Coaching with Jay : 5 weeks on...

Working with Jamie now for over 5 weeks and the journey has been amazing and very progressive (for both of us). His first attempt at leading a 4c was filled with frustration (his) and fear (mine) as I allowed him to begin lead climbing very early on (maybe our 2nd session I think?). The danger was that the combination of difficulty in clipping the the rope safely through the quickdraw and the sometimes overwhelming fear of being in a lead fall situation too early on could have been very regressive, but we took our chance. The quickdraws were clipped using both his hands while he bridged his feet in the corner! Some were clipped correctly and some were ‘back clipped’ but I made the decision to let him continue as we were going to have to take some risks in this journey, calculated but there none the less. If I had stopped him in that moment then he would not have succeeded a few sessions later on his first 6a lead up the main overhanging wall that demanded smooth clips with one hand whilst hanging on with the other in strenuous positions on the overhanging wall. From 6a we quickly moved onto a hard 6b project, which will take us longer but will act as a false barrier for harder routes I think, because it is not the grade that is the challenge but the style and sustained nature of the climb. When this one falls to Jay, then 6c will come quicker than this 6b. (I think!). Increasing Jay’s flexibility has been a focus and completely changing his climbing style so that we can slow everything down to a manageable climbing pace for him to cope with a higher level of difficulty (both physically and mentally). Jay's strength is not a problem at the moment but finding ways to positively change Jay’s climbing style has required much thought and experimentation. But the change has begun and he is moving differently now on the routes with a much more focused coordination and use of tactics that we have developed to wind our way round the standard challenges of lead climbing. It is difficult to understand just how hard Jay will climb, and yet, if I allow us to set any specific long term goals, then I suspect I will let us down with that strategy. So we must concentrate on only believing in the unbelievable and simply focus on a wider objective…

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dhGnOsdTXmXfl5_IK1p78p5znTJb7J7FG6cnRIv_M4k/pub

http://www.justgiving.com/MarkMcGowan01

Coaching for the BMC PARA - CLIMBING SERIES 2014 with Gwyn...

I was lucky enough to be asked to coach Gwyn for his upcoming competition in London at BMC PARA CLIMBING SERIES at the Castle Climbing Centre.

We are into our third week now and have shifted both my understanding of Gwyn's blindness and his understanding of what is actually achievable by him with our joint agreement on an intense training and coaching plan that has seen us begin on 6b+ to watch him working two long 7a's today at the Beacon after a tough weeks campusing and working a higher level of power endurance on the wooden blobs of doom!

Gwyn working the problems in our session preparing for London

Gwyn used to climb back in the 80's/90's until he lost full use of his sight with use of his peripheral vision only. But he decided to try again with climbing as he adapted to his new way of seeing. My challenge was trying to understand firstly, how it might feel to climb for Gwyn and secondly to find ways that would assist our plight of improving his climbing for the competition in London.

Training the body to improve is not too hard, just takes effort and time - training the mind to adjust to climbing at a higher standard is harder, but still not so hard - finding ways to understand what it really feels like with impaired sight was terrifying! I tried climbing a 6c with my eyes shut on lead and have never been so frightened going over a bulge above a bolt (and I have done some reasonably scary shit in my time).

Finding methods to tag holds as we climb through the blind spots has been working a little, but we have 3 weeks to go before Gwyn's first competition... Trying new ideas and training harder as the programme increases in intensity before the taper towards the Competition, towards London.

Inspiration... A Coaching Journey with Jay 'stomping' Owen.

Young Jay trying harder at his climbing and his life... Inspiring.

  "Hi my name Jamie 24 years old who has dyspraxia aspergers d.a.m.p also in progress getting re diagnosed now as Adult since i understand more stuff now as Adult rather than when i was a child not understanding anything atall with reading before when i was Little couldnt read or understand books or didnt no how to socialize with peers but i have come along way through battleing its not been easy for me more case i cant write to save my life , am allways in strict routine with doing things and if am not doing them activites i have a Bad day and just shut everyone out like whole world but what has changed my life is Climbing with helping me with my coordination confidence working my brain more just everything .. anything to do with Extreme sports i love and outdoors same as Music Films.. found it very hard to fit in with others peers when i was Little went away at age 12 years old to boarding school witch times were hard, but changed my life from haveing the Help down there , since the teachers at mainstream school didnt no how to deal with me plus 1 to 1 help connects in more ways with the teacher they get to understand you more than a mainstream Teacher an my Achievements been able to play Ice Hockey Roller Hockey , tryed playing football but was all over the place couldnt get on with any my team mates cause they were just Judgemental peers .. always struggled with everything but now that i got older its better to talk about things rather than keep it all in express what you feel to others such as parents doctors about lows and your highs , still get good days bad days , but wont let it define me as person , so to all that are struggling with things you have Gift at the end of day try new things no matter what the outcome is , battle on through , Each goal you do is Achievement even if you dont see it at 1st , just wanted to share this with you all .. it might not make sense but i wrote it out in best possible way i could , to try explain my Story p.s Jamie"

Jay working his 6a project at Beacon

Coaching and climbing with Jay has possibly been the most inspiring climbing journey that I have been on for a while. Watching him face the difficulties of climbing combined with the other challenge that is in his life has been humbling.

