OFF THE WALL : What is the GB Climbing Talent Camp?
A week spent enriching the foundations and the future of young GB Climbing athletes with input from coaches, instructors, team leaders, with thanks to the support from Plas Y Brenin.
A lot of our young athletes spend all their time climbing for competitions on artificial walls. The purpose of this camp is to bring awareness to these young athletes of all the different opportunities there are from pursuing climbing and the opportunities it brings, finding an appreciation of the wider community, and also they’re given a chance to test their robustness and resilience from experiencing the challenges of climbing in the outdoors.
The technical aims of the camp were:
To improve resilience and adaptability by exposing athletes to new environments and challenges.
To work on overall physicality and endurance.
To build individual awareness of sport and adventure pathways and learn from experts.
To have an introduction to the fields of sport psychology and sport nutrition and understand how they relate to performance.
At this camp we had 16 young athletes attend alongside four GB Climbing coaches, as well as the Team Manager, and to ensure everyone’s safety we also had Plas Y Brenin instructors attending. The main activity was a chance to try out climbing on Slate in the historic and atmospheric venue of Dinorwig Quarry.
It wasn’t just about climbing either! During the camp a whole variety of activities were included for the young athletes to try out, including Paddle sports such as canoeing and stand-up paddleboarding, which some of the youngsters enjoyed the most! The educational workshops of sports psychology and sports nutrition were delivered by TASS practitioners and GB England Coach delivered a workshop on personal well-being.
Dave Evans, PyB instructor, said: “A lot of the GB Youth Squad have never climbed outdoors before so it’s their first time tying onto a rope in an outdoor environment, helping them understand what is available in outdoor climbing, getting those experiences, and also having a go at a style of climbing that’s likely quite a contrast to the style that they’re used to in a comp environment. We hope it’s been an enjoyable way to decompress after a busy comp season.”
Sophie Cox, GB Climbing England Talent Manager, said: “This camp had more of a focus on personal development as opposed to competition specific technical and tactical skill development. It was great to see all the young athletes engaging in the workshops, trying new things, and also having fun. The coaches were always on hand to support the athletes and the Plas Y Brenin staff really looked after us.”