Am I good enough to compete? People who fear this question get stuck in a cycle: train harder until something goes wrong > don’t compete > comp announced > train harder…
The skills of competition
Competing is a skill set all by itself, and it's one that can only be practiced by competing. there are certainly things you can do to bring on competition like stressors during training but only competitions can tell you what you need to hear. For example the strongest climbers may fall apart under the pressure and therefore not perform as well as a climber who isn’t as strong and who has trained themselves to thrive in the competition format.
So what have you got to lose? Nothing, you can only gain experience if that is what you are chasing. Here are some key competition skills to focus on and how to improve at them.
1. Flashing
Flashing climbs is a valuable skill in competitions, being able to look at a climb and interpret the way that you are going to climb it and being able to execute, adapt when necessary and try hard enough to get to the top. Spend a few minutes before every boulder you try reading the climb. plan the hands and feet out, plan how you want to move in the space between the holds.
2. Adaptability
You need to be able to adapt to what the climb requires of you to send, chop and change. After you have warmed up pick climbs around your flash grade on different wall angles and hold types, work your way through each with a time limit - 2 minutes is a good place to start - or an attempt limit - 3 attempts per boulder - to put a bit of pressure on yourself to perform. Slab, Steep, Slab, Medium wall angles, mix it up so you have to adapt to each climb.
3. Learn the rules
Understanding your clear cut guidelines will help you to know what you can and cannot do, not having any guesswork involved removes a lot of doubt.
Go in with the intent to learn something and you can never lose. Everything we do is for our own personal growth and development so if you learnt something then you win every time.
