Today I have a few guests with me and the first one is Guy Davenport, who is one of the most successful coaches in the UK climbing world for youth athletes and climbers. Two of his superstar climbers are also with us in this episode, Isabel Edgington, who just a few days before recording this has flown back from Dallas from the World Youth Championships, and along with her is Jessica Ward, who Guy has coached for 4 years now, and so far she has won every single competition she has entered this year. We discuss what it has taken them to reach the level of skill that they’ve achieved, which has them on track to be competing in the Olympic Games.

Why Guy contacted Stuart 4:20
Qualifying for the GB Team 9:03
Helping athletes when they freeze up 19:00
Under pressure 28:29
The isolation zone and warming up 34:31
Testing and assessing balance 44:32

“I kinda liken it to learning to drive a car. You get in the car and suddenly the instructor sets you right, you come out to a roundabout, you gotta change gear, you gotta look in your mirror, you gotta put the clutch down, you gotta do all these things in a certain sequence, whereas now we get in a car and we don’t think about it. It’s just second nature and I want this kind of approach to climbing for my squad, for it to be kind of a second nature, that breathing process they go through.” 25:43