8: Matt Groom, IFSC Commentator
Matt Groom is a freelance commentator best known for being the lead commentator at IFSC world cups. You may also find him hosting EpicTV Climbing Daily, writing for UKC, or commentating at other climbing competitions. There's a lot of talk online about Matt, and in this EXCLUSIVE interview we go over his response to criticism as well as his explanation for some of the mistakes caught on audio.
Show Notes
Guest links:
Reference links:
Commentary box behind the scenes video
Timestamps
Timestamps of discussion topics
0:00 - Introduction
3:50 - Not an IFSC employee
7:20 - Journey to becoming the IFSC commentator
13:24 - What does the commentators box look lilke
18:08 - Behind the scenes of production/broadcast
21:47 - Finding a co-commentator
27:10 - The most difficult part of commentating
30:14 - Approaching comments and online hate
34:50 - Let's go through Matt Groom bingo!
42:25 - Trying to inform new viewers and still keep old viewers engaged
46:38 - What the IFSC does right
51:38 - The REDS hot mic incident
1:01:37 - Work outside of IFSC commentary
1:05:50 - Proudest career moment
1:10:39 - Commentating for non-IFSC broadcasts
1:13:08 - In defense of fanboying over British climbers
1:18:44 - Personal climbing goals
1:21:07 - Climbing with World Cup athletes?
1:22:17 - I just want to see Matt climb in a comp
1:24:57 - Discord: Do you get much feedback from athletes?
1:27:31 - Discord: Will Charlie Boscoe ever have a job that you won't steal?
1:29:31 - Discord: In a dream world, what kind of broadcast tech would you like to have
1:32:31 - Discord: We need to know the origin of sticky Sorato
1:37:23 - Where to find Matt + outro
-
1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,080
I'm choking up even speaking about it because it was just, it was this moment where like,
2
00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:09,280
it didn't matter about the sport. Sometimes dealing with the feedback I do get from various
3
00:00:09,280 --> 00:00:15,440
platforms is like enough, honestly, in terms of my mental health. And she said, I'd like to talk
4
00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:23,920
about the issue of RED-S and what the IFSC is doing. And what I said was, welcome to another episode
5
00:00:23,920 --> 00:00:30,320
of the That's Not Real Coming podcast. I'm your host Jinni and I'm excited to introduce my guest.
6
00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:36,880
Well, he hardly needs an introduction if you watch IFSC World Cups, but we're talking to Matt Groom.
7
00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:41,920
You probably know Matt as the lead IFSC commentator, but you can also find him
8
00:00:41,920 --> 00:00:48,000
commentating other international competitions, working with Epic TV Climbing Daily, or writing
9
00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:53,520
articles for UKC. In this episode, we'll get an explanation of everything that goes on in the
10
00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:59,200
commentary box. We'll play Matt Groom Bingo, we'll learn about his work outside of the IFSC,
11
00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:03,680
as well as his own personal climbing goals. Hope you enjoy this episode with Matt.
12
00:01:12,560 --> 00:01:14,800
All right, thank you so much. How are you doing?
13
00:01:15,520 --> 00:01:20,880
I'm good. Thank you. Yeah, very good. It's lovely to meet you and talk.
14
00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:27,200
Yeah, lovely to meet and talk as well. Do you have any travel plans coming up? Laval is soon,
15
00:01:27,200 --> 00:01:32,240
I think. Yeah, it's actually pretty crazy. I'm coming to the end of the season now. So we've
16
00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:37,440
only got a couple of comps left. And I've been like lulled because it's been such an insane summer.
17
00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:42,560
And I've had like maybe two and a bit weeks where I've just had some editing jobs in between.
18
00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:48,240
So I sort of convinced myself all the travel was done. But I've got to go to Switzerland on Sunday
19
00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:56,080
for a Red Bull Epic TV shoot on that giant dual ascent dam thing. Which should be good. Then I got
20
00:01:56,080 --> 00:02:03,520
10 hour drive to Laval and then do Laval. Finish that and then off to Fontainebleau with Stasha
21
00:02:03,520 --> 00:02:11,680
and Unparallel. That's the plan. And then Jakarta for the Asian qualifier straight after that.
22
00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:15,360
Back for four days and then out to Saudi Arabia for another competition. And then,
23
00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:20,160
then that's it. Then I'm done. Oh, that is exhausting. When does that end for you?
24
00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:30,560
I think Saudi Arabia finishes like the 25th, I think, of November. Wow. Yeah, that is a long
25
00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:36,560
year. That is a lot of traveling. I don't know how you do it. Oh, it's like, it's not hard. I love
26
00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:46,880
every single second of it. Yeah. Not tired. Yeah. But it just drives me forward with it a little
27
00:02:46,880 --> 00:02:52,240
bit. I definitely hit massive slumps with it and I do get tired. But this year, because it's been so
28
00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:57,120
back to back, there hasn't been a chance to settle. So I think for the last two and a half weeks,
29
00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:01,120
for the first time in a long time, I've stopped and I'm just suddenly aware that I am actually
30
00:03:01,120 --> 00:03:06,800
quite tired. So it's been nice to just to pause a little bit. Yeah, that's really nice. Well,
31
00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:11,440
thank you for taking the time to join me for this exclusive interview. I'm going to call it
32
00:03:11,440 --> 00:03:17,040
an exclusive interview because I know you mentioned earlier when we were talking that no one has asked
33
00:03:17,040 --> 00:03:23,920
you to do an interview like this before, which is crazy to me because there's a lot I want to know.
34
00:03:23,920 --> 00:03:29,600
I'm sure there's a lot people out there want to know. So yeah, I'm excited to hear about this.
35
00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:34,720
I will genuinely thank you for having me because you are the first person to have asked me to do
36
00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:40,640
something like this. And it's awesome because I don't know, it's just there's a lot to share
37
00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:45,760
and a lot to talk about. And I think there's a lot of talk that goes on outside of the IFSC. So
38
00:03:46,480 --> 00:03:50,080
it's hopefully I can give you some a couple of insights without revealing too much.
39
00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:58,960
People love talking about you. So we'll see what we can learn. So yeah, since a lot of people
40
00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:05,840
probably don't know you aren't technically employed by the IFSC. What is your, I guess,
41
00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:15,200
like job title, technically? Sure. So yeah, I work for the IFSC, but I am a freelancer. So and I work
42
00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:20,160
with various different companies throughout the year. It's just the IFSC happens to be and now
43
00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:26,240
becoming my biggest sort of employer of the year. So I'm in quite a strange position because I'm
44
00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:32,640
employed by them and I work very, very closely with the staff at the IFSC. But I'm not at the
45
00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:39,600
office. I'm not employed in a full term capacity by them. So I guess I'm in this unique position
46
00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:45,840
where I get to sometimes see what goes on and understand the story from various different sides
47
00:04:45,840 --> 00:04:53,760
because of that. But yes, I am a freelancer at heart. How much input do you get when it comes
48
00:04:53,760 --> 00:05:02,880
to IFSC, like broadcasting and just parts of your job of commentary? Sure. So it's sort of developing
49
00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:09,120
and developed as it goes along. So originally when I was brought in, it was sort of on the back of
50
00:05:09,920 --> 00:05:14,480
Charlie Bosco. He's a very good friend of mine. And when he left, you know, it was sort of moving
51
00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:21,120
into that role for him. So it was the general commentating at the events. And then at every
52
00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:28,320
event we produced highlight reels and of both the qualifying and the finals. And we also produced
53
00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:34,880
various different media for different areas. So some of it goes on to TV channels, like we have a
54
00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:39,680
show for Eurosport and a show for Fox Sports. So some of the extra content goes on that.
55
00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:48,960
And then some of it's like social media content goes on Facebook or Instagram. So and some of
56
00:05:48,960 --> 00:05:53,520
it's being held back, especially this year. So we have hopefully content to bring you in the off
57
00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:58,320
season as well as the on season because, you know, we want to try to keep that psych going.
58
00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:05,680
So yeah, so that's like, that's my basic. And my job within that is to obviously do the
59
00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:12,800
commentating side of it. But as I've done the job for longer, and because of what I've done with
60
00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:18,240
Epic TV, I think naturally sort of moving more into helping to produce the videos and come up
61
00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:26,880
with sort of content ideas and ways that we can use the team on site and myself to make better
62
00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:31,920
videos and more content for people watching. So I think that that role has evolved a little bit as
63
00:06:31,920 --> 00:06:38,960
I've done the job. And, you know, now I work more closely with IFSC. So I do some of the edits for
64
00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:43,840
them. With their bigger projects, there's something there was like an edit that dropped the other day
65
00:06:43,840 --> 00:06:48,320
on their YouTube channel about the universality athletes. So that was athletes from countries
66
00:06:48,960 --> 00:06:53,200
that are never really climbed at a World Cup level before there's Olympic money available
67
00:06:53,200 --> 00:06:58,800
to bring them into the World Cup circuit. So we followed like a mini documentary with those
68
00:06:58,800 --> 00:07:04,880
athletes. So I'm beginning to start working more closely with them to try to just bring more
69
00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:13,440
content to the table. So it's changing as we move forward. That sounds like a super full time job.
70
00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:18,960
I don't know how you find time for the other I guess like freelance commentary gigs that you
71
00:07:18,960 --> 00:07:27,760
have going on. But yeah, so most people listening know this know you for your IFSC commentary.
72
00:07:27,760 --> 00:07:34,240
And it's surely been a long journey for you to get to this point. So do you want to walk me through
73
00:07:34,240 --> 00:07:37,200
the points in your career that you think led you to this role?
74
00:07:37,680 --> 00:07:40,880
Sure. It's weird when you say career because it never really feels like a career. It just feels
75
00:07:40,880 --> 00:07:50,400
like, yeah, it is quite nice. But it's yeah, so originally, way back, I trained as an actor. So I
76
00:07:50,400 --> 00:07:56,560
was trying to be an actor trying to be on stage and screen and stuff like that. And then I did try
77
00:07:56,560 --> 00:08:02,560
to do that for about eight years living in London, completely failed, never really made it past like
78
00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:10,320
the fringe stage of things. And then I sort of reassessed life, retrained as a journalist
79
00:08:10,960 --> 00:08:15,520
at Sheffield University, mainly because I was always jealous I didn't go to Sheffield
80
00:08:15,520 --> 00:08:20,640
University to climb. And I suddenly had this epitome where I was like, epiphany where I was like,
81
00:08:20,640 --> 00:08:25,040
oh my goodness, I could go do a master's and still go climbing. Because if you don't know it, it's
82
00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:33,280
this place in the UK where the gritstone is, which is like single pitch, trad climbing. It's one of
83
00:08:33,280 --> 00:08:39,920
the best places in the UK to go climbing. So yeah, I went to university there, did a master's and then
84
00:08:41,120 --> 00:08:48,240
sort of fell into a fairly low scale job at Epic TV. I think my exact role was
85
00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:55,760
climbing researcher. Because at that point, Epic TV had lots of different channels, they had biking
86
00:08:55,760 --> 00:09:01,600
channels and skiing channels. So my job was basically to do research for the person who was
87
00:09:01,600 --> 00:09:08,720
editing all of the climbing content. So I sort of bring him stories. But as I arrived, the editor
88
00:09:08,720 --> 00:09:14,080
left, and I happened to sort of be there as the only person. So I took over the editing side of
89
00:09:14,080 --> 00:09:18,800
things at the same time. So I suddenly started running social media accounts for Epic TV and
90
00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:23,680
things like that. Then gradually transitioned into the camera side, being on camera, because
91
00:09:23,680 --> 00:09:29,120
that's really what I wanted to do. But I got given a different job, but really I wanted to be on
92
00:09:29,120 --> 00:09:33,440
camera. That's what I love to do. So yeah, I started presenting climbing daily and then took
93
00:09:33,440 --> 00:09:37,600
over the producing of it. So deciding alongside here, and it's got to be said, whatever I'm
94
00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:42,240
talking about, it's kind of hand in hand with Hugo Pilcher, who's been at Epic TV for a long time and
95
00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:48,800
is a legend. He's been there forever. So the two of us, but I did the day to day running of
96
00:09:48,800 --> 00:09:52,960
climbing daily, finding the stories every day, working out what the shows was going to be, and
97
00:09:52,960 --> 00:09:58,720
then working with the editor to make sure that it came together every day. So yeah, so did that for
98
00:09:58,720 --> 00:10:04,000
a long time and that involves, and that involved started to involve filmmaking and more producing
99
00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:10,880
roles as well as the presenting. And then Charlie Bosco again, who basically gave me the job at
100
00:10:10,880 --> 00:10:16,400
Epic TV or gave me the leg up for Epic TV. And then I remember talking to him one day and knowing
101
00:10:16,400 --> 00:10:22,640
that he was thinking about leaving the IFSC and he must've known that I was interested in it. And
102
00:10:22,640 --> 00:10:27,040
so I sort of like casually dropped it in at the pub. I was just like, so who's, you know, have they
103
00:10:27,040 --> 00:10:31,840
lined anyone up to take your role? And he was like, well, you should obviously do it. I was like,
104
00:10:31,840 --> 00:10:37,280
oh, okay. So he didn't give me the job, but he certainly gave me the contacts within the IFSC.
