2014 Youth pan american Championship

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Mexico City, Mexico


Through November, 25th to December, 1st 
I was fortunate enough to be selected to join the U.S coaching team at the 2014 Youth Pan American Championship. 
The coaching team was diverse and put together by US Head Coach Claudio from Atlanta, along with Kyle from Texas, Megan from New York, Tyson from Washington and my self from Boston. It was a five day event for the athletes, including all disciplines; Sport, Speed and Boulder. This was my first time in Mexico and my first time coaching with the US Team. I have to say that the learning curve for my coaching spiked while working alone side with some of the countries best coaches and youth athletes. Everyone has their own style and with variety, our team kids had everything they needed to prep and focus for this event. 

The chief setter for the bouldering event was set by my boy Dave Wetmore. He and his tiny crew of three Mexicans, set three rounds of boulder for each category. They killed it! The chief setter for Lead was also set by an American Luke and his small crew. Four kids from the Metro Rock team received invites to this event. They qualified at Nationals for bouldering, lead and speed back in July and in March. Bimini placed 2nd in female B lead with an amazing display of never giving up throughout a hard finals route. Lily placed 2nd in female A bouldering staying in second place to Margo Hayes throughout the 3 rounds of competition. Adriana placed 12th in female A bouldering, she just came off a month long injury but pushed and tried hard. Proud. Zoe placed 5th in female Jr. bouldering also coming off an injury but moving up in each round with determination yo. They were all one of the biggest reasons I signed up to be a coach at this event. These kids push me, inspire me and make me feel like one lucky coach, psyched I can be there for them.

Here are some numbers to get a detailed idea of how some things went down.

70 US Climbing Athletes in total attend the event 16 First Place finishes
16 Second Place finishes
13 Third Place finishes

45 Total medals of 72
4 Amazing US Coaches to hang, learn and coach with.
1 Busy Team Manager that killed it
5 Days of competition
So many supportive parents and families
4 Speed routes set by the US coaches.
30 Hours each coach spent in Isolation for Tyson, Megan and myself. (A total of 90 hours!) 3 Locations visited by the coaches, Hotel, Comp Venue and the mall
1 Thanksgiving meal missed but replaced by eating tacos with amazing people!
200 PB & Jelly sandys eaten by ISO coaches

I hope that the next youth event like this, I will be able to coach and help the kids achieve their goals and focus on what matters to each one of them.