:01,400
We are strong.

01:25:02,900 --> 01:25:05,800
I love compete like I love climbing with the Canadian

01:25:05,800 --> 01:25:06,100
women.

01:25:06,100 --> 01:25:10,200
They really push me and it might not look like they are

01:25:10,200 --> 01:25:12,700
neck-and-neck with me if you look at World Cup results,

01:25:13,000 --> 01:25:17,200
but they absolutely are and I think World Cups are just

01:25:17,200 --> 01:25:20,600
very difficult and I think mentally above all else.

01:25:20,600 --> 01:25:24,200
They are just mentally like hard to compete at your absolute

01:25:24,200 --> 01:25:27,800
best dad and I think that's the main separator between me

01:25:27,800 --> 01:25:31,200
and the Canadian female team is like I just have learned

01:25:31,200 --> 01:25:35,600
how to be confident and calm at World Cups and it is I

01:25:35,600 --> 01:25:39,300
almost found it by accident and I can't really explain why

01:25:39,300 --> 01:25:42,500
and why I feel like more at ease at World Cups, but I feel

01:25:42,500 --> 01:25:45,200
like I'm able to perform like at my peak at these events

01:25:45,200 --> 01:25:49,300
and they don't quite have that mindset but the field I think

01:25:49,300 --> 01:25:51,900
we've got a great team that we have going to World Cups

01:25:51,900 --> 01:25:55,800
and it's just a matter of like when they're able to like

01:25:55,800 --> 01:25:59,700
prove to themselves that they can compete and do as well

01:25:59,700 --> 01:26:04,000
as I am doing and not to say that I'm like a perfect World

01:26:04,000 --> 01:26:07,900
Cup climber, but we definitely are all very very good at

01:26:07,900 --> 01:26:08,200
climbing.

01:26:08,200 --> 01:26:10,500
It's honestly it's part of the reason I haven't won nationals

01:26:10,500 --> 01:26:15,800
like it is actually a difficult field and I guess other

01:26:15,800 --> 01:26:16,400
national teams.

01:26:16,400 --> 01:26:20,200
It's hard to say I think it like from the outside team

01:26:20,200 --> 01:26:22,800
Germany, for example, looks like they've got a really great

01:26:22,800 --> 01:26:27,000
group of girls that are just crushing it and same with

01:26:27,000 --> 01:26:29,700
you know, Japan like like most countries it looks like

01:26:29,700 --> 01:26:32,200
they've got a couple people in Canada.

01:26:32,200 --> 01:26:35,500
It's typically always been just like one outlier will like

01:26:35,800 --> 01:26:38,500
like make it through like we've had Sean was the outlier

01:26:38,500 --> 01:26:41,400
in the men's and we had Atlanta for a few years and then

01:26:41,400 --> 01:26:43,500
now we've got Oscar doing really well on the men's side

01:26:43,500 --> 01:26:45,900
and then we've got me doing so it's like we it doesn't

01:26:45,900 --> 01:26:49,100
look like we've got like a good strong like base of teams

01:26:50,000 --> 01:26:53,400
behind us, but I think we really do and it's just a matter

01:26:53,400 --> 01:26:55,200
of like us not training together.

01:26:55,200 --> 01:26:58,600
I think if if they if we all train together more and they

01:26:58,600 --> 01:27:01,600
saw like their level is like the same as my level.

01:27:01,800 --> 01:27:04,700
I think that would give a lot of confidence and I think other

01:27:04,700 --> 01:27:07,300
national teams probably have that every day they see each

01:27:07,300 --> 01:27:10,100
other and then they see one person going and doing whatever

01:27:10,100 --> 01:27:13,200
at the World Cup and they're like, okay, I just was doing

01:27:13,200 --> 01:27:14,600
way better at her in that training session.

01:27:14,600 --> 01:27:16,700
Of course I can go to the World Cup and do the same as

01:27:16,700 --> 01:27:17,400
she's doing.

01:27:17,800 --> 01:27:20,000
I was I was assumed that's that's part of the mindset at

01:27:20,000 --> 01:27:21,700
least. Yeah, that definitely makes sense.