105
00:10:37,280 --> 00:10:43,920
And I got put into the short list for the job after him. And then I got selected to do that
106
00:10:43,920 --> 00:10:48,720
and dropped into Munich for like the world championship event, having never done it really
107
00:10:48,720 --> 00:10:53,440
before. And it was a eight hour broadcast, but from then I sort of talked myself into it. And
108
00:10:54,640 --> 00:11:00,080
yeah, so far they haven't kicked me out yet. Awesome. Wow. Yeah, that's quite a journey.
109
00:11:00,080 --> 00:11:05,520
So you kind of started, well, I mean, you started as, I guess, like a trad climber.
110
00:11:05,520 --> 00:11:11,680
Yeah. I mean, I started climbing indoors. There was a gym called Swiss cottage in London, and
111
00:11:12,560 --> 00:11:16,800
I had two things going for me. One that I had at that time when I started climbing, I had nothing
112
00:11:16,800 --> 00:11:22,240
else. I was selling perfume in Selfridges. So my job was to stand there with a perfume spraying
113
00:11:22,240 --> 00:11:28,720
bottle and spray customers. So like anything would have been better at that point. And I walked into
114
00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:35,680
this climbing wall and it was amazing. There was suddenly this community and these people who were
115
00:11:35,680 --> 00:11:40,640
really willing to help me and to teach me things. And there were suddenly I had friends and it was
116
00:11:40,640 --> 00:11:46,880
like this whole, whole new world. And I started working for them. And yeah, and I was lucky
117
00:11:46,880 --> 00:11:54,000
because I had a car in London and that meant that I could drive people places. So people wanted to
118
00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:59,840
go. Exactly. And living in London, it's hard to get anywhere. So I would do the driving and they
119
00:11:59,840 --> 00:12:05,680
teach me how to try to climb. And that's how I sort of started into rock climbing. I see. So were you
120
00:12:05,680 --> 00:12:12,560
a big fan of climbing competitions and IFSC before you started your role there? Yeah, it's a good
121
00:12:12,560 --> 00:12:20,720
question. From the moment I started Epic TV, it was like, I wanted to make it into like a more of
122
00:12:20,720 --> 00:12:26,480
a journalism and sort of storytelling world than it, because I had to try to, I wanted to move the
123
00:12:26,480 --> 00:12:32,560
show in different directions. And one of them was this sort of more serious look at news. So I think
124
00:12:32,560 --> 00:12:38,880
I've always been in touch with the competition scene. And I remember we used to do the IFSC
125
00:12:38,880 --> 00:12:46,400
gave us permission to use their news cut footage and the footage that they send out to TV companies
126
00:12:46,400 --> 00:12:51,040
when they want to do like a highlight show. It's kind of like a, just a compression of what happened
127
00:12:51,040 --> 00:12:56,400
during the competition. And I remember re just plagiarizing Charlie Bosco's script. He used to
128
00:12:56,400 --> 00:13:02,160
write, putting it in my own words and releasing it as a news IFSC show on Epic TV. So I've always
129
00:13:02,160 --> 00:13:07,280
been like in touch with that world. And some of the stories of the athletes that I wanted to tell
130
00:13:07,920 --> 00:13:14,000
sort of inevitably are entwined with that. So I was watching it before and I was in touch with it,
131
00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:19,200
but I wouldn't, I wouldn't say that I was someone who'd watch every single comp religiously,
132
00:13:19,760 --> 00:13:27,920
but I was aware of what was going on in the scene. Yeah. All right. Yeah. Let's get into the IFSC
133
00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:34,800
commentary. I think a lot of people just have no idea what it looks like. I've only seen little
134
00:13:34,800 --> 00:13:41,200
glimpses of it here and there. I think I watched one of your like personal YouTube videos on your
135
00:13:41,200 --> 00:13:47,520
channel and saw a little glimpse into what the commentary box looks like. But I'm sure a lot of
136
00:13:47,520 --> 00:13:52,000
people haven't seen that. So can you give a description of what that looks like? Sure. Can
137
00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:56,400
I just ask you a big comp fan yourself? Like you, cause I've obviously seen like your podcasts and
138
00:13:56,400 --> 00:14:01,840
clips of that, but like, do you watch it every time or what do you do? I do watch it every time.
139
00:14:01,840 --> 00:14:11,600
But I only started really watching it like a year or two ago. And I try not to watch older stuff
140
00:14:11,600 --> 00:14:17,200
because I don't want to know too much because then it makes it harder for me to ask questions
141
00:14:17,200 --> 00:14:22,240
because I like know too much. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That makes sense. Sorry. I just wanted to,
142
00:14:22,240 --> 00:14:27,360
so yeah, the, the commentary box, the commentary box changes basically every event because
143
00:14:27,360 --> 00:14:32,000
for whatever reason, sometimes the commentary is the last thing that a lot of people think about,
144
00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:39,040
because really all you need to do that job is a table, two chairs and a TV screen and a sound
145
00:14:39,040 --> 00:14:45,680
mixing box. So, because it's fairly easy to set up, but, and they're right, you can do it anywhere.
146
00:14:45,680 --> 00:14:52,880
And every event, it depends on who's running the events and which organizer there is and how big
147
00:14:52,880 --> 00:14:58,240
the venue is. Sometimes we'll be given a room or a place, which we can then set up and get everything
148
00:14:58,240 --> 00:15:03,520
ready on. But the team I work with now, they know that personally, I like to be able to see the
149
00:15:03,520 --> 00:15:09,920
stage. So I fight quite hard to be, to have the commentary box in the position where I can at
150
00:15:09,920 --> 00:15:16,160
least feel what's going on in the stadium or have an understanding of the audience's reaction.
151
00:15:16,160 --> 00:15:24,400
Because when we do the commentary, even if I can see the wall perfectly, it's, you don't want to
152
00:15:24,400 --> 00:15:30,240
be looking at what's actually happening on the wall because what you guys and what other people
153
00:15:30,240 --> 00:15:35,120
watching are seeing is happening on the TV screen. And I'm not in charge of the camera angles. So if
154
00:15:35,120 --> 00:15:39,120
I'm looking at the wall and the TV monitor happens to be pointing at a bird and I'm talking about how
155
00:15:39,120 --> 00:15:43,920
amazing Serato is doing, it makes everyone look stupid. So you have to kind of like constantly
156
00:15:43,920 --> 00:15:49,200
and what's going on. And also there's a delay in the action. So there's a delay. It's not much of
157
00:15:49,200 --> 00:15:53,760
a delay. It's like, I can't remember exactly half a second or something. But between those, obviously
158
00:15:53,760 --> 00:15:57,840
you've got to feed through all the systems. So again, if I'm looking up and someone tops out,
159
00:15:58,640 --> 00:16:02,560
although people might not notice it's, you know, it's just those little things we try to tighten
160
00:16:02,560 --> 00:16:08,720
up. So, but I still like the commentary box somewhere. And often it's occasionally it's like
161
00:16:08,720 --> 00:16:12,240
in, in Jakarta a couple of years ago, it was underneath there, it was like, you know,
162
00:16:12,240 --> 00:16:16,720
a couple of years ago, it was underneath an umbrella covered in flies because it was lit
163
00:16:16,720 --> 00:16:22,960
up. So we need to be able to see notes. So we were just in this fly box. Sometimes like in
164
00:16:22,960 --> 00:16:27,200
Chamonix, we're right by the wall, which is incredible. Burn, we were in the middle of all
165
00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:32,160
the action, but underneath in this plastic sort of box. So it meant that the audio was good, but
166
00:16:32,160 --> 00:16:37,760
we could sense the whole crowd, which was incredible. So it changes at every single event.
167
00:16:37,760 --> 00:16:41,840
We never know what we're going to walk into. And often it's different between the times we visit
168
00:16:41,840 --> 00:16:47,600
a stadium. So yeah, very different every time. Yeah. Do you have a favourite venue?
169
00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:59,040
I think I have favourite places for different things. Because I don't think any venue has it
170
00:16:59,040 --> 00:17:04,240
all. And I think that one of the joys of doing the circuit is that you get to see sort of everything,
171
00:17:04,240 --> 00:17:08,960
you get to feel the ups and downs of certain places. I think if I was going to like,
172
00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:16,480
like the place I love going to the most is Japan. But then I find the comp atmosphere a bit subdued.
173
00:17:16,480 --> 00:17:21,520
So when you hit somewhere like Chamonix, you get this incredible atmosphere from the audience or
174
00:17:21,520 --> 00:17:25,520
Innsbruck. So, you know, atmosphere wise, there are certain places that do that very well.
175
00:17:28,240 --> 00:17:33,840
But I think if I had to just choose to go to one, there was something very special about being
176
00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:38,960
in in Jakarta, right in the middle of these skyscrapers. And this was not the last World
177
00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:44,080
Cup, the one before. And it was the last comp of the season. And I just remember our very talented
178
00:17:44,960 --> 00:17:52,320
drone operating cameraman Erwan flying his drone on a sort of a big wide circling shot. And the walls
179
00:17:52,320 --> 00:17:55,600
were in the middle, it was all lit up with spotlight, you have these enormous buildings.
180
00:17:55,600 --> 00:18:00,080
And I just remember looking at this shot thinking like that, that is the future of what we should be
181
00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:05,920
doing. And so I have like quite a special memory about that, that that location.
182
00:18:05,920 --> 00:18:15,040
That sounds nice. It was cool. So you are also the person who tells people to do replays,
183
00:18:15,680 --> 00:18:21,520
or do you not have any part in that? Not really. So we've got and I think I should explain something
184
00:18:21,520 --> 00:18:25,680
right at the very beginning of kind of how this works, because I don't think people know,
185
00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:30,400
because there's no reason to so I might as well tell you how it works. So basically, every time,
186
00:18:30,960 --> 00:18:37,520
so we have a core media crew called Obsess Media. And they've been working, they started with Charlie
187
00:18:37,520 --> 00:18:42,800
back when he started and they've come through the last couple of years. And they're sort of a core
188
00:18:42,800 --> 00:18:49,520
team. And they're very small, they can they do the graphics, they make sure all the broadcasts work.
189
00:18:49,520 --> 00:18:57,280
They make sure all the broadcasts work. And they liaise with the TV crew, because basically,
190
00:18:57,280 --> 00:19:02,800
there's two ways of doing comps. One is that the Obsess team, the IFSC team that they employ.
191
00:19:02,800 --> 00:19:06,160
So it's not again, it's a bit like me, they employ them as a freelance team.
192
00:19:07,040 --> 00:19:11,840
They run everything. So they provide the cameras, they do all the directing, they do all the
193
00:19:11,840 --> 00:19:16,240
selection of shots, all the replays, everything. And that's a sort of totally in house event.
194
00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:21,200
And somewhere an example of that would be would be Chamonix this year. So that was entirely run by
195
00:19:21,280 --> 00:19:27,920
Obsess. But sometimes we go to a venue like in Innsbruck, where there's an exterior TV company
196
00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:36,080
who come in. So and that's not anything really to do with the IFSC. So the the organizers,
197
00:19:37,120 --> 00:19:41,360
say they want these people to come, they will arrive and then our media team's job is to sort
198
00:19:41,360 --> 00:19:47,280
of liaise and do this middle job where we provide the graphics. But the exterior crew do the shots,
199
00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:52,240
they provide the cameras, they do the selection, they do the directing. Now, that's interesting
200
00:19:52,240 --> 00:19:59,280
because it's so for example, in Innsbruck, the director is a guy called Marcus, I think I've got
201
00:19:59,280 --> 00:20:03,760
that right, who I remember him doing a first event way back in the day. And you know, sometimes
202
00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:09,040
these people come in as sports directors, they don't know climbing, it might be the first time
203
00:20:09,040 --> 00:20:13,600
they have ever seen climbing and they're trying to direct a climbing show. But this guy, for example,
204
00:20:13,600 --> 00:20:18,160
has done it for a couple of years, he did the Olympics, he did the European Games. And when I
205
00:20:18,160 --> 00:20:23,120
work with him, we have a very good rapport now. And I know he's always listening to me. So I he's,
206
00:20:23,120 --> 00:20:28,000
he's got my back in terms of shot selection. But if he hears me bring something up or notice
207
00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:32,960
something, then he will sort of respond to that and put something or if I'm saying I don't know
208
00:20:32,960 --> 00:20:37,440
what's happening in this moment, he will show me a shot to demonstrate what I'm talking about.
