Sport climbers had an awesome day. Coaches were impressed with how much more relaxed and determined they all climbed. They onsighted a few routes the first part of the morning. The coaches complimented them on improvements in breathing, pace and rhythm, clipping, reading the route both during preview and while climbing and resting on good holds. By the end of the training session today each climber had been on every route currently set on the wall. They all know this wall well which is expected to give them an edge over their competitors, with both beta and confidence.
Speed climbers had their best day of training thus far. Each one of them had more consistent runs. Consistency has been the number one goal with both Stan and Claudiu. Stan is pleased with how hard everyone has worked including fighting through some tough mental challenges. Guys were consistently running in the 8-10 second range and the girls in the 10-12 range. All the speed climbers had fewer falls on the speed wall, improved beta and fierce determination along with strong competitive drive in training today. Training speed for 4-5 hrs straight takes so much energy. They never complained about fatigue and kept a positive attitude throughout these last 3 days of training.
Lunch was picnic style again at the wall. After lunch the coaches and several climbers played basketball. Alex Fritz won the game of PIG (HORSE was too long for the number of players). A big group of climbers played another game of EXTREME (yes, extreme - ultimate is not descriptive enough) FRISBEE on the field in front of the wall. The bees didn't even deter these guys. A few bee stings did not interrupt the game.
The afternoon ended with a trip to Safeway where everyone stocked up on drinks and snacks. Back to the dorms for debriefing followed by dinner. The sport climbers had another meeting after dinner to review IFSC rules on the simplified scoring system and how they are allowed to set routes with Dave and the rest of the coaches followed by Guitar Hero, playing cards, practicing dance moves and general shenanigans. Dr. Mark Pitcher finishes the night off by working on the kids minor aches and pains from the previous training session, preparing them for the days to come!
New skill acquisition for the day for climbers and coaches was picking the door locks to the rooms as the university staff locked several of us out of our rooms!