In between, climbing sessions where he works hard at learning how to be calm clipping a quick draw on lead and not get frustrated, when he is learning not to think about the confusions of right and left and to try to slow everything down when everything is telling him to hurry, in between this we had a great chat about his life and mine.

To sit down and hear a young man with autism be open about the challenges it has caused him to just live and the methods he uses to manage the best life for himself and his awareness of his own bravery and that it has ultimately been about how he has chosen to face his autism and how the world looks at him as he looks back at it was amazing and has left me feeling pretty humbled about my own difficult childhood and challenges I faced.

He lead his strong ass up the steep wall of the Beacon today fighting every difficult clip with such determination and bravery when he had only just learned how to find a solution for managing the magnified frustration of clipping a rope through the quick draw whilst under the weird sensation of being on the lead was just inspiring for me. Well done Jay 'stomping' Owen!

Jay: leading his first route on main steep wall at Beacon

Inspiration...

Paul Pritchard on Rainbow Slab from Bamboo Chicken Productions on Vimeo.

Paul & JD

If I'm honest, I cried when I first saw this video of my two friends, whom I hadn't seen since the time of the photo below the video. Paul and Johnny are both great and inspiring people and I can only tip my hat to Paul for his awesome bravery and to Johnny for his openness and kindness... Such friends are always an inspiration to live bigger and try just a little harder... (Mark McGowan)

Inspiration... My friend Paul Pritchard - Trikes on the Roof of the World

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/424152792/trikes-on-the-roof-of-the-world?ref=live

Amanda Did it ...'Dinnet Do It' (7c)

Amanda working her 7c project

Amanda sent her target project today 'Dinnet Do It' (7c), which is great news for her and for ReAch. I have been reducing my 1 to 1 coaching days over the last month or so as I begin to understand what I want from my coaching and helping Amanda unlock her true potential in climbing has been a huge pleasure for me. I love to see someone get something tangible back from a coaching session that is real and not just an organised exchange of information of skills or technique drills.

She has a strong commitment to her climbing and to see her get her target 3 months before her expectations is just bloody marvelous! Well done you Amanda!

I love working with people like you and continue to be inspired by your love for your climbing and your special training psyche... :-) happy days dude...

send....Happiness! 

Coaching Ethos at Reach Climbing Coach...finding the inspiration

Allot of people perceive our systems and coaching ethos to be pretty hard core - in jest we talk of Reach/Fight Club, but the reality of our coaching ethos is about support when your down and inspiring you when you are up pushing forward in your personal drive to improve as a climber.


We have many great training systems and programs but ultimately the 1 to 1 contact is what makes things work.

This week has been an interesting learning curve for me at Reach with a few clients feeling the pain of a plateau and others pushing into new ground with short term achievements breaking their expectations. I was one of the climbers hitting a small wall in terms of short term targets not being met, but luckily my experience of 6a to 8a taught me not to fret and that it will break if I stay the course and remain focused on the strategic goal.


Performance Targets are there to serve one purpose: to motivate ...if they are wrong, then adjust them, because otherwise they are not serving their purpose.I met about 10% of my mid training targets/milestones yet succeeded on the project.


I would never have achieved my goal of 8a in such a short period, should I not have been truly inspired to change my life. The inspiration is what drives our motivation to improve, not some fickle sense of ego. We all have ego but truly inspired climbers achieve great things and take more from their climbing experiences than those that miss the gift of being inspired... 


So dig deep and look for it, because when you get a sense of it, you will know and feel better than you have before and move well across the rock like never before...

Inspiration!

Film maker Petr Pavlíèek's christmas gift to the climbing world is this video of Adam Ondra making unreasonable easy work of Markus Bock's The essential and Der Heilige Gral, both 9a, in the Frankenjura

ADAM ONDRA - DER HEILIGE GRAL 9a from BERNARTWOOD on Vimeo.

Spray - Chris Lindner

Spray - Chris Lindner from BS Productions on Vimeo.