209
00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:41,280
But this changes every event, sometimes I'll walk into a venue and the director has never seen
210
00:20:41,280 --> 00:20:46,000
climbing, it's kind of a bit on the fly. And and although there are guidelines, obviously, that
211
00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:53,920
IFC provide, and we work closely to liaise between the two parties. It can change a lot. So it's one
212
00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:58,720
of the things that we sort of have to deal with when we're at these comps is sort of this side of
213
00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:03,120
things. And I think a lot of sports do it like this. But obviously climbing is growing, and it's
214
00:21:03,120 --> 00:21:07,520
becoming bigger and bigger, and the expectations are higher. So I think it's a learning process as
215
00:21:07,520 --> 00:21:12,240
we sort of figure this out as we go through it. I can't remember your original question now. I've
216
00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:14,000
totally forgotten what you said.
217
00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:19,600
That's all right, me too. But that explains the camera angles.
218
00:21:19,600 --> 00:21:24,160
So you said you had to replace? No, basically, the short answer is no, I don't. We get shown
219
00:21:24,160 --> 00:21:29,920
the replays. The reason I went on that tirade, I remember now, is because it depends. So when we
220
00:21:29,920 --> 00:21:34,320
have our team, our obsessed team doing everything, again, they've done this for years, they know what
221
00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:39,040
they're doing. And they're very good at choosing the right replay shots. Occasionally, we'll have a
222
00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:43,040
camera team who will choose a very weird replay shot. Usually, I can talk to them and ask them
223
00:21:43,040 --> 00:21:46,160
for stuff, but it depends if they're listening to me, or if they care, or if they've got the shot.
224
00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:51,040
So I never really know. Okay, perfect. That makes sense. There we go. Great. There we go. Okay.
225
00:21:51,600 --> 00:21:58,240
And then for co commentators, do you have a hard time getting people in the commentary box? Or
226
00:21:58,240 --> 00:22:04,800
is it something that people are excited to do? Yeah. So when I started, again, it's, when I very
227
00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:09,120
first started, I had very few things on my sort of like responsibility list, it's got different,
228
00:22:09,120 --> 00:22:14,080
but one of them was fine co commentator. And Charlie sort of passed on some people that he had
229
00:22:14,080 --> 00:22:18,560
used in the past who he thought was good and enjoyed working with. But I knew that some of
230
00:22:18,560 --> 00:22:24,320
this was like, you know, my time to try to try to find my own way through this. So, and one thing I
231
00:22:24,320 --> 00:22:29,280
was, you know, I was asked to, you know, that it was kind of up to me, but you know, we wanted,
232
00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:33,920
I'm obviously a guy, it's always nice to have, you know, a male female kind of commentating team.
233
00:22:34,880 --> 00:22:38,480
And that's something to think about. And that's something, you know, that I've always tried to
234
00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:43,840
think about whenever we're finding people is the sort of like, who's there and what they're
235
00:22:43,840 --> 00:22:50,880
representing and how I can make that different and lots of events. So, yeah, when I first started,
236
00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:56,480
it was, it was sort of an unpaid role. It was like an opportunity for the athletes to come in.
237
00:22:56,960 --> 00:23:01,200
That's now changed. So the athletes are paid to do the job. And that obviously helps a little bit
238
00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:06,400
for me because I can now, because it was an awful job because you couldn't, I couldn't sort this
239
00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:10,640
out, especially at the beginning, I couldn't sort this out before. So you have to wait for an
240
00:23:10,640 --> 00:23:16,400
athlete to not make it through to the next stage, time your approach and sort of be like, Hey,
241
00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:19,920
look, I'm really sorry, you know, but would you fancy doing this? And I, you know, always try to
242
00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:23,760
make it sound like a sort of an exciting thing to go and do, but the end of the day, you don't quite
243
00:23:23,760 --> 00:23:28,720
know the mood of the athletes. And I've definitely got it wrong in terms of asking at the wrong
244
00:23:28,720 --> 00:23:34,880
moments. But luckily, as the years have progressed, and I've done this, you know, I've worked with
245
00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:38,960
the series of really good people who want to return. I've tried really hard, especially during
246
00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:44,720
the semi finals to always have wherever possible someone completely new, usually a young athlete,
247
00:23:44,720 --> 00:23:50,160
completely new, usually as young as possible, just because I think it's awesome to bring like
248
00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:56,640
new perspectives into it. And I've tried to make it when I talk to the coaches, and I explained to
249
00:23:56,640 --> 00:24:01,440
them that like, if they have athletes who are interested in media side, you want to come on and
250
00:24:01,440 --> 00:24:06,720
do a bit more, you know, like I'm a fairly safe pair of hands to help them and bring them forward,
251
00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:11,760
especially if maybe they're a little bit shy, and they just need sort of bringing forward. So, so
252
00:24:11,760 --> 00:24:16,080
over the years, I'm now in a position where people have started to approach me about it. And
253
00:24:16,080 --> 00:24:20,720
sometimes, rarely, but sometimes I'll fill up a comp before it starts, just an athlete being like,
254
00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:24,240
look, I'm not maybe feeling this one. If I don't make it through, can I do finals? And I'll be like,
255
00:24:24,240 --> 00:24:30,320
yeah, you know, like you're you're penciled in. And I try not to do like a favoritism thing. Like
256
00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:34,880
it's usually first come first serves and people who I know are good. Like I have a sort of like
257
00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:39,760
core hub of people that I know would would be brilliant at every event. If one of them comes
258
00:24:39,760 --> 00:24:44,240
to me, usually it's theirs, because they've sort of earned it, I feel. And I feel like it's a loyalty
259
00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:48,480
thing as well that, you know, they've shown that they can do this job, they care about it. But
260
00:24:48,480 --> 00:24:54,240
whenever someone comes through fresh, it's so good. Because, you know, I'm sure people appreciate how
261
00:24:54,240 --> 00:24:58,880
exciting it is to have suddenly an athlete you maybe hadn't heard of giving these amazing insights
262
00:24:58,880 --> 00:25:02,800
and being given a voice and you're like, wow, we never would have heard of this person. And
263
00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:07,520
I think that's really important to keep on doing. Yeah, I had no idea it was paid. No, that's
264
00:25:07,520 --> 00:25:13,120
interesting to know. And it's not always athletes, though, like you've had route setters on in the
265
00:25:13,120 --> 00:25:17,440
past, not very frequently. But yeah, route setters, they're in everyone always is like bring a route
266
00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:21,600
setter. If you if you knew how hard it is to get a route setter just to speak on camera, let alone
267
00:25:21,600 --> 00:25:26,960
appear on a live broadcast, it's like, like, impossible. They're amazing people, but they do
268
00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:32,640
not want to talk about what they do. So this year, though, I found Cody, who, and I've got to be
269
00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:37,680
careful, because it's there's a whole thing about whose IFC route setters and not and who's so I'm
270
00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:42,000
not even going to touch that. But Cody works sometimes for the IFC and route setting capacity,
271
00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:47,920
and he was happy to come on. And it was really interesting to because I sometimes think that
272
00:25:47,920 --> 00:25:53,520
there's like, there's obviously a lot of talk and a lot of criticism about various things. But
273
00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:58,160
I find often it's some of the criticism comes from a place of people not understanding.
274
00:25:58,160 --> 00:26:03,120
And when you get somebody there who can explain, so if you see something not work, if someone's
275
00:26:03,120 --> 00:26:08,800
there saying, Yeah, it didn't work. This is why it didn't work. Then people are less quick, I think,
276
00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:15,440
to judge or to, you know, they just take a moment. So I just I want to bring those kind of people in
277
00:26:15,440 --> 00:26:19,120
just to give that idea. You know, when I brought Malik, the coach and I thought it was fascinating,
278
00:26:19,120 --> 00:26:23,520
because he talked about appeals all the time. And although that maybe wouldn't work in a finals,
279
00:26:23,520 --> 00:26:27,600
we're talking about semi finals here usually, when it's a bit more time for people to like sit in the
280
00:26:27,600 --> 00:26:33,760
sport and just learn a bit or enjoy different aspects of it. So I think that's really important
281
00:26:33,760 --> 00:26:38,080
to do it. And it's I try to do it whenever possible. But people are less willing to come
282
00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:42,160
and speak to millions of people than you'd expect because it is millions of people who watch this.
283
00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:48,480
So it's a lot to ask. Yeah, I guess we're outsiders kind of prefer to be behind the scenes usually.
284
00:26:49,600 --> 00:26:55,440
Yeah, with what you mentioned about people not really understanding, and that's why they just
285
00:26:55,440 --> 00:27:03,360
like, are angry or just say things online. That's precisely why we wanted to have you on here today
286
00:27:03,360 --> 00:27:08,800
so that you can explain yourself. I hope I don't mess it up. I mean, this is how I get fired from
287
00:27:08,800 --> 00:27:14,080
all jobs. I'll reveal the wrong thing and that'll be it. It's been good so far. So speaking of that,
288
00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:18,480
what has been one of the most difficult parts of commentating for you?
289
00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:24,400
It's a really good question, actually. Because I think it sort of splits into two sides that that
290
00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:29,760
question because there's like, there's personally to me, and then there's sort of professionally
291
00:27:29,760 --> 00:27:36,800
with the job. And if for me, if I don't like I don't like messing things up, I really hate messing
292
00:27:36,800 --> 00:27:41,600
things up, like, and I've obviously made mistakes with with what I've done sometimes, or I've said
293
00:27:41,600 --> 00:27:47,840
things that like, you know, you just you watch it back and forth, and you're like, oh, I'm
294
00:27:47,840 --> 00:27:53,520
watching it back and you just think like, you know, why? Why? So that there's been lots and
295
00:27:53,520 --> 00:27:57,920
lots of tough moments like that, just when you, you know, you realize you make a mistake or,
296
00:27:59,200 --> 00:28:02,400
you know, Chamonix was was quite a good example this year, which is that we
297
00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:07,600
and you know, it's not a huge personal error that I made. But it's like something that I got a huge
298
00:28:07,600 --> 00:28:13,360
amount of criticism for, which is that we missed the clip from Sharon So she missed clips. Yeah.
299
00:28:13,360 --> 00:28:17,520
And like, I can't tell you why we missed it. We missed it. We didn't see it was it wasn't just me.
300
00:28:17,520 --> 00:28:21,040
It was also the Italian team, apparently, who just didn't see it. But we for whatever reason,
301
00:28:21,040 --> 00:28:25,040
myself and to raise a we weren't either it was cropped out on our screen, which is a good
302
00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:29,680
excuse, but I don't think it was accurate. But we weren't looking at this exact example of what I
303
00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:33,760
was talking about earlier, which is look at the screen and for whatever reason we missed it.