01:27:21,700 --> 01:27:26,000
I think like competition just breeds greatness in general

01:27:26,600 --> 01:27:29,700
that also kind of touches on like the next discord question.

01:27:29,700 --> 01:27:33,600
So let me know if you have like more to expand on this one

01:27:33,600 --> 01:27:36,800
says in your latest video.

01:27:37,100 --> 01:27:39,700
I think this was maybe like a couple weeks ago though.

01:27:40,600 --> 01:27:43,200
Zach mentions that you mostly climb alone.

01:27:43,200 --> 01:27:46,200
Would there be a benefit to making Team Canada a bit more

01:27:46,200 --> 01:27:49,100
of an institution with dedicated team training programs

01:27:49,100 --> 01:27:50,300
and infrastructures?

01:27:50,900 --> 01:27:53,300
Yeah, I mean that would be the dream with a little bit of

01:27:53,300 --> 01:27:54,400
funding for sure.

01:27:55,400 --> 01:27:58,700
We did actually establish a national training center in

01:27:59,300 --> 01:28:04,100
the Richmond Oval in Vancouver a couple years ago, but we

01:28:04,100 --> 01:28:06,300
kind of just said that it was a national training center

01:28:06,300 --> 01:28:07,900
and then we didn't really do anything about it.

01:28:08,300 --> 01:28:10,600
I think everyone in the national team probably has like

01:28:10,600 --> 01:28:14,600
like entrance to that gym, but it's not really a good

01:28:14,600 --> 01:28:15,300
bouldering gym.

01:28:15,300 --> 01:28:16,700
I'd say it's a great lead gym.

01:28:16,700 --> 01:28:19,000
It's probably the best lead gym in the country, but the

01:28:19,000 --> 01:28:20,800
bouldering is not really where it needs to be.

01:28:23,800 --> 01:28:28,100
So yeah, that would be nice, but we are such a big country.

01:28:28,100 --> 01:28:30,800
So you're asking you'd have to move.

01:28:30,800 --> 01:28:34,800
We would have to move to that location and without funding,

01:28:34,800 --> 01:28:36,800
you know, it's just really hard to justify something like

01:28:36,800 --> 01:28:39,500
that to like uproot your life to just go be with other national

01:28:39,500 --> 01:28:43,200
team athletes when you know down to its core.

01:28:43,200 --> 01:28:46,000
We don't even have like a really good national program.

01:28:46,000 --> 01:28:47,800
Like we don't have training camps.

01:28:47,800 --> 01:28:50,600
We don't have a coach like it's like a lot of stars need

01:28:50,600 --> 01:28:51,800
to align for this to happen.

01:28:51,800 --> 01:28:57,300
But I think it is the absolute next best step for Canada in

01:28:57,300 --> 01:28:59,900
terms of like upping the level of our national team.

01:28:59,900 --> 01:29:04,400
I think, you know funding aside, you know organization aside

01:29:04,400 --> 01:29:08,600
like when we are talking about like how do we improve the

01:29:08,600 --> 01:29:11,000
national team? I think that's absolutely what needs to happen

01:29:11,000 --> 01:29:14,100
and we're almost starting to do it organically in Montreal.

01:29:14,100 --> 01:29:18,100
We're missing a few Ontario people and a couple BC people,

01:29:18,100 --> 01:29:21,300
but for the most part, we've got a good chunk of the national

01:29:21,300 --> 01:29:22,300
team here in Montreal.

01:29:22,300 --> 01:29:26,400
So it would be great like very cost-effective if we just kind

01:29:26,400 --> 01:29:30,200
of if CEC just said, all right Montreal is it, you know, try

01:29:30,200 --> 01:29:31,500
to be here as much as possible.

01:29:31,500 --> 01:29:34,200
And you know, if in the future we're like, okay, we can give

01:29:34,200 --> 01:29:35,500
you housing when you're here.

01:29:35,500 --> 01:29:39,100
That would be amazing and with the array of climbing gyms and

01:29:39,100 --> 01:29:40,400
just climbing together all the time.

01:29:40,400 --> 01:29:44,200
I think the confidence will go up for the whole team and it

01:29:44,200 --> 01:29:46,400
would just be like amazing.

