Dutch Youth Championship Bouldering

Today was the Dutch Youth Championship Bouldering. I qualified first because Nikolai who won the overall 2015 boulder cup does not have the Dutch nationality. I had high hopes but things turned out differently. I should have flashed the first boulder but I was too careless and it took me 3 attempts. I should have sent the second boulder but I didn’t. 

Boulder 3 and 4 were difficult. I managed to get the bonus on boulder 3 in the first attempt which was quite an achievement but that was not enough for a place on the podium. I ended up in fourth place which was a big disappointment. I know I am strong and I know I can climb well but for one or the other reason I am not able to show my competence at competitions. That really sucks. 

I am very proud of Tiba who managed first place in the female A category. After a difficult season for her she crushed het competitors by climbing really well today. Thumbs up for Tiba. Also major congratulations to Don. He did really well and up until the last boulder gave Marc some serious competition. Congratulations to Zeno as well who took the gold in my category.

Although the results could have been better, I had a nice day. Good times in the isolation, the boulders were cool and it was great to see all my friends again.

SkyDive

Yesterday was my 15^th birthday and I got a great present from my parents. I was picked up after school and we drove for a long time without me knowing what they had planned. When I saw some small planes flying over I realized that they might have something scary in mind. And yes they had booked me a Skydive. I was very nervous and a bit afraid but it turned out to be an enormous trill. Watch for yourself in the video below.

Hitting Puberty

Hitting puberty is a strange experience. Your body is changing a lot. I went through an enormous growth spurt, lost control of my body and motor skills

but luckily that settled down after a while. I am getting stronger now. Energy is not all lost anymore to growing in length but is now geared towards muscle build up. This also means that I am quickly outgrowing my clothes. Luckily enough a new shipment from my sponsor NIHIL arrived recently.  A new body in new clothes. I am a happy man with my new NIHIL attire. Thanks Irene.

I am currently enjoying the strength training of Jorg a lot and have recently started to do extra strength training with Jelle and Wieneke to get fit for my trip to South Africa. I have the feeling that my training is paying off. Boulders that I was not able to do a couple of months ago now come within reach, which feels good. I also seem to have built up a little reserve for lead climbing. 

My endurance sucks but I can compensate this to some extend with power. This resulted in a third place in the first national youth lead competition last Sunday. The two qualification routes went very well. I qualified shared first with Zeno for the finals. Unfortunately I made a mistake in the final route but that was still good enough for the bronze medal. There is certainly room for improvement but I was satisfied with this result.