304
00:28:33,760 --> 00:28:37,360
And then we saw this replay that we were showing, which was kind of the wrong brief play of her
305
00:28:37,360 --> 00:28:42,720
moving past it. And I made this weird call where I was like, because I've seen ropes, people like
306
00:28:42,720 --> 00:28:47,280
that. I've seen ropes quick back into quick draws before I've seen it happen. Would it happen in that
307
00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:51,520
circumstance? Maybe not. But in that moment, you try to explain what happened if you didn't see it
308
00:28:51,520 --> 00:28:55,920
and you got shown the wrong replay. So occasionally, there's areas you make like that we wish you could
309
00:28:55,920 --> 00:29:02,400
take back and that sucks from like a personal perspective. There's obviously been moments
310
00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:10,080
like I remember when the camera shots of Johanna was shown in Innsbruck, you know, the one that
311
00:29:10,080 --> 00:29:17,360
was kind of pretty inappropriate while she was brushing a boulder. In my mind, I see it was a
312
00:29:17,360 --> 00:29:21,520
long time ago, but it was certainly a moment where, and I don't really want to go into details,
313
00:29:21,520 --> 00:29:27,920
you got talked about a lot during the time, but I remember wishing that I had behaved differently
314
00:29:27,920 --> 00:29:34,880
with my response in that moment. But remembering just being sort of very, A, it happened very
315
00:29:34,880 --> 00:29:39,840
quickly and B, just being a bit sort of lost with what to say. So I think you certainly learned from
316
00:29:39,840 --> 00:29:47,360
experiences like that and that's been difficult. There's been really like bad conditions in terms
317
00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:51,520
of like everything's gone wrong technically and you're sort of struggling with it and you're sort
318
00:29:51,520 --> 00:29:56,800
of trying desperately to do the best job you can, but you're like fighting against no sound or,
319
00:29:57,520 --> 00:30:02,800
you know, something like that or rain or just something that makes the job harder, but you're
320
00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:08,240
still expected to get it out. So there's been loads of tough moments, but at no point has it
321
00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:12,880
got tough to the point where I've wanted to stop doing it. It's the most incredible thing. So I
322
00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:18,880
can't really complain. It's awesome. And it's awesome. Do you actually watch back things that
323
00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:25,040
you say? No. Okay. There's reasons for this. There's reasons for this. Number one is that,
324
00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:30,880
what I always do is I have a look at, I read the comments on YouTube. So I look at the YouTube
325
00:30:30,880 --> 00:30:36,400
comments for about a day and a half after the event ends and then I put it to bed. That's pretty long
326
00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:41,440
actually. I figure that's enough time for everyone to say what they want to say because in my way to
327
00:30:41,440 --> 00:30:46,720
approach comments is that I got, I got, I got, I remember like I've been doing the Epic TV thing
328
00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:51,920
for long enough now that I'm, I've got a bit of a thick skin to it, but someone told me once that
329
00:30:51,920 --> 00:30:55,120
comment, and I don't know if it's the right approach, it's my approach, but someone was
330
00:30:55,120 --> 00:31:02,000
like that every comment, however badly they're written or how aggressive or nasty are they trying
331
00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:05,360
to, is there something in there that they're trying to say that they have a point about?
332
00:31:05,360 --> 00:31:11,440
Because often the ones that hurt can be really aggressive or really just, you know, just someone
333
00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:16,800
shouting off their keyboard, but often they've got a point somewhere and they're the ones that hurt.
334
00:31:17,360 --> 00:31:23,200
And I think it's worthwhile, however badly they put it to take note of what they're saying and
335
00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:26,880
then make an assessment of whether you did do wrong or you did right or whether, you know,
336
00:31:26,880 --> 00:31:32,000
what you did. So I have a look at them because I think it's worth it. And I spend a lot of time
337
00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:39,440
editing myself. So I do one of the shows for Fox Sports, like I edit that highlight reel.
338
00:31:39,440 --> 00:31:44,160
So that's 26 minutes of listening to my own voice again. I don't need to necessarily sit down and
339
00:31:44,160 --> 00:31:51,200
watch everything back. I feel like I have it coming at me enough times. But yeah, maybe I should,
340
00:31:51,200 --> 00:31:55,840
I don't know. Maybe it's something I should do to get better. No, I mean, that sounds like plenty.
341
00:31:55,840 --> 00:32:00,160
I actually think that reading comments for a day and a half is really long.
342
00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:04,720
Really? When do you stop? Do you look at yours on your videos and things?
343
00:32:04,720 --> 00:32:10,640
I, okay, well, I don't really get that many comments. I would love for people to leave
344
00:32:10,640 --> 00:32:14,080
more comments, but there's not much- Leave comments if you're listening.
345
00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:21,760
Yeah, exactly. You don't get a lot of feedback on podcasts. So that's hard, but it also means-
346
00:32:21,760 --> 00:32:24,640
Instagram World, because you're in like that side of it.
347
00:32:24,640 --> 00:32:33,600
Yeah. I read whatever comes in, because I mean, it's still fairly small. I don't get a lot of hate
348
00:32:33,600 --> 00:32:40,400
because I'm fairly small. I would love to keep it that way. But it also means I don't really get that
349
00:32:40,400 --> 00:32:46,320
much feedback. So if people want to provide feedback and it's mean, just send it privately.
350
00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:49,200
I don't really need to see it publicly. That would help.
351
00:32:49,200 --> 00:32:53,840
Yeah. It sucks seeing you're like, especially the things you know you've got wrong, having
352
00:32:53,840 --> 00:32:57,920
them pointed out a hundred times in the comments, you're like, yeah, I know I said that name wrong.
353
00:32:59,680 --> 00:33:08,560
I bet. It must be difficult. Do you also read Reddit threads or other-
354
00:33:08,560 --> 00:33:13,920
No. And the reason I don't is because I know that there's quite a lot of stuff about me,
355
00:33:13,920 --> 00:33:20,080
in all honesty. I've heard. I remember once, so the time I decided never to look,
356
00:33:20,080 --> 00:33:26,560
I got a message from UKC from, I don't know who it was, it was Alan at the time. And he
357
00:33:27,200 --> 00:33:31,520
messaged me because I work with UKC for various things. UKC is an online website,
358
00:33:31,520 --> 00:33:36,640
if anyone who doesn't know it. It's a big, big, big website. Anyway, the guy who managed it wrote
359
00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:41,920
to me, he just said something like, Matt, don't worry, I've removed the thread. And I just,
360
00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:45,280
oh God. So I just wrote back being like, I don't really want to know, but I have no idea what
361
00:33:45,280 --> 00:33:48,800
threads you're talking about. And it was some kind of very horrible thing on their forum that they
362
00:33:48,800 --> 00:33:53,440
just thought actually really went too far. So they had my back and took it down, which was nice.
363
00:33:53,440 --> 00:34:03,040
But after I heard that, I didn't really feel the need to go looking. So, I feel like dealing,
364
00:34:03,040 --> 00:34:08,720
sometimes dealing with the feedback I do get from various platforms is enough, honestly,
365
00:34:08,720 --> 00:34:13,520
in terms of my mental health. So I don't really need to go searching for nasty things. If there
366
00:34:13,520 --> 00:34:17,360
are nice things there, then that's cool. But I guess I don't really need that much of an inflated
367
00:34:17,360 --> 00:34:23,120
ego on knowing what they are. And I'll avoid the horrible things. Fair, fair. I think one-
368
00:34:23,120 --> 00:34:26,960
Why are they bad? You got to tell me now. I'm intrigued. Oh, I can't tell you now.
369
00:34:27,680 --> 00:34:31,200
What's the main like fundamental criticism? What am I doing wrong?
370
00:34:31,200 --> 00:34:36,640
Um, no, I think there have been posts where it's like, obviously, like the mistakes that you say,
371
00:34:36,640 --> 00:34:41,120
people are going to harp on that. But then it's also like pretty decent because there's a lot of
372
00:34:41,120 --> 00:34:46,160
people in the comments who are like fighting for you as well. So yeah, it's not bad. It's not bad.
373
00:34:46,160 --> 00:34:49,120
No, thank you, people. I appreciate it. Whoever's fighting. Yeah.
374
00:34:49,120 --> 00:34:55,520
You're the one person. Thank you. Exactly. Yeah. But there is one fun thing that was on Reddit,
375
00:34:55,520 --> 00:35:00,480
I think that was called MattGroomBingo. Oh, yeah? Have you seen that?
376
00:35:01,120 --> 00:35:03,520
No, I got to get someone to make me a t-shirt with things I say on it.
377
00:35:04,080 --> 00:35:08,080
Yeah. Which is really cool. Yeah. I kind of just want to go over these
378
00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:14,160
phrases. And if you have anything you want to say about them, just stop me.
379
00:35:14,160 --> 00:35:18,560
Please do. There's 16. So I'll go through all these pretty quickly.
380
00:35:18,560 --> 00:35:22,000
16? Oh my god. It's bingo. So. Okay.
381
00:35:22,960 --> 00:35:28,480
First one, comments on the cinematography. Fanboys over a British athlete.
382
00:35:29,040 --> 00:35:33,200
I just want to say cinematography. The reason I do that is because like, when I do that,
383
00:35:34,960 --> 00:35:39,200
our media crew, again, get a lot of criticism for shots and stuff. And like, they do do a really
384
00:35:39,200 --> 00:35:42,240
good job. And when I see something that I genuinely think is like an awesome shot,
385
00:35:42,240 --> 00:35:46,480
I will just say it because I don't know. I think it's cool. Anyway, that's it. Carry on.
386
00:35:46,480 --> 00:35:52,720
Okay. More of a boulder or lead specialist. Sticky Serato.
387
00:35:53,760 --> 00:35:55,840
Yeah. Plugs Paraclimbing.
388
00:35:57,600 --> 00:36:03,360
She goes by Osh. Desperately wonders what's going on in isolation.
389
00:36:04,560 --> 00:36:08,720
I do. Always. I hope to get an athlete on to talk about that.
390
00:36:08,720 --> 00:36:15,680
Yeah. It's fascinating. I did one with Stasha about it. So I've kind of got a podcast thing
391
00:36:15,680 --> 00:36:19,120
maybe coming out and she was talking about that. And it's so interesting what happens.
392
00:36:19,120 --> 00:36:22,160
Oh man, I would love to have Stasha on. I'm so jealous.
393
00:36:22,160 --> 00:36:23,680
I'll put you in touch. I'm seeing her in a week.
394
00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:27,600
Oh, please. That would be great. Please excuse this brief intermission,
395
00:36:27,600 --> 00:36:33,280
but I would just like to take some time and remind you that if you are enjoying this podcast,
396
00:36:33,280 --> 00:36:38,560
please follow and rate it on your preferred listening platform. If you're watching on YouTube,
397
00:36:38,560 --> 00:36:44,160
be sure to subscribe and hit the like button. Anything helps to push this podcast out to
398
00:36:44,160 --> 00:36:51,440
more people and get even more amazing guests on back to the show. Yeah. People love hearing from
399
00:36:51,440 --> 00:36:56,720
her. Let's see. Being bewildered by people running up to a boulder.
400
00:36:58,000 --> 00:37:03,840
Yeah. Why do they do that? Is that for semis? I think.
401
00:37:03,840 --> 00:37:08,160
No. Like I'm thinking I'm talking about finals. They're like, it's their stage.
402
00:37:08,160 --> 00:37:12,240
They can do whatever they want. They wait in the wings and then they get called in and they run
403
00:37:12,240 --> 00:37:17,440
across stage and I don't understand why. I see. I think it must be a little awkward
404
00:37:17,440 --> 00:37:24,400
to just slowly walk up because people are hype. Yeah, but like, but I want to see the coaching
405
00:37:24,400 --> 00:37:28,240
science is like, right, before you do this really strenuous activity, run to it. Like surely you
406
00:37:28,240 --> 00:37:35,280
want to like, I don't know. It must be kind of awkward. You would slowly walk.
407
00:37:35,280 --> 00:37:39,360
I think I'd be too afraid of being out of breath on the boulder.
408
00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:44,400
Like this is hard stuff. You know, it's like, I don't know.
409
00:37:45,040 --> 00:37:50,240
I think maybe they don't feel comfortable being in the spotlight, not climbing.
410
00:37:51,600 --> 00:37:55,280
Maybe, maybe, maybe. Maybe that's my.
411
00:37:55,280 --> 00:38:00,640
Some don't. I think Shawna always used to walk out. I think she told me this. If I remember.
412
00:38:00,640 --> 00:38:04,000
She was like, yeah, she's like, I agree. I was, she was just like, I just took my time.
413
00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:08,080
I thought it was awesome. Yeah. I'll have to keep an eye on that.
414
00:38:09,600 --> 00:38:13,200
Let's see. Gets corrected by cohost kind of already went over that.