01:29:46,400 --> 01:29:49,000
I think we'd see huge results on the World Cup circuit, but

01:29:49,000 --> 01:29:52,400
we're it seems like we're a few years away from that for sure.

01:29:52,400 --> 01:29:55,000
Yeah, it seems like getting all the climbers together would

01:29:55,000 --> 01:29:56,900
probably help a whole bunch.

01:29:56,900 --> 01:30:00,300
I know like for me at least when I'm climbing with people

01:30:00,300 --> 01:30:04,400
who climb harder than me or like just as hard as me it feels

01:30:04,400 --> 01:30:09,700
me a lot more than if I'm just by myself or if I'm already

01:30:09,700 --> 01:30:13,400
like doing the best because I'm just like, I don't know.

01:30:13,400 --> 01:30:15,600
Maybe I have no like internal motivation.

01:30:16,300 --> 01:30:17,200
Okay, cool.

01:30:17,700 --> 01:30:19,900
I think that's all the questions I had.

01:30:20,000 --> 01:30:23,000
Is there any like last words that you want to get out there?

01:30:23,300 --> 01:30:25,900
Like drama aside and like funding aside.

01:30:25,900 --> 01:30:28,500
I love being in Canada.

01:30:28,500 --> 01:30:30,700
You know, I like I like representing Canada.

01:30:30,700 --> 01:30:35,600
I don't want you to think that like I hate the CEC or whatever

01:30:35,600 --> 01:30:37,400
else or I don't like Atlanta.

01:30:37,400 --> 01:30:40,000
Like I enjoy I enjoy everything.

01:30:40,000 --> 01:30:42,300
I love that Montreal's got a great scene.

01:30:43,100 --> 01:30:47,100
I'm only here to kind of prop up Canada and like push us to

01:30:47,100 --> 01:30:52,300
get even further and I think you know, I think just leading

01:30:52,300 --> 01:30:55,600
by example and and just being more involved in the community

01:30:55,600 --> 01:30:58,800
and like really getting the athletes together and like proving

01:30:58,800 --> 01:31:02,100
that we are all really a solid country for climbing and we

01:31:02,100 --> 01:31:04,900
can really push this and achieve our dreams.

01:31:04,900 --> 01:31:07,300
I think that's the way to look at it.

01:31:07,600 --> 01:31:08,200
Awesome.

01:31:08,300 --> 01:31:10,100
And that's a great statement to end on.

01:31:11,000 --> 01:31:12,800
So yeah, thank you so much for joining me.

01:31:12,800 --> 01:31:15,900
Oh anything you want to shout out or let people know where

01:31:15,900 --> 01:31:17,800
they can find you if they have more questions.

01:31:18,400 --> 01:31:21,500
Yeah, so our YouTube channel is just Richardson's climbing.

01:31:22,200 --> 01:31:26,900
Our website is also Richardson's climbing and my husband's

01:31:26,900 --> 01:31:28,700
Instagram account is Richardson's climbing.

01:31:28,700 --> 01:31:30,700
So you can just check out any of those things.

01:31:31,000 --> 01:31:32,900
Yeah, like those all in the description.

01:31:33,700 --> 01:31:34,000
Cool.

01:31:34,000 --> 01:31:36,900
Thank you so much for joining me and it was amazing to talk to you.

01:31:37,500 --> 01:31:37,700
All right.

01:31:37,700 --> 01:31:38,200
Thank you.

01:31:38,400 --> 01:31:41,700
Thank you so much for making it to the end of the podcast.

01:31:41,700 --> 01:31:44,900
Don't forget to like and subscribe if you enjoyed otherwise

01:31:44,900 --> 01:31:47,100
you are a super fake climber.

01:31:47,600 --> 01:31:50,400
If you're listening on a podcasting platform, I'd appreciate

01:31:50,400 --> 01:31:53,900
if you rate it five stars and you can continue the discussion

01:31:53,900 --> 01:31:57,900
on the free competition climbing discord linked in the description.

01:31:57,900 --> 01:31:59,100
Thanks again for listening.