Meet the GB Climbing coaches: Liam Briddon

With over a decade of coaching experience under his belt from youth champions to Olympians, Liam Briddon knows a thing or two about training and performance. But where did it all begin, and what's it like coaching climbing greats? Team BMC caught up with him to find out...

Where did it all begin for you - when did you first get into climbing?

I started climbing just before I went to uni, so I was twenty-ish. A friend and colleague of mine, Jamie Vardy, had just started working in a climbing gym and our first experience was his brother Carl taking us out to some local crags around the Sheffield and Matlock area. That kind-of piqued my interest, and then I suppose I really invested some time into climbing once I started university, in that quite typical fashion, you know? It's quite enabling in that way.

I probably came to climbing quite late compared to to most people operating in this field, but yeah, I enjoyed it quite quickly.

And when did you first start becoming interested in coaching climbers?

About the same time I started climbing - they were mutually aligned. So I got to go and climb and have those formative experiences, then when I started university, the course was specifically in outdoor education and sports coaching, so it was the perfect opportunity to do both. I got really psyched on climbing and I was fortunate enough to get a job at the wall where Carl was working at the time, so it was just a win-win. I got to coach straight away at the wall.

What was the progression like? Is there a qualification pathway that most coaches follow?

Yeah, I think I probably followed the typical qualification pathway in the sense that I started working at the wall... You get interested, then you pursue your your instructor qualifications. I got what is now the CWI, and I was particularly interested in the coaching element, so I pursued some qualifications. I did my Development Coach training and then went straight into the assessment. I did the Foundation Coach training as part of the university course I was on but because we were in higher education - specifically studying a a coaching course at the time - they fast tracked us through the Development Coach. I suppose I utilised my uni course and the more general sports coaching and then combined that with some climbing qualifications that were a little bit more applicable to the field I was in.

Over the next two years I got really psyched on a couple of more niche aspects like strength and conditioning. So I went back to university and did a Masters in strength and conditioning and I got a couple of qualifications around that specifically.

I've been really fortunate through my role in GB Climbing that I've been able to engage with UK Sport courses that are a little bit more specialised in elite sport. I was on the Coaching and High Performance Sport programme last year which kind of lined up with the Olympics. So yeah, I think it's a pretty usual qualification pathway paired up with a couple of more niche opportunities maybe!

Speaking of those more niche aspects, are there any specific elements of coaching that particularly interest you?

Yeah, for sure. I think at the time I was first operating in a more performance space with with climbers and athletes, there was maybe a lack of understanding around strength training and its programming. I think there was some industry leaders that were doing their own thing, but I think it was really quite generalised. So I wanted to go away and educate myself on what what best practise looked like and how that might apply to climbing. I would say I'm a climbing coach, not a strength and conditioning coach. It just happens that's an area I'm quite interested in.

On top of that, just being fortunate enough to get good mentorship in the UK Sport stuff allowed me to gain more experience. I'd add to that, that formal education is great, but you do need a degree of applied practise and I was really lucky I got to do both at the same time.

You work with a lot of young competition climbers, that must throw up some challenges in terms of ensuring that they're balancing their wellbeing with their training. How how do you manage that?

I think in the first instance, it's always acknowledging that everyone's an individual and it's meeting that person where they're at. There's no generic one-size-fits-all.

There's training and training load and then there's life; there's allostatic load and all of that combined... it's just understanding how to firstly acknowledge but also try and facilitate all those bits working harmoniously and it doesn't always work. I think it can be really hard to be a high-performing youth athlete whilst going to school and having a life. The the big thing is just know that everyone's an individual and sometimes actually as a coach, what you're trying to do is not be everything to everyone. You know, you've got to be the bit they need.

So there's an element of mentorship to it too?

Yeah, for sure. I think actually the biggest thing is facilitating a relationship, understanding the individual and building a degree of trust. And just, you know, everyone pulling in the same direction. It's not just I'm the coach, do this. That's very authoritarian and I don't think it works in practise. I think there has to be buy-in from all parties and everyone going in the same direction.

What about in you - have you had any mentors?

I was really lucky with the mentors I had in my coaching career, like Tom Greenall when he was head coach. He pushed me at the time that I was stepping into a transitioning coach space, where you're supporting youths moving into senior competitions. He told me I was a good coach, but you know, you should step it up a bit. He gave me opportunities and that that kind of accelerated where I'm at today.

Also I think just having a good peer group like the coaches I have around me, I'm really fortunate that I'm in an environment where we can interact and learn from each other too.

You're pretty busy with coaching work, how do you maintain your work-life balance and stay passionate about climbing for yourself?

I was actually rubbish at balancing it for for a long time, I really struggled to strike a balance and maybe the love of climbing died down a little bit. But there's a bit of a resurgence going on! I'm enjoying it again now, I'm really out of shape, but that's on me. I should prioritise putting some work into being a better climber myself, but I still definitely enjoy going to the wall, socialising, trying hard. I've not lost the love, although I don't get on the grit as much as I'd like!

I'm trying to be better and I'm learning a little bit off my colleague Rachel [Carr]. Rachel is really good at striking a balance. I'm trying to be more like her in that way.

So the motto is 'be more Rachel'?

Yeah, but don't tell her that.

What are some coaching takeaways that you would give to professional athletes that are also applicable to 'normal' climbers?

There's no secrets. That's the big thing. I think it doesn't matter if you're performing on the world stage at the highest possible level or whether it's pursuing your own recreational climbing goals. There are no shortcuts. You've got to be committed and climb and train and do all the things with intention and focus. I think that's like something that applies all the way through the spectrum of coaching, people have different goals and also different lives. So there are factors that vary but I think the constant is understanding that there are no shortcuts to take.

Being really honest about what it is you're trying to achieve and how you're going to achieve it. You can have a big, lofty ambitions but maybe you're not honest with yourself about what that's going to take. You often talk to athletes and they'll want to be really high-performing World Cup competitors but not really reflecting on where they're currently at or what they need to do. Whereas the ones that really progress and do the best face it head-on.

What's been your career highlight so far?

Oh, there have been a few. I think some of the Youth World Championships I got to support that in my formative days as a coach, were really, really valuable and really cool. They're all a bit 'sink or swim', we have small coaching teams and lots of athletes. I think the first ever international comp I went to was a Youth World Championship and I was like this is a bit full-on!

I actually think everyone always thinks I'm going to say the Olympics, and obviously it's great but I actually think Toby [Roberts] qualifying for the games was a real highlight in a coaching sense. It felt like a combination of factors and it was a really big pay-off for Toby. We went away as a small team of me, Toby and his dad, and we'd strategised how we were going to approach the Olympics. I was happy with the way that played out. But yeah, there have been a lot!