415
00:38:14,080 --> 00:38:19,600
Now, again, like, like sometimes it's worth remembering that I definitely, like, I think a
416
00:38:19,600 --> 00:38:25,680
lot of people accuse me sometimes of being like, uh, like I have to, how do I explain this? That's
417
00:38:25,680 --> 00:38:31,920
I'm not going to do it. Like my, when I do the co the commentating thing, my job is to make that
418
00:38:31,920 --> 00:38:36,160
person feel like comfortable. And often they've never done it before. You got it, especially with
419
00:38:36,160 --> 00:38:41,760
the people I bring on for the semifinals. So one of the things I try to do is to sort of base
420
00:38:41,760 --> 00:38:48,240
what I'm saying and how I say it off them. So if I have someone, for example, who's like an expert,
421
00:38:48,240 --> 00:38:52,800
a movement, someone like Shawna or someone like stash or, you know, and that's their thing. They
422
00:38:52,800 --> 00:38:58,880
like talking about movement. That is, that's an area I don't necessarily need to cover. So
423
00:38:58,880 --> 00:39:03,360
there's an element of that that I try to do. And I'm not saying it's playing dumb, but it's, it's
424
00:39:03,360 --> 00:39:08,480
sometimes playing dumb. And also just, I can be as technical as I need to be depending on who the
425
00:39:08,480 --> 00:39:15,200
person is with me. So, and I quite like it when there's like a contradiction or something. And
426
00:39:15,200 --> 00:39:22,240
sometimes I will sort of provoke something from the athlete to try to get them to, to, to, to
427
00:39:22,240 --> 00:39:29,120
to, to explain it because it's better coming from them. So sometimes the athlete just corrects me
428
00:39:29,120 --> 00:39:32,320
for sure, because I get something wrong, we don't see something. And that's the whole dynamic.
429
00:39:32,320 --> 00:39:34,880
That's the reason there's two pairs of eyes on it. It's great. If they weren't doing that,
430
00:39:34,880 --> 00:39:39,440
it would be awful. Imagine that they just sat there. It'd be terrible. But like, sometimes there's a
431
00:39:39,440 --> 00:39:42,960
bit of poking that goes on and I'm trying to get them to explain something or do something that
432
00:39:42,960 --> 00:39:48,480
explains an element of the sport where I feel like it'd be weird if I said it. So just to cover that.
433
00:39:48,480 --> 00:39:57,120
Okay. Yeah, that makes sense. Um, mixes up athlete names. Yeah. I guess it could be with
434
00:39:57,120 --> 00:40:00,880
pronunciation, but oh, actually, nevermind. That's another one pronounces a name wrong.
435
00:40:03,200 --> 00:40:09,440
Yeah. Asks co-host to explain something. We also just went over that. There we go. Um,
436
00:40:09,440 --> 00:40:16,480
giggles at route setters descriptions. Wow. I didn't know I did that. I didn't either.
437
00:40:16,480 --> 00:40:21,840
I guess, yeah, I need to pay attention to that more. Maybe something you can keep in mind too,
438
00:40:21,840 --> 00:40:27,520
but I don't remember that happening. Um, plugs and athletes vlogs. That's fair.
439
00:40:28,720 --> 00:40:33,040
I think they work hard for it. Like any, like I really want to push them as much as possible.
440
00:40:33,040 --> 00:40:35,680
So yeah, if they put the effort to do a YouTube channel, they should get a shout out.
441
00:40:35,680 --> 00:40:44,640
Yeah, absolutely. Um, comments on the mic set up on the wall. And she goes by Annie. That's all 16.
442
00:40:44,640 --> 00:40:51,600
That's all 16. Yeah. The reason I said that the anything is funny because I remember we were on a,
443
00:40:51,600 --> 00:40:56,480
so we're talking about Annie Sanders who is USA athlete, but they have an official name.
444
00:40:56,480 --> 00:41:00,640
And apparently I didn't know this. They can't really change it. So because it's something to
445
00:41:00,640 --> 00:41:06,560
do with it's something to do with something. But so Annie is officially Anastasia and we can't take
446
00:41:06,560 --> 00:41:11,600
that off the system. But so we're on this, we went to Russia for the world youth championships and
447
00:41:11,600 --> 00:41:17,760
we were on a six hour train from me, from Moscow down to the middle of nowhere in Voronezh.
448
00:41:18,880 --> 00:41:26,320
And it was me and my colleague from the IFC, a photographer and like a hundred very young athletes
449
00:41:26,320 --> 00:41:31,280
on a train being like teenagers. So it was like this total carnage thing. But in the midst of all
450
00:41:31,280 --> 00:41:37,520
this, I got a, a message from a family friend of Anastasia Sanders who just said like, really
451
00:41:37,520 --> 00:41:41,840
excited that you're going to be, you know, uh, talking about the team and Annie, just to let you
452
00:41:41,840 --> 00:41:47,440
know, she would like to be called Annie. So obviously when I heard that I like this, it was
453
00:41:47,440 --> 00:41:53,360
a family friend. So I didn't know. So I managed to get hold of Anastasia's mom, um, and checked with
454
00:41:53,360 --> 00:41:58,560
her on Instagram. I think it was that I could call Annie, Annie, and this guy wasn't a made up friend.
455
00:41:58,560 --> 00:42:04,000
It was all legit, but, um, it's something the IFC wanted me to do because it was like an athlete's
456
00:42:04,000 --> 00:42:08,240
request. It still comes up as Anastasia Sanders on the screen and they just want me to clarify it.
457
00:42:08,800 --> 00:42:13,680
So I've started saying it and now I realize I say it so much, it's almost a thing. So I now don't say
458
00:42:13,680 --> 00:42:19,440
it as much as possible, uh, because it sounds weird. I mean, I think it makes sense just for like
459
00:42:19,440 --> 00:42:24,800
new viewers who aren't familiar, but then you never know who's a new viewer. Like, and it's,
460
00:42:26,000 --> 00:42:32,480
it's hard. And then if, you know, yeah, I guess that's kind of like the hard place that you're in
461
00:42:32,480 --> 00:42:38,960
because you sort of have to appease old viewers, but then also then like new viewers don't really
462
00:42:38,960 --> 00:42:46,080
understand what's going on maybe. So yeah, I guess like, how do you deal with that? And are these like
463
00:42:46,640 --> 00:42:54,240
grab bag of facts that you default to? Um, are you just like trying to fill time or is there a
464
00:42:54,240 --> 00:43:03,120
specific reason for it? Um, when I started, uh, I was specifically asked to, to think of it as
465
00:43:03,120 --> 00:43:09,200
bringing new people on. So, because we were in this transition phase, it was, it wasn't Euro
466
00:43:09,200 --> 00:43:13,360
sport yet, but then we were certainly like, that was where we, I think the thinking was going
467
00:43:13,360 --> 00:43:17,440
towards. And we knew it was going to be, you know, just had the Olympics and it was, had a huge influx
468
00:43:17,440 --> 00:43:24,160
of people watching. And certainly I was briefed to, to really bring new people into the sport,
469
00:43:24,960 --> 00:43:29,440
but I don't think I did it very well, especially in my first year. And I certainly got a lot of
470
00:43:29,440 --> 00:43:35,440
feedback from climbers who were like really nice and really understanding, but we're just like,
471
00:43:35,440 --> 00:43:42,800
it's kind of annoying because you, the way you're saying it. So I changed the way I tried to do it.
472
00:43:42,800 --> 00:43:48,080
Um, after I sort of got that feedback because I wasn't hitting the middle ground well enough. I
473
00:43:48,080 --> 00:43:55,520
wasn't, I was just being a bit basic with it. So what I now try to do is it depends on the event.
474
00:43:55,520 --> 00:43:59,360
If it's something like an event that I know is going to be televised, so on the BBC, so something
475
00:43:59,360 --> 00:44:05,360
like, uh, like the world championships or a European, you know, event like that, then I will
476
00:44:05,360 --> 00:44:09,520
be a little bit more detailed about the rules, especially at the beginning. Um,
477
00:44:09,520 --> 00:44:13,600
sometimes I just forget and I watch a climbing competition and I've realized I haven't said any
478
00:44:13,600 --> 00:44:18,720
of the rules have got swept up in it, but yeah, I do try to bring things out and if an athlete does
479
00:44:18,720 --> 00:44:23,200
something that I feel like if I was watching the sport for the first time, I wouldn't understand,
480
00:44:23,200 --> 00:44:27,840
then I'll explain it as a rule. An example of that is the quick draws. So there's a thing
481
00:44:27,840 --> 00:44:32,960
athletes sometimes do, which is they hold the quick draw and then not hold it, but they grab it and
482
00:44:33,600 --> 00:44:39,360
kick it or they hit it to make it swing so they can easily clip it. So I'm not going to be
483
00:44:39,360 --> 00:44:42,960
a fan of it, but if you're a new viewer and you're watching the athlete just use the hold and you see
484
00:44:42,960 --> 00:44:47,840
what you think is an athlete grabbing something and then it looks weird, it doesn't make any sense.
485
00:44:47,840 --> 00:44:52,720
So if something like that happens, I'll say, you know, they can do that. They're not allowed to
486
00:44:52,720 --> 00:44:57,520
wait the correct draw, but they can, you know, hit it or touch it or move it. So I tried to sort of
487
00:44:57,520 --> 00:45:05,200
put some rules in when you see something happening. Um, but yeah, I don't know. I don't know if I get
488
00:45:05,200 --> 00:45:10,240
it right. And I think it's something I'm adapting to and, and, and will change because if climbing
489
00:45:10,240 --> 00:45:13,760
goes the way we hope it does, then you know, more and more people will understand the sport and
490
00:45:13,760 --> 00:45:17,840
hopefully the graphics will be clearer and everything will start to make more sense. And
491
00:45:17,840 --> 00:45:22,400
my job won't be so much to explain, but just to, for everyone to enjoy what happens.
492
00:45:22,400 --> 00:45:25,200
How often do you just find that you have nothing to say?
493
00:45:26,960 --> 00:45:32,080
Very rarely. Um, like, I don't know, I can always talk about something like it's,
494
00:45:32,080 --> 00:45:36,640
it's, there are times when I lose my energy to do it. And that's sort of, if I'm,
495
00:45:38,320 --> 00:45:43,280
certainly the podium process is still something that's ongoing in terms of trying to make it
496
00:45:43,280 --> 00:45:50,080
faster and smoother. And all the TV channels tend to either have an advert break or go away
497
00:45:50,080 --> 00:45:57,600
for the podiums. Um, so that's a period of time sometimes where, cause I send the athlete away,
498
00:45:57,600 --> 00:46:01,680
I think it's kind of unfair to get them to talk through what could be an eternity,
499
00:46:01,680 --> 00:46:05,920
an eternity of waiting for a podium to show up. So whenever they do the interview, I say, look,
500
00:46:05,920 --> 00:46:09,760
just take your stuff and go, because it's different if there's a big event or there's a
501
00:46:09,760 --> 00:46:13,840
reason they want to come back or, you know, if they want to, it's up to them, but usually I,
502
00:46:13,840 --> 00:46:18,160
they go and that's it. So there's certainly times during waiting for podiums where I,
503
00:46:18,160 --> 00:46:22,400
nowadays I sort of just have a moment, cause I know it's only YouTube watching really, where I,
504
00:46:22,400 --> 00:46:26,960
you know, if it's just me talking about the weather, it's boring as anything.
505
00:46:26,960 --> 00:46:31,760
But, uh, but no, generally I can talk forever. That's, that's the one thing I can do.
506
00:46:32,320 --> 00:46:36,800
Okay. I mean, that's good. I think that's kind of what's needed for the, for the job.
507
00:46:37,440 --> 00:46:39,200
Yeah. I think I'd fail utterly if I didn't.
508
00:46:39,680 --> 00:46:47,280
Yeah. Um, and so in terms of general IFSC things, what are some things that you think the IFSC are
509
00:46:47,280 --> 00:46:49,520
doing right and wrong?
510
00:46:50,080 --> 00:46:55,280
I think it's a difficult time at the moment. And the reason it's a difficult time is because
511
00:46:55,280 --> 00:47:01,920
you know, our sport has changed a huge amount and coming into the Olympics, it, it's not just one
512
00:47:01,920 --> 00:47:07,680
thing that has to alter, you know, the whole sport has to rearrange itself, not only to come sort of
513
00:47:07,680 --> 00:47:13,200
in line with various guidelines that you're then, you then have to follow, but you know, there's an
514
00:47:13,200 --> 00:47:20,640
awful lot more sort of attention and, and just pure work that goes into it, but it's not like
515
00:47:20,640 --> 00:47:26,160
a whole bunch of money just sort of turns up on the doorstep. So, so for example, I learned this
516
00:47:26,160 --> 00:47:29,920
the other day, and if I'm wrong about this, it was my, someone else who told me this, but a colleague
517
00:47:29,920 --> 00:47:35,280
of mine who told me this, but for the first couple of years from a sport hitting the Olympics, that,
518
00:47:35,280 --> 00:47:39,280
that federation won't get any TV money from the sports. It's only when it's kind of confirmed.
