“Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it…”
–Michael Jordan
When preparing for the Youth Climbing Pan Americans held in Ibarra, Ecuador, I had many challenges. Every major competition I train for has some obstacles that I need to overcome in order to compete successfully. But without a doubt, preparation for Pan Ams was a level of difficulty higher than any other competition in which I’ve competed.
Challenge #1: Qualifying
The first was qualifying for the event. In order to qualify for Pan Ams, you have to be top six at Youth Climbing Nationals. I placed 5th at Nationals, missing 4th place by just 0.04 seconds. Luckily, that finish allowed me to qualify for Pan Ams. I was thrilled with my finish at Nationals and even more excited about the opportunity to compete at Pan Ams and see Ecuador.
Challenge #2: Would the event occur in 2019?
Pan Ams does not happen for Youth climbing every year. It usually occurs every two years, but sometimes it can be longer depending on IFSC scheduling. It was not until August, over a month after Nationals, that I received confirmation that Pan Ams was happening this year. I got my official invitation from USA Climbing in September. I signed all of the paperwork as soon as I could and looked forward to representing Team USA at an international competition.
Challenge #3: Civil unrest in Ecuador
Pan Ams was scheduled to be held in Ecuador in November, but in early October, riots started happening over gas prices. The Ecuadorian president, Lenin Moreno, had recently eliminated a subsidy program that lowered the gas prices and thus diesel prices doubled and gas went up 30%. Moreno had little choice but to implement the austerity measures because Ecuador needed to reduce its debt. The people of Ecuador were extremely upset by this and staged violent protests throughout Ecuador. Due to concern for the safety of the athletes, Pan Ams were canceled, but the Pan Am committee hoped they could reschedule the event to another date with a new location. Fortunately, the Ecuadorian government and the protesters reached an agreement a few weeks later. The riots ended and the Pan Am committee set a new date for the event and kept the original location in Ecuador. Everyone who was invited to go originally was still allowed to go. Team USA was cautious about allowing USA athletes to attend, given the potential for more protests, but in the end, we decided it was safe and went to Ecuador.
Challenge #4: Auto-Belay Recall
Even while the protests were occurring in Ecuador, I continued to train hard. When it became clear that the event was almost certain to happen, I started training more on the speed wall. The main gym that I train at for speed is Momentum in Katy, TX. While it’s two hours from my home it is the closest 15-meter wall to Austin. Unfortunately, the device that safely lowers a climber down from the top of the wall, an auto-belay, had to be recalled by Perfect Descent, the manufacturer, because they found a problem with one of the springs. Luckily, no one was injured before they discovered the issue! The auto-belays were not expected to be returned for a couple of months. That meant that I could not speed climb in Katy until after Pan Ams. I had to resort to driving an extra hour and a half to Dallas because it was the next closest speed wall available. In fact, it was the only 15-meter wall available in Texas because all of the other gyms had recalled auto belays. I went for six weekends in a row to train in Dallas, which made it hard to study and keep rested with all the time spent on the road. My dad and I knew just about every mile on I-35 between Austin and Dallas after our numerous trips.
Challenge #5: Missing School
Pan Ams was now scheduled right after Thanksgiving Break, so I would have to miss three days of school. I was able to collect all the work I needed to do during those three days before the break and complete the assignments during the break, but it was still challenging to do all of the work ahead of time. I trained in Dallas for the entire week before I flew to Ecuador.
Challenge #6: Elevation
We had planned to arrive early in Ecuador because Ibarra, where the competition was going to be held, was at an altitude of 7,300 feet above sea level. I’ve climbed at 5,000 feet in Denver and knew that it would take time for me to adjust to the altitude given that my home in Austin is close to sea level. We arrived late in Quito, the capital of Ecuador, sometime after midnight. I stayed and trained in Quito for the next couple of days because Quito has an altitude of 9,350 ft, more than 2,000 ft higher than Ibarra. I figured that acclimating at an altitude higher than the competition site would be beneficial.
The mountain of Chimborazo in Ecuador actually holds the record of being the closest place on Earth to outer space despite being 8,465 feet shorter than Mount Everest. This is because the Earth is not a perfect sphere and is slightly wider at the equator than at the poles. Since Ecuador is at the equator and Everest is not, Chimborazo edges out Mount Everest for being the closest place to space.
Challenge #7: Eating Safely
I had to be very careful about what I ate in Ecuador so I did not get sick before the competition. I drank bottled water because the tap water in Ecuador is not safe to drink. I decided not to eat any vegetables because they might be washed in unsafe water. Overall, the food in Ecuador was very good, but I had to forgo trying some of the more interesting delicacies to be safe. That being said, I did try guinea pig because it is one of the most famous dishes in Ecuador. Guinea pig is OK. It’s a little bony which is distracting while eating the meat.
Challenge #8: Growth Spurt
After Nationals and during my Pan Ams training, I had a growth spurt where I grew 3 inches. While this can be beneficial for your climbing in the long run, it is difficult to deal with in 4 months while training for an event. I outgrew my shoes, I had to train using different exercises, and I felt different when climbing the wall. One of the best youth climbers, Kai Lightner, had a massive growth spurt that made it extremely difficult for him to compete in the professional climbing circuit. Whether it was a blessing or a curse, it served as a challenge while training for Pan Ams.
Challenge #9: Bone Bruise
During Nationals training, I had felt some pain in my right middle finger. I did not have the time to examine the source of this pain, but it never went away. After Youth Nationals, I decided to have my finger looked at by a pediatric orthopedic surgeon. After the MRI of my hand, it turned out that I had a bone bruise. That was great news compared to having a torn pulley or ligament. While not too serious, I was forced to abstain from climbing for a few weeks and had to tape my finger when I got back on the wall.
Challenge #10: No Coach
For most of my Pan Ams training, my coach, Meritt Ernsberger, was not in the same state as me. This meant I did not have a coach and had to train myself. It was much more difficult to understand why certain things happened on the wall and how to correct my mistakes. Despite this, I was still able to reform my beta and improve my times.
Challenge #11: Off-Cycle Training
For the previous two years after Youth Nationals, I had a few weeks of a break from the wall. I still may have trained a bit off of the wall, but I forced myself to have some rest. Since Pan Ams was scheduled so soon, this break vanished. I had to train in my “off-season” and had no time to recover. This may have been a factor in why my bone bruise got to the point it was. It didn’t have time to fully heal but if I did not start training immediately after Nationals, I would have been at a major disadvantage at Pan Ams.
Challenge #12: Flights in Quito
The flights going in and out of Texas to Quito, Ecuador were very few. This meant we had to fly in at obscure times of the night. I arrived in Quito after midnight and left at some time after 1 am in the morning. Traveling at such late times was detrimental to my sleep schedule which is very important for an athlete. Despite having been tired, I was able to get good sleep the night before the competition and perform my best.
Challenge #13: Summit Plano Gym Losing Power
Unfortunately, the last day that I was training at Summit Plano, I could not climb because the gym in Dallas had a power outage. This lost me my final two entire sessions of training before departing for Ecuador! I lost some precious training time due to a power outage. While it was only a few hours that I would have trained, these were the last times that I would get on a wall before I climbed in Ibarra.
The Youth Pan American Climbing Competition was the most prestigious event that I had ever participated in. I had a copious amount of challenges but despite these I was still able to make the most of it and perform my best. I ended up placing 6th and was very excited to do so well at such a major climbing competition. All athletes dream of reaching a competition of this level. I could not let the opportunity go to waste, so even though I had many challenges, I worked my hardest to overcome these and compete my best.