Author: fbenedictus

I grind my teeth. Even when I’m not thinking about very difficult things – such as what present to give my mother for her birthday – I scrape the teeth of my lower jaw with my upper teeth. The dentist kindly but urgently advised me to stop grinding my teeth, because the teeth on my lower jaw have already been worn down to miniature versions of their upper comrades. But that’s easier said than done – because I’m spastic.

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2017 is going to be a great year for me. I’m getting married to the woman I love; in a month or two I hope to finish my PhD and, on top of that, there’s going to be a lot of climbing. Last September’s Worldchampionship in Paris was the first international climbing-competition that I participated in. I did better then I had expected two months before, so the competition really whetted my appetite. The next Worldchampionship will be in 2018 in Innsbruck (AUT). But I’m not going to wait that long!

Worldcup

In 2017 the IFSC (International Federation for Sportsclimbing) organises a paraclimbing Worldcup: a series of climbing events at different locations. At the time of writing the IFSC  has yet to announce the locations and dates of the worldcup-events, but there are rumours about three of the locations. There will probably be paraclimbing events in Edinburgh (UK) and Sheffield (UK) sometime around September 2017 and another will be organised in Imst (AUT), but the precise date of the event in Imst hasn’t yet been made public. I plan to take part in all three events. Last year – before my joining the Dutch paraclimbing team – there was a paraclimbing event organised in Campitello di Fassa (IT). I’d really like to compete in Campitello di Fassa, so I hope that they’ll organise another event this year!

Boston?

Another trip which I’m considering would take me to Boston (MA). On June 23rd the Brooklyn Boulders climbing community in Somerville will host the USA Climbing National championships. I would very much like to visit the city of the MIT and the Boston Tea Party. It would also be a great opportunity for me to get a feeling for different styles (formats) of competition: at the Worldchampionship in Paris I had to climb ‘on-sight’; in Boston they’ll be climbing ‘red-point’ (I’ll explain the difference in a later blogpost).

Because I don’t know the precise dates at which I’ll have to get the best out of myself (or even what counts as ‘the best’; because that depends on the competition-format) it’s difficult to make plans about training. It’s difficult to set short-term goals if you don’t yet know your long-term goals. That is why I’ll write about my goals and training-methods in a later blogpost. Don’t forget to subscribe to the updates on this blog! 😉

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