519
00:47:39,840 --> 00:47:45,120
So if you think about how important, so that means that the decision to put it into LA 28 is
520
00:47:45,120 --> 00:47:50,960
hugely important because we will start getting TV rights and I don't know exactly when, but they will
521
00:47:50,960 --> 00:47:59,360
start to come in soon. So we're in this process where the sport aspires to be big time and we have
522
00:47:59,360 --> 00:48:04,400
the athletes and the stars who are there, but we've in this process where we're moving it from a
523
00:48:04,400 --> 00:48:08,960
fairly low level sport, you know, in terms of, of, I mean, it is in terms of what it used to be.
524
00:48:09,760 --> 00:48:14,320
It's got all this popularity and it's starting to grow, but that, that's the, that's the
525
00:48:14,320 --> 00:48:20,240
thing. But that transition process takes a lot of learning, a lot of manpower, a lot of resources.
526
00:48:20,960 --> 00:48:26,960
And the IFSC is, is a very small team that have had to expand very, very quickly. So there's that
527
00:48:26,960 --> 00:48:32,080
as a sort of restraint to them because although I'm a freelancer with those guys, I do get to spend
528
00:48:32,080 --> 00:48:37,680
a lot of time with them. And I see them as people as well as just this federation. And I think
529
00:48:37,680 --> 00:48:44,640
whenever you have an umbrella thing like the IFSC or, you know, it's very easy to, to forget that
530
00:48:44,640 --> 00:48:50,480
there's people behind that name who were, you know, like I've been on planes with people who have,
531
00:48:50,480 --> 00:48:54,320
you know, been delayed and miss seeing their kids and won't be home to see them for weeks. You know,
532
00:48:54,320 --> 00:49:00,080
this is, this is like real people working very, very, very hard within certain restrictions and
533
00:49:00,080 --> 00:49:03,840
not everyone gets it right all the time. And the IFSC doesn't get it right all the time.
534
00:49:03,840 --> 00:49:10,080
But, and, you know, I think there's certainly things that could be communicated better because,
535
00:49:11,120 --> 00:49:14,560
you know, for example, when I talked to the beginning about the, the universality program,
536
00:49:15,280 --> 00:49:18,560
the edit we put together, you know, I could see from your face, you hadn't heard of it before.
537
00:49:18,560 --> 00:49:22,400
And this is a really good like initiative that the IFSC is doing that isn't being
538
00:49:23,200 --> 00:49:29,920
shown enough. And there are lots of things that go on either sort of underground politically or
539
00:49:29,920 --> 00:49:35,440
behind the scenes that are a federation punching like way above its weight for what it's trying to
540
00:49:35,440 --> 00:49:40,640
do. But it does make mistakes. And I do think communication is one of those things. You know,
541
00:49:40,640 --> 00:49:45,200
I still think we, I mean, from my side, you know, I'm the content side, I'm the video side,
542
00:49:45,200 --> 00:49:50,880
I would like to expand that and bring people who are watching, you know, I think if you ask people
543
00:49:51,680 --> 00:49:56,560
to pay for a service, then you need to give them a lot back if they, you know, and if you take
544
00:49:56,560 --> 00:50:00,320
Formula One as a model, you know, you have to pay for that. And yet there's so much content on their
545
00:50:00,320 --> 00:50:05,520
YouTube channels and things to get your teeth into. So obviously, I would love to do more things with
546
00:50:05,520 --> 00:50:10,720
that with the IFSC. And I think we could do better like that. But there's a lot of money needed in
547
00:50:10,720 --> 00:50:14,800
lots of different aspects of our sports. And everything needs attention right now, because
548
00:50:14,800 --> 00:50:19,600
it's, it's, there's a ticking clock on everything because the next Olympics is coming and,
549
00:50:20,240 --> 00:50:25,200
you know, it's we have to be ready. So I think it's a good thing that we're doing this.
550
00:50:25,200 --> 00:50:31,440
So I think with the things they don't do right, I'm hoping that people learn from that and progress
551
00:50:31,440 --> 00:50:37,520
and keep communicating and keep talking. And I think in a couple of years when the ship sort of
552
00:50:37,520 --> 00:50:41,440
steadies itself, we're going to have a really special thing come out of this. But it just needs
553
00:50:41,440 --> 00:50:46,080
a bit of patience while we sort of navigate these waters at the moment. And that's from everyone.
554
00:50:46,080 --> 00:50:50,560
I think that's from athletes, from TV companies, from everyone who's involved this. We'll get there,
555
00:50:50,560 --> 00:50:57,520
be patient. Yeah, money is one of the hard parts. You were saying that funding doesn't come in until
556
00:50:58,160 --> 00:51:03,520
2028 for LA? No, no, and don't quote me on that. Like, what I'm saying is the first times you're
557
00:51:03,520 --> 00:51:08,160
in the Olympics is like a preliminary sport, you don't have access to TV rights, is when you have
558
00:51:08,160 --> 00:51:13,840
the full when you're in the Olympics, like we are now as like a member, then you get access to this
559
00:51:13,840 --> 00:51:19,440
sort of TV money. So and that hasn't just sort of arrived the second we went into Tokyo. So
560
00:51:19,440 --> 00:51:23,120
in terms of resources, I think people think there are more resources there than there are. And it's
561
00:51:23,120 --> 00:51:27,360
still a sport where we have really, really fine margins and running these events is incredibly
562
00:51:27,360 --> 00:51:37,360
expensive. You know, send the millionaires to sponsor these events, please. Yeah. If I meet any,
563
00:51:37,360 --> 00:51:44,960
I'll let you guys know. Please do. And so one of the difficult things that happened this year
564
00:51:44,960 --> 00:51:51,440
that I'm sure a lot of people want to know about is the whole Red S situation. The commentary box
565
00:51:51,440 --> 00:51:58,080
hot mic incident is I think what kind of kicked off the whole discussion. What are your thoughts
566
00:51:58,080 --> 00:52:03,680
about, I guess, what happened there and your stance on the topic? Yeah, I'm totally happy to
567
00:52:03,680 --> 00:52:09,440
say what happened as well, because it's it's there was no kind of secret to it. So and so the hot
568
00:52:09,440 --> 00:52:15,360
mic thing, so generally, so we are. So we have microphones in the commentary box. And obviously,
569
00:52:15,360 --> 00:52:20,320
there's an on air button and an off air button. And with that one, it was an exterior TV company,
570
00:52:20,320 --> 00:52:26,160
and they'd inadvertently had us on air, but they hadn't been streaming our signal. And then someone
571
00:52:26,160 --> 00:52:31,120
pressed a button and streamed a couple of seconds of the signal. Now, I understand about hot mics,
572
00:52:31,120 --> 00:52:34,400
and it's something I'm quite careful about. But it's hard, because sometimes athletes in the box
573
00:52:34,400 --> 00:52:38,080
with you for maybe like 15 minutes before it starts, and you're going to have a conversation
574
00:52:38,080 --> 00:52:43,040
about stuff. But I'm quite aware that sometimes it goes wrong. And yeah, the Alana thing. So with
575
00:52:43,040 --> 00:52:47,440
Alana, basically, we'd actually been talking about the fact that she was retiring, because no one
576
00:52:47,440 --> 00:52:52,720
really knew. And she'd said to me before Innsbruck that she wanted to do the comp sheet, the
577
00:52:52,720 --> 00:52:56,880
commentating one that that finals because it was be her last event, and she wanted to announce it.
578
00:52:56,880 --> 00:53:01,440
And it was like, this whole thing, and I was aware that it was happening, but no one else knew. And
579
00:53:01,440 --> 00:53:06,880
you know, so it was mainly discussing that. And Alana is very, very good at commentating,
580
00:53:06,880 --> 00:53:12,000
and certainly, I think has a future when she stops Olympic qualifying, hopefully Olympic competing.
581
00:53:12,880 --> 00:53:17,040
You know, she's got a future in that. But one of the things she was talking about was she wanted to
582
00:53:18,160 --> 00:53:25,280
talk about the Red S issue. And she was asking me to sort of I said, Is there anything you want to
583
00:53:26,000 --> 00:53:30,400
it started with me saying, Is there anything apart from your retirement that you don't want me to say
584
00:53:30,400 --> 00:53:34,560
or that you want to cover when we talk about the fact that you're moving away from the sport? And
585
00:53:34,560 --> 00:53:42,960
she said, I'd like to talk about the issue of Red S and what the IFC is doing. And what I said was,
586
00:53:42,960 --> 00:53:47,200
okay, the exact words, I played it in my head a million times, because I knew this would happen
587
00:53:47,200 --> 00:53:55,280
one day. I said, I said, Okay, obviously, do what you want. It might not be the best time for it
588
00:53:55,280 --> 00:53:58,960
now. And then and that there was a section in the middle of all that that got caught
589
00:53:59,520 --> 00:54:03,360
on the hot mic before the guy turned it off. And I finished the sentence, which wasn't called by
590
00:54:03,360 --> 00:54:10,320
saying, you know, might not be the best time to do it on air like right now. But if you want to do it,
591
00:54:10,320 --> 00:54:13,680
I'm not going to stop you because I'm not you know, at the end of the day, I'm asked to
592
00:54:15,440 --> 00:54:20,400
it's difficult, like I work for the IFC more than the athletes do. But I and I'm certainly asked,
593
00:54:20,400 --> 00:54:25,360
I would never touch topics like that. It's not my role. But I also I'm not going to stop an athlete
594
00:54:25,360 --> 00:54:32,800
if they have something to say. But at the same time, it's you know, we it's run like a professional
595
00:54:32,800 --> 00:54:38,640
commentating team, and it has to have that different angle. So I was happy with Alana to
596
00:54:38,640 --> 00:54:42,880
say what she wanted to say, my my concern was that the conversation would become entirely about
597
00:54:43,440 --> 00:54:47,920
that thing on a night where she's trying to talk about other things. And also that she couldn't
598
00:54:47,920 --> 00:54:54,240
necessarily express what she wanted to express in what would have to be about a sentence to fill
599
00:54:54,240 --> 00:54:59,040
the time between the video finishing and the first set of things coming on screen that we have to
600
00:54:59,040 --> 00:55:04,960
talk about. So and I knew that if she said something, it would be very quick, and she would
601
00:55:04,960 --> 00:55:10,480
feel a little bit perhaps unfulfilled about it. But it was up to her. And I genuinely didn't know
602
00:55:10,480 --> 00:55:13,840
whether we when we started speaking, whether she would bring it up or not. And if she brought it
603
00:55:13,840 --> 00:55:19,200
up, I was going to let her have her moment and say what she wanted to say and then move on in terms
604
00:55:19,200 --> 00:55:23,360
of like, I wasn't going to get into the discussion. But it was she can say what she wanted to do.
605
00:55:23,360 --> 00:55:28,640
She decided not to and then later put out the statement and then said what she wanted to do.
606
00:55:28,640 --> 00:55:33,360
And I talked to her about it. I talked to her about that have been caught that we took it off
607
00:55:33,360 --> 00:55:38,880
because it was like, I just very strongly believe that it was it was such an important thing that
608
00:55:38,880 --> 00:55:45,200
she wanted to say that it needed to have the full impact of how she wanted to say it in the way that
609
00:55:45,200 --> 00:55:51,680
she wanted to do it. And I'm glad that she did it that way, because I think then the conversation
610
00:55:51,680 --> 00:55:58,400
could develop. That's what I think anyway. And then how I personally feel about it. I mean,
611
00:55:58,400 --> 00:56:02,880
it's honestly it's it's not something I'm going to talk about. And the reasons I'm not going to
612
00:56:02,880 --> 00:56:11,520
talk about it is a couple. Number one is that it's very, very complicated. And it's it doesn't
613
00:56:11,520 --> 00:56:16,400
necessarily look like it is from from an outsider's perspective sometimes because it seems like very
614
00:56:16,400 --> 00:56:22,800
cut and dry. And it is I think if if there's something that the IFC they say they are doing,
615
00:56:22,800 --> 00:56:28,320
they should follow that as a standard. And I'm not really privy to whether they have or haven't
616
00:56:28,320 --> 00:56:33,360
done that. It's not part of my job role. And I'm not involved in those conversations.
