Team Geared Up

SINGAPORE (Team Geared Up) - Neal McQuaid (TGU Blogger) has started a new climbing coaching company IrishClimbingCoching.ie with Nigel Callender.

We are Irelands first and only dedicated Climbing Coaching provider, combining our own experience of top-level climbing with the science of performance and training.

They have a website in the form of a blog and Nige has done a fantastic piece of writing about the delicate balance of motivation. Worth the read to see what a few misplaced words can do…

What is motivation?

Motivation is something very personal and may not always make much sense to anyone other than the individual concerned. In a global sense it’s something that stirs the soul and sends excited shivers through your body, sometimes it’s so powerful that it consumes you - every unoccupied moment is spent dreaming.

At a climbing comp as Junior, Nige “foolishly” revealed a major personal climbing dream route to a well known and respected older climber…

I was told I was being unrealistic and the word ‘never’ was actually used, but I didn’t have the confidence to tell them exactly where to go and so shrugged it off. This one, small and careless comment had other plans however. It stuck fast in my mind and soon - I was consumed, it burned like a fire inside of me.

Nige’s efforts focused on this mere 6 move bouldering problem.

3 moves in I met what was to become my Nemesis… I fell from that move somewhere in the region of 400-500 times.

7 years later and Nige was “locked into” into his long-term project. Success was not far away.

I gave everything to holding the swing, reaching the heelhook and sketching my way to the top of my own Nemesis. The pressure instantly lifted, but this felt different, there were the usual shouts of success etc. but something was missing. Unfortunately motivation is a hugely complex beast. There was no lasting elation, only a feeling of relief.

Video of Nige on Decoy Ploy V9/10 (first ascent) in the Ogwen Valley, North Wales.

Best of luck to both of you, I look forward to hearing the first stories come through.

-Robin-