Adult Competition Participation Advice

Hi Timy!

Hope all is bueno with you! I have a little thing going on down here with comps, and was hoping perhaps you could drop some advice on my head.

I am 32 years old, and not nearly as strong as I used to be, or as i would like to be. I did however decide to compete in ABS this season to inspire my Youth Team. I decided I would compete in Men’s Advanced, since I don’t want to get hurt/injured trying to compete in Open.

I just did my first comp, at Threshhold. I got 1st in the Advanced. Some people were saying it was unfair and that I should compete in Open. Heres some points to go along with this stuff.

The Open category was populated with almost all V12 climbers; i have never climbed V12. I don’t climb on plastic very well, i grew up on rock and seem to get injured less on it. I had Mono nucleosis in February of 2008 which knocked me down to climbing V5 for months – I am just getting strong again.

The Advanced category is very competitive in SoCal. I wanted to try and flash all my problems, and climb smoothly and not thrutch/climb over my head so i won’t get injured.

I don’t want people saying that  i am sandbagging the Advanced. I dont want to get hurt in the Open. But perhaps i should just try the Open and do my best? What do you think of all this?

Sorry for being long winded. I am mostly wanting your opinion on what I should do at the next comp. Thanks so much

Cheers,
Joe Morgan
Riverside, CA
—
Where I walk, Flowers grow -Rainbow Feathered Serpent

TF Response:

This is a dilemma faced by many strong climbers who have been injured and who fluctuate in and out of shape. I think that you are perhaps over-analyzing the situation and that you need to be careful how much emphasis you place on the importance of what other people think about your decision to compete in a given category.

As you mentioned, your goal is to inspire the youth team that you coach, personally challenge yourself and to rehab from your recent injuries. Making the correct decisions for a prudent injury-free come-back is not only smart for your health and will help you avoid sabotaging your likelihood of having fun, but will provide a great example to your youth team because you are demonstrating that you have realistic expectations and are able to compete for yourself – not others.

I think that you should follow your gut about how to come back, which you have demonstrated thus far. Once you feel compelled to return into the higher category to take on a greater challenge without the fear of re-injury, then you can change your approach.

One of the greatest misconceptions with how people perceive their performance (as well as those of others) in our sport is that it is viewed in the context of a form of status having to be upheld by a fixed level. Other people in your SoCal climbing scene who are judging you may assume that you place the same value on your identity as a person as they do based solely on climbing performance at any given time and that your ego is equally as fragile as theirs if you are honest with yourself about where you are in your climbing at any given point in time.

I view your approach as mature and reality-based, not corrupt and intended to “sand bag”. Such an approach will keep you from getting into potentially negative situations that could serve only to demotivate, re-injure or resent the very activity (and other participants) that you seek to maintain as a long term pursuit in your life – such would be senseless.

This is a very important aspect of training and participating in any sport. Athletes in other sports understand that you can’t be at your highest level of output at all times whether due to a decreased commitment to training as a result of a change in lifestyle, an injury (such as in your case), following a period of over-training or being out of shape after a prolonged period of rest or off-season.

In most sports athletes rehab in a lower league or division while re-building their level of performance to confidently return to the higher level of competition. Baseball has minor league teams, Cylcing has Ability Categories 1, 2, 3, 4; Soccer has reserve teams and lower divisions to which players will be loaned for periods of rehab or due to burn-out to recharge the battery.

Climb for your passion to climb and to meet your own objectives, not those of others. That’s the wisdom behind Nathan Bancroft’s Reel Rock Short Film submission entitled: ‘Do what you like and you’ll like what you do”. Good luck with your climbing and I hope you enjoy the process of your rehab and competition comeback.

TF