It’s now finally summer and the 2013 Indoor Bouldering Competition season seems to be fully in swing. This is an exciting year as it will be the first time that team GB has fielded a full squad of Junior Competitors in bouldering. The team has been working hard behind the scenes, ready to take on the best countries in Europe as part of the IFSC European Youth Championships (EYC).

Following the squad’s first selection event in December 2012, an initial 15 athletes have been chosen to work towards an EYC shortlist for upcoming competitions. Of those 15 athletes, 5 being multi-disciplined in both lead and bouldering, a team of 5 boulderers have been selected to travel to Grindelwald in Switzerland for their first international first date on May the 25th and 26th. 

Nathan Phillips, Tara Hayes, Rachel Carr, Gracie Martin and Hamish Potokar will all travel to Europe with Team Manager/Coach Tom Greenall in the hope of making a great start to the 2013 campaign.

Following the joint Bouldering and Lead Team Inaugural Team training event in Sheffield in March, Nathan Phillips was handed the responsibility of Team Captain, joining Molly Thompson-Smith as two of the brightest talents on the British competition scene.
Nathan is the most experienced athlete in the squad having been the only person to previously enter an EYC back in 2011/12.

“Nathan was such a logical choice as team captain. He is the most experienced athlete we have in terms of bouldering competitions at this level. Coupled with his great potential as a role model, he will be an important support mechanism to the younger team members” states Team Manager/Coach Tom Greenall.

Following their initial selection, the new GB team travelled to Scotland to take part in the Scottish Youth Bouldering Championships (SYBC). This competition was the second round of the newly re-modeled Junior British Bouldering Championship, a joint venture between the BMC and the MCofS.  Glasgow’s newest and biggest bouldering center TCA hosted a fantastic event, showcasing just how far the quality of junior competitions can rise.

For Team GB this represented an opportunity to gain some vital season competition sharpness on a set of brilliant finals boulders set by a multi-faced crew, lead by TCA chief setters Alan Cassidy and Rob Sutton. This was also the first time that the team would be competing in their new Sherpa competition vests, which lighted up TCA with flashes of red and white. 

Using this performance as a performance barometer, the Junior Bouldering Team Management of Tom Greenall, Lucinda Whittaker and Clive Phillips were able to name the new shortlist competing in Round 2 of the EYC competitions in Sofia, Bulgaria in June.  

The Sofia team will now see James Mabon and Sidonie Graham joining Nathan and co for Team GB’s second outing of 2013. 

You can keep up to speed with all this years action from the GB Junior and Senior climbing teams via the official team website. You can find a full list of GB Junior Bouldering Team Athletes on the GB Climbing Team website.

The Junior British Bouldering Team is supported by Sherpa Adventure Gear and NICAS.

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