|
[The following is a letter I wrote describing the Men's 11 &
Under competition at the 1999 JCCA National Championship held in Richmond, Virginia,
July 30th - August 1st.]
Hi all,
I thought since I am doing nothing but catching up on email today I
would write and try to put into words the excitement we experienced at
the 1999 JCCA Nationals event in Richmond, Va, July 30th through August 1st.
Allot of anticipation, hard work and planning culminated in a great
event that will be cherished in our memories for years to come. Thanks
to all of you that shared in our hopes and aspirations. Thanks to
Daniel and Amanda for putting up with our moments of anxiety. Thanks
to God for providing all of us hope, peace, courage, and joy.
The trip through the South, East, and Midwest was a blast, but the highlight
was Daniel and Amanda competing at the JCCA Nationals. Those of you
who were there will agree that the emotions coming from three days spent
anxiously awaiting the unknown are hard to beat.
Amanda did well at her first JCCA Nationals, but she did not make it
past the first day of competition, finishing 24th out of 25 competitors.
She was just happy to be invited, and will be better off next year for
it. I have noticed a big improvement in her climbing since the pressure
of Nationals has passed. We discovered while climbing at the New
River Gorge in West Virginia that she is a natural crack climber!
This was Daniel's year, however. He has had two years of competitive
climbing, and great coaching to prepare him for the pressure of competing
nationally at something he really loves doing -- rock climbing.
The field of competitors was made up of 25 climbers from all across
the United States ranging in age from eight to eleven. Two boys in
the 11 & under category were favored going in -- Scott Cory, of California
and Jason Cahill, of Nevada. Daniel was favored in my eyes, of course.
On day one, all of the competitors would have two routes to climb, and
the top 60 percent would advance to the semi-finals on Saturday.
After flashing both routes (a 5.10c and a 5.11a) Daniel found himself in
an eight-way tie for first place.
On the second day of competition, Daniel moved ahead finishing solidly
in second place. He was just a half point away from Jason Cahill.
Jason flashed the semi-finals route (a 5.11c/d) while Daniel slapped the
finish hold but did not control it. [Each hold that is controlled
is worth one point.] He was a full point and a half ahead of Scott
Cory. I am speculating that the two did not expect to see Daniel
in their midst based on what transpired the following day.
On the day of the finals, the climbers would climb in reverse order
of their ranking, so Daniel climbed next to last and Jason climbed last.
This may have played to Daniel's favor psychologically, as he did not have
to try to hold on to first place, and he did not have to wait until last
to climb. We were all a bundle of nerves as we new that if Jason
and Daniel both flashed or tied on the finals route, Jason would win by
default -- by half a point.
There were nine boys out of the original 25 that made it to finals.
The finals route was rated at 5.12c -- very small holds up a slightly overhanging,
45 foot wall. During the six minute preview of the route, Daniel
and his climbing buddy, Ben Roth, read the route together trying to discover
the crux segments of the climb. Jason and Scott read the route together,
agreeing on the path they would take up the route.
Being tied for sixth place, we saw Ben climb before Daniel. His
style is very similar to Daniel's because they climb together and are about
the same size. Ben climbed very well, and held the high-point on
the route through the next five climbers. We knew Daniel could do
as well or better. Scott climbed just before Daniel and fell low
on the route after getting off course onto what were intended to be small
footholds. He finished in fifth place.
Daniel's name was called and as he walked out I could tell he was all
business. He tied in, stepped back to take another read of the route,
then took a deep breath. He climbed very well, reading the route
near perfectly with no costly mistakes. He passed Ben's high-point
by a couple of moves then slapped for a polished hold setting a new high
point just two holds from the finish. We were all pretty excited
at that point because we knew he had at least finished in second place
-- Jason was next.
I know there were allot of prayers going up for Daniel that day.
When Jason came out I noticed he did not pre-read the route like Daniel
and Ben had. He started climbing and quickly got confused and off
route. He was not the same climber we saw the day before. When
I saw that he had wasted too much energy on the lower part of the route,
I realized that Daniel had won the Nationals. Jason made a little
more progress, but he was spent, and finished in fourth place. Ben
finished in second place with a great come-back. Daniel's finish
made allot of us teary-eyed with joy.
What a birthday gift! Later, we gathered all of the Colorado climbers
for birthday cake and pictures, and we celebrated Daniel's tenth birthday.
Technically, he won the event as a nine-year-old because he did not turn
ten until 9:30pm that night.
The JCCA award ceremony followed that evening, and Daniel was selected
for the United States Youth Climbing Team as well. There is a picture
of the team on the Internet at http://www.usclimbing.org
in the "US Youth Team" section. We will probably have to travel to
San Francisco this fall for an international competition. The US
team members that are 14 years-old and older are leaving for Italy next
week to compete at the Youth World Championships. In February, try-outs for
the Junior Olympic Team will be held at Rock'n & Jam'n in Thornton,
CO. The older members of that team will compete in Moscow's Junior
Olympics, where Rock Climbing will be an exhibition sport in the year 2000.
Well, I tried to give you a feel for the excitement we experienced.
Words can't do it justice though. We are all thankful for the results
and I am very proud of how Daniel is handling all the kudos he is receiving.
His response has been very modest and he prefers that I do not make a big
deal over it. I'm trying.
Regards to all,
Steve Woods
|