617
00:56:34,480 --> 00:56:39,440
But I am aware of how complicated it is because it's it reaches deep into the sport. We're talking
618
00:56:39,440 --> 00:56:46,480
about it's a responsibility of federations as well as the IFC. You know, it's a lot of people and
619
00:56:46,480 --> 00:56:53,520
there's a lot of there's a lot of views about it. So it's very complicated. And I'm not an expert
620
00:56:53,520 --> 00:56:57,840
on it. And I don't feel like I can necessarily weigh in on it like that. The second reason is
621
00:56:57,840 --> 00:57:02,800
because I don't want to speak for people. They do it better than I do on this issue. But also, like,
622
00:57:02,800 --> 00:57:07,600
my role is to commentate on every single athlete who makes it through to the next round.
623
00:57:08,960 --> 00:57:16,480
Now, there are likely to be athletes who appear that I talk about that I want to
624
00:57:17,680 --> 00:57:22,560
do the same kind of job that I would do talking about them as I would do talking about anyone.
625
00:57:22,560 --> 00:57:27,200
And if I'm talking about I think it's difficult for me to discuss an issue like that without
626
00:57:27,200 --> 00:57:34,480
people thinking about athletes names or who I might be talking about. And I am always going to
627
00:57:34,480 --> 00:57:40,080
try to help that athlete up the wall, even though they can't hear me with what I'm saying, like I
628
00:57:40,080 --> 00:57:45,520
care about them succeeding. And I think it would be weird if I chipped into a discussion when my
629
00:57:45,520 --> 00:57:50,000
job is to talk about those athletes. So for that reason, I sort of stay away from it. And
630
00:57:50,000 --> 00:57:54,560
I hope that everyone keeps working towards a solution for this because I think it's
631
00:57:54,560 --> 00:57:59,120
a thing is quite unique to climbing. And I think it's obviously very important and it needs to be
632
00:57:59,120 --> 00:58:03,760
dealt with properly. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, thank you for the insight. I think
633
00:58:05,200 --> 00:58:11,760
that helps a lot. I had no idea about what happened after the fact of the hot mic incident.
634
00:58:11,760 --> 00:58:16,800
So that's really interesting to know. I don't I can't say I was like devastated. It's the worst
635
00:58:16,800 --> 00:58:20,960
conversation I was like devastated. It's the worst thing because I felt professionally really
636
00:58:20,960 --> 00:58:26,640
silly about it because like I know about hot mics is not the athletes job to think about that. It's
637
00:58:26,640 --> 00:58:31,840
my job to think about that. But like she literally said it about 10 seconds before we started talking
638
00:58:31,840 --> 00:58:37,200
as well. Like it was like as the music started to roll up, she said this thing and I had like,
639
00:58:37,840 --> 00:58:44,320
like 20 seconds to try to respond. But I'm annoyed it got caught because I didn't want it to become
640
00:58:44,320 --> 00:58:50,400
about a hot mic thing. I wanted it to become about what Alana wanted to say. So I was disappointed
641
00:58:50,400 --> 00:58:55,840
that it started off that way. But I think to Alana's credit, an enormous credit, the way that she
642
00:58:57,200 --> 00:59:02,640
sort of didn't sort of try to cover up the fact that we had this hot mic and we'd have a private
643
00:59:02,640 --> 00:59:06,880
conversation, but she just rolled with it and said what she wanted to say and just didn't make it
644
00:59:06,880 --> 00:59:12,880
about that. And I just I think it was just an incredible way of her getting her opinion across.
645
00:59:12,880 --> 00:59:18,400
And I think not that it was like a good thing that it happened, but it definitely brought a lot more
646
00:59:18,400 --> 00:59:28,160
eyes to the issue and probably helped her platform and get just getting people to wonder what it was
647
00:59:28,160 --> 00:59:35,840
about. Yeah, I think so. But yeah, I think that is everything I wanted to cover about IFSC. Is
648
00:59:35,840 --> 00:59:41,040
there anything else you wanted to mention about IFSC before we move on? I don't think so. I think
649
00:59:41,040 --> 00:59:48,080
it's just like, it's a funny one because I swing from, you know, I work in it and I share frustrations
650
00:59:48,080 --> 00:59:54,160
as much as anyone does. And I'm very, very bad at just sitting back and like, I always want to like
651
00:59:54,160 --> 01:00:00,240
push things. So, you know, I share people's frustrations. And you know, there's so if you
652
01:00:00,240 --> 01:00:05,680
think though, like how much good the like those events do, because it's very easy to sometimes
653
01:00:05,680 --> 01:00:10,320
get caught. I mean, how many do we have this year? Like must be 15 plus. Like, you know, it's been
654
01:00:10,320 --> 01:00:15,760
viewed by millions and millions of people. You know, we've had some of the most wonderful,
655
01:00:15,760 --> 01:00:23,680
sporty moments I've ever seen. And you know, this is a competition that for very little money, or
656
01:00:23,680 --> 01:00:29,280
if you use a VPN, no money, you can watch, you know, and just experience. And it's really special.
657
01:00:29,280 --> 01:00:32,480
I just want to say thank you to everyone who worked so hard for it, because there is there is
658
01:00:32,480 --> 01:00:38,480
so much that goes on behind the scenes and people doing crazy hours, you know, from route setters,
659
01:00:38,480 --> 01:00:44,080
who are your route setters who will be there all night, all morning bleeding tips, and then
660
01:00:44,880 --> 01:00:51,920
will get castigated for something, you know, that went slightly wrong or, you know, or like amazing,
661
01:00:52,640 --> 01:00:59,600
like watching Paraclimbers just to the best people like I do props of Paraclimbers like like the 16
662
01:00:59,600 --> 01:01:03,280
thing because they are amazing. You know, it's a wonderful sport. So thank you to everyone who
663
01:01:03,280 --> 01:01:09,440
makes it what it is and for doing everything to make it special. So yeah, I FSC is not the only
664
01:01:09,440 --> 01:01:17,280
thing that you do. What I guess, give a brief description of what other work you do outside of
665
01:01:17,280 --> 01:01:25,280
I FSC commentary, whether it's like other commentary or your epic TV work. Sure. So the answer is I'm
666
01:01:25,280 --> 01:01:30,800
in a bit of a changing time at the moment. So for a very long time, I was employed by epic TV pretty
667
01:01:30,800 --> 01:01:37,360
much full time, although technically I was a freelancer for them. I don't like contracts.
668
01:01:38,560 --> 01:01:43,280
But so I worked as a freelancer, but full time for them for a long, long time. That was the only
669
01:01:43,280 --> 01:01:49,760
thing I did. And that was the only avenue I had. And yeah, gradually, I've started to sort of
670
01:01:49,760 --> 01:01:54,880
develop a little bit. And the one amazing thing about epic TV is certainly at the beginning,
671
01:01:54,880 --> 01:01:58,720
when I was working there, if you had an idea and you wanted to do something about it, they'd let
672
01:01:58,720 --> 01:02:05,920
you do it. So they, you know, I started editing and I started filming and producing and directing
673
01:02:05,920 --> 01:02:10,880
shoots. And, and, you know, there's a lot of stuff that's on climbing daily that I film or I've
674
01:02:10,880 --> 01:02:17,680
edited. So I did like, for years, I was doing two, two of the shows out of the five were my edits.
675
01:02:19,920 --> 01:02:24,000
So there was, so I started moving as well as just being the guy who talked about it, there'd be,
676
01:02:24,000 --> 01:02:29,200
there's a, there's a lot of like product marketing, working with brands, you know, like trying to work
677
01:02:29,200 --> 01:02:33,600
out some, you know, brand comes to you with a shoe and they're like, we have this shoe, we want a
678
01:02:33,600 --> 01:02:37,120
video, you have to work out how to do the video that you're, you know, you're trying to advertise
679
01:02:37,120 --> 01:02:41,760
something, but make it so exciting. And there's lots of work like that. So yeah, I've started to,
680
01:02:41,760 --> 01:02:47,200
in the last, last couple of years, I've started to, I guess, move away from epic TV into more
681
01:02:47,200 --> 01:02:55,600
different companies. So I have the IFC, I've got epic TV. I've started writing for various people.
682
01:02:55,600 --> 01:03:03,200
So I write for UKC. And then sort of next year, there's a few things. So it's, people don't really
683
01:03:03,200 --> 01:03:07,600
know this actually. So you'll be the first to know it, but it will be, I'm going to be doing the
684
01:03:08,240 --> 01:03:13,200
UIA ice climbing next year. So I'll be doing the world cup commentary for that, which is,
685
01:03:13,200 --> 01:03:18,720
which is, it's cool. Like, and hopefully what's going to happen is people will
686
01:03:20,080 --> 01:03:23,760
hopefully come with me a little bit. Trust me that this sport is good because it is,
687
01:03:24,560 --> 01:03:30,640
it's like climbing, but with like deadly weapons attached to your hand. It's like utterly terrifying.
688
01:03:30,640 --> 01:03:37,280
Like it's like something you've never seen. And it goes up the inside of like a car parking lots
689
01:03:37,280 --> 01:03:42,320
in South Fay will be in Korea. It's, it's a spectacle of a sport. So I'll be doing that next
690
01:03:42,320 --> 01:03:48,880
year. Hopefully something in summer will come through and I'll be speaking on various platforms
691
01:03:48,880 --> 01:03:54,400
for that when that happens. And then, and then hopefully I haven't been contracted, but hopefully
692
01:03:54,400 --> 01:04:02,080
IFC next year as well. Epic TV work will sort of step back a little bit. I think it's, I've been
693
01:04:02,080 --> 01:04:09,520
doing less and less with them. And then really it was only down to a couple of shoots. And then I
694
01:04:09,520 --> 01:04:17,920
did the gear shows for them. And I think, I think I'll probably stop doing that pretty soon and just
695
01:04:17,920 --> 01:04:23,760
occasionally do sort of hopefully some bigger projects with them. So occasionally appearing
696
01:04:23,760 --> 01:04:28,640
on camera maybe, but more sort of producing work and perhaps doing some filming projects with them,
697
01:04:28,640 --> 01:04:33,760
but on a much looser basis. So sort of Epic TV. And it's sad to say goodbye, because it's been a
698
01:04:33,760 --> 01:04:37,760
long time I've been there, but it's, it's probably time to step away from that a little bit and do
699
01:04:37,760 --> 01:04:44,560
something different. And then, yeah, there's quite a big thing, hopefully happening in March,
700
01:04:44,560 --> 01:04:48,560
which is, and again, I'm not going to say exactly what it is, because not a hundred percent, but
701
01:04:48,560 --> 01:04:52,160
hopefully in the buildup to March, you'll find out about it because there is something that I
702
01:04:52,160 --> 01:05:01,360
went to do with a bunch of amazing people telling a story that has, it was, it was two weeks of the
703
01:05:01,360 --> 01:05:07,200
most insane journey I've ever been on into a very, very dangerous place and very sad place to be
704
01:05:07,200 --> 01:05:12,320
right now. So that will be coming hopefully fingers crossed in March 2024. So yeah, there's
705
01:05:12,320 --> 01:05:17,920
a few things, hopefully for next year, but yeah, that's, that's what I do outside of, of the talking
706
01:05:17,920 --> 01:05:23,760
bit. Exciting. People are going to be very upset that you can't talk about what's going on in March,
707
01:05:23,760 --> 01:05:28,320
though. I think people can guess. Like if you, if you, if you follow me on any platforms and you've,
708
01:05:28,320 --> 01:05:33,280
you've read various things, you look back at my Instagram, you'll know it's, it's, it's, yeah,
709
01:05:33,280 --> 01:05:37,520
I'm not, I'm not going to say anything else, but it's from what I've seen, it's likely to happen. And,
710
01:05:37,520 --> 01:05:43,600
and it's, it's going to be a step forward in me in terms of my filmmaking and some of the stories I
711
01:05:43,600 --> 01:05:49,760
try to tell. And it's a side that I love to do. And I really hope that people enjoy it.
712
01:05:49,760 --> 01:05:56,080
A plug to look through all of your socials. Exactly. Is, would you say that's like
713
01:05:57,040 --> 01:05:59,920
the proudest thing that you've worked on, or is there anything else in your
714
01:05:59,920 --> 01:06:04,240
career again, that you're, that you feel like you're most excited about?
715
01:06:04,720 --> 01:06:08,080
There's been some amazing moments along the way that have just,
716
01:06:09,280 --> 01:06:13,680
and in every company that I've worked for, I've had these moments, you know, there's been
717
01:06:14,320 --> 01:06:19,600
climbing daily shoots where I've been working with athletes who are my heroes and I'll sort of catch
718
01:06:19,600 --> 01:06:26,960
myself. We did a very, I think we did quite, I think one thing Epic TV has done pretty well over
719
01:06:26,960 --> 01:06:33,920
the years is sort of try to evolve. And we've done a lot of things with climbing daily that was new.
720
01:06:33,920 --> 01:06:39,040
And I think people tend to forget Epic TV was the original YouTube channel before everyone had a
721
01:06:39,040 --> 01:06:44,080
YouTube channel. We were there and we sort of moved it from five minute shows, or it would just be
722
01:06:44,080 --> 01:06:50,640
like a social media grab gossip into mini documentaries. And, you know, I remember,
723
01:06:50,640 --> 01:06:55,600
I'll tell you one thing actually that I was proud of was that when,
724
01:06:57,600 --> 01:07:04,960
and what am I proud of most of? There's been moments where I've had people who I respect a lot
725
01:07:05,600 --> 01:07:14,720
say like they enjoyed something. And it might be like, I remember the gentleman who was head of
726
01:07:14,720 --> 01:07:21,840
the British Mountain Guide Association, Graham Ettel, I knew him before I started the job and
727
01:07:21,840 --> 01:07:28,080
he's this very Scottish, very brusque mountain guide. And I remembered wanting to be an alpinist
728
01:07:28,080 --> 01:07:32,080
and respecting the heck out of this guy. And then I started the climbing daily job and I remember
729
01:07:32,080 --> 01:07:36,000
doing various things, but I came back and I saw him, I happened to see him, he came up to me.
730
01:07:36,800 --> 01:07:40,640
Then, you know, this is me moving from, he knew me as this squirt little guy trying to climb into
731
01:07:40,640 --> 01:07:45,440
like this person who's a gatekeeper for climbing stories. And he just came up and was just nodded
732
01:07:45,440 --> 01:07:48,960
to me and was like, yeah, you know, I don't remember exactly what he said, but he said he
733
01:07:48,960 --> 01:07:53,920
really enjoyed it. And I just remember being like, wow, that's like a proper climber watching my
734
01:07:53,920 --> 01:08:00,560
videos. And, you know, whenever anyone comes up to me and they just say like, thank you, or like,
735
01:08:00,560 --> 01:08:05,680
I enjoy this, you suddenly realize that you touch people with it. And that's been a really,
736
01:08:05,680 --> 01:08:08,400
it keeps me going, honestly, that's really, really special to find that.
737
01:08:08,400 --> 01:08:15,440
And then I don't know with the commentating, I think, I think in this pre, it's a hint,
738
01:08:15,440 --> 01:08:22,320
it even more the most amazing moment I've had of watching so far has been watching Daniel Boldyrev
739
01:08:22,320 --> 01:08:31,760
win the European speed championships in Munich in the summer. So not the summer, summer before,
740
01:08:31,760 --> 01:08:37,760
it was this massive event right in the middle of Munich. And this was, you know,
741
01:08:37,760 --> 01:08:47,120
this was, you know, as the war was kind of all kicking around and, and, and Daniel won this
742
01:08:47,120 --> 01:08:52,880
competition. And I remember forgetting he's a Ukraine athlete. And I remember forgetting that
743
01:08:52,880 --> 01:08:58,240
he was Ukraine, not even considering that he was Ukrainian until he won, he topped out. And he came
744
01:08:58,240 --> 01:09:03,680
down and he reclimbed the wall. And he celebrated in the top and he came down, he had a flag. And
745
01:09:03,680 --> 01:09:09,680
it was at this moment on air, I sort of realized the significance of what he'd done, because he
746
01:09:09,680 --> 01:09:17,680
just won the biggest competition of the year for Ukraine in Munich. And I remember just realizing
747
01:09:17,680 --> 01:09:22,480
that I was going to cry. And that all I was desperately trying to do was like push down on
748
01:09:22,480 --> 01:09:27,040
that feeling, because I knew that if I cried, anyone listening isn't going to be affected by
749
01:09:27,040 --> 01:09:30,640
it. They're just going to hear me crying. They don't want to hear that. So I was shoving this
750
01:09:30,640 --> 01:09:36,160
emotion down, like pushing it, pushing it down. But it was, I'm choking up even speaking about
751
01:09:36,160 --> 01:09:40,480
it, because it was just, it was this moment where like, it didn't matter about the sport,
752
01:09:40,480 --> 01:09:45,840
but what he was saying on stage, it was the most powerful statement I've ever seen. And
753
01:09:46,960 --> 01:09:53,040
I, I was proud of holding it together until the end of that. And I just remember sitting in that
754
01:09:53,040 --> 01:09:56,960
empty stadium and, and when everyone had left and I couldn't leave, I remember I had to do a link
755
01:09:56,960 --> 01:10:02,880
for Epic TV and I had to do it like six times. And I just remember being proud to get to a position
756
01:10:02,880 --> 01:10:09,440
where I was allowed to speak about the most incredible, talented people. And that's such a
757
01:10:09,440 --> 01:10:14,640
privilege. And I'm proud of myself. I've got myself to that position where I get to experience it,
758
01:10:14,640 --> 01:10:20,720
because it's amazing. Wow. Yeah. That's really meaningful. Is it, is there a video on that
759
01:10:20,720 --> 01:10:28,400
somewhere? I'd love to link it. You can watch it. You have to VPN it. It's like the, I'll send you
760
01:10:28,400 --> 01:10:33,920
a link if you want after this, but it's, you have to, you might be able to get it in the States.
761
01:10:36,320 --> 01:10:40,240
Well, I'll send it to you. But yeah, it's European Championship and it's in Munich. It's the speed
762
01:10:40,240 --> 01:10:47,520
finals for the men. That's, that's incredible. Yeah. I'll link it below. So yeah, I guess that's not
763
01:10:47,520 --> 01:10:52,960
an IFSC broadcast. Are there any other competitions that you love commentating for?
764
01:10:54,640 --> 01:11:00,240
Oh, like outside. Yeah. Whenever there's a, whenever there's an exterior, I'm still amazed
765
01:11:00,240 --> 01:11:03,600
people ask me to do it, honestly. And like, it's incredible. Like I'll get a message from someone,
766
01:11:03,600 --> 01:11:09,120
I'll be like, really? Like you want me to commentate your, like, it's awesome. They're a lot more fun
767
01:11:09,120 --> 01:11:15,440
because I feel like with the IFSC, I have to be quite well behaved. Because, you know, it's all
768
01:11:15,440 --> 01:11:21,600
it's all Eurosport and stuff. Like I have to be well behaved. Whereas for more domestic comps,
769
01:11:21,600 --> 01:11:25,520
although I try to still be as professional as I'd hoped to be on a normal broadcast, you can
770
01:11:25,520 --> 01:11:31,280
definitely have a different style of it. So I love doing them because they're just fun.
771
01:11:33,120 --> 01:11:36,160
That's my favorite. I had a great time at Doc Masters. I can't go back this year. They asked
772
01:11:36,160 --> 01:11:39,360
me to go, but I can't cause I've got ice climbing stuff, but that was a fun one in,
773
01:11:39,360 --> 01:11:46,400
uh, Ooh, some Utrecht near Amsterdam. That was cool. I just came back from Israel for the Golden
774
01:11:46,400 --> 01:11:54,240
Holds comp and, uh, that is, and I'd in no way trying to make this political because I've had
775
01:11:54,240 --> 01:11:59,520
the feedback from people about that, but whatever, and obviously the situation recently, I mean, I
776
01:11:59,520 --> 01:12:05,040
flew out a day, day and a half before it all started. So it's something that's kind of touched
777
01:12:05,040 --> 01:12:10,960
me personally quite recently, but that is a, uh, an amazing comp to be part of. It's just, uh,
778
01:12:10,960 --> 01:12:15,040
they look after the athletes beautifully and it's, um, it's a good one to be part of. So they're fun.
779
01:12:15,040 --> 01:12:20,320
All the exterior ones are fun. They're great. They're just, uh, they're pure and that's good.
780
01:12:20,320 --> 01:12:22,960
What's your, what's your favorite this year? What did you enjoy?
781
01:12:23,920 --> 01:12:28,080
Oh, like non-IFSC competitions?
782
01:12:28,080 --> 01:12:31,600
I don't know. What, like IFC was, is there a moment for you?
783
01:12:31,600 --> 01:12:40,480
Ooh, they all kind of blend together a little bit. Um, I'm trying to think if there's any.
784
01:12:40,480 --> 01:12:44,800
It's hard to remember specific moments, isn't it? Like when you think about it, it's all just
785
01:12:45,520 --> 01:12:46,240
that season.
786
01:12:46,240 --> 01:12:53,040
Yeah. I feel like there were a lot of moments I saw where, like, Brooke surprised me a lot,
787
01:12:53,040 --> 01:13:00,640
um, in bouldering. Um, I remember like the moment where Toby won gold in bouldering.
788
01:13:00,640 --> 01:13:01,600
Oh yeah.
789
01:13:01,600 --> 01:13:02,560
That was a good one.
790
01:13:03,280 --> 01:13:03,760
Yeah.
791
01:13:03,760 --> 01:13:06,720
Um, outside of that.
792
01:13:06,720 --> 01:13:11,680
That was the Toby moment was I think probably one of the best. It's got to be top three of the season.
793
01:13:11,680 --> 01:13:17,600
Yeah. I just, I worry about mentioning it because it's going to play into that.
794
01:13:17,600 --> 01:13:20,240
You fanboying over British climbers.
795
01:13:22,240 --> 01:13:22,720
Yeah.
796
01:13:22,720 --> 01:13:26,400
I think this is unfair, right? Okay. That's seriously, I think this is unfair because
797
01:13:26,400 --> 01:13:31,200
number one, like, how do I think about this? People do say this, but I'm like,
798
01:13:31,200 --> 01:13:35,360
I swear I'm more enthusiastic about everyone apart from the British guys because I try not to be
799
01:13:35,360 --> 01:13:40,720
because like, in all honesty, people, I live in France. I've lived in France for like 10 years.
800
01:13:40,720 --> 01:13:45,280
I'm very removed from the British bouldering scene. There are some athletes that I find really
801
01:13:45,280 --> 01:13:50,000
interesting within the British team. And like Molly obviously is someone who's just so talented, both
802
01:13:50,000 --> 01:13:56,160
as a climber and as you know, a co-commentator and, and as a person, she's just wicked. And I would
803
01:13:56,160 --> 01:14:01,040
have the same enthusiasm for Molly, whether she was British or like Austrian. So like, I think
804
01:14:01,040 --> 01:14:08,560
sometimes people see that as a different way, but like, I don't know. I think inevitably I must do
805
01:14:08,560 --> 01:14:13,840
it because I am British and for sure, but like someone like Toby, I don't see how people can't
806
01:14:13,840 --> 01:14:21,920
cheer him on. Like, I mean, the man uses his face for God's sake. Like, I don't know. I'm being
807
01:14:21,920 --> 01:14:26,400
enthusiastic because it's awesome what he's doing. Like, I don't know. But yes, I'll try to avoid the
808
01:14:26,400 --> 01:14:33,360
bias from it. I mean, it's unfair to like everyone. You can't avoid it. You can't avoid it. I could
809
01:14:33,360 --> 01:14:38,480
try though. I'll be better. Are there like other, you said that was one of your top three moments.
810
01:14:38,480 --> 01:14:42,720
Do you have other moments in mind? Sorry, just actually one, I've got one more defense thing to
811
01:14:42,720 --> 01:14:48,800
say, right? I'll be thinking about this. You got to remember. So for Eurosport, for a lot of countries,
812
01:14:48,800 --> 01:14:53,360
they have their own commentary team in their language. So throughout the whole world, there
813
01:14:53,360 --> 01:14:58,400
are different Eurosport teams. I'm the only one at the events and I'm like the international one,
814
01:14:58,400 --> 01:15:02,080
but there's certain countries where you can't select English commentary. So if you're in Germany,
815
01:15:02,080 --> 01:15:07,360
for example, you can't select English commentary on Eurosport. And I do think because of that,
816
01:15:07,360 --> 01:15:11,520
I might be allowed a slight bias. And that's because like, imagine if you're watching like,
817
01:15:12,880 --> 01:15:17,120
like in the Olympics, for example, you, if you watch British commentating on a British TV channel,
818
01:15:17,120 --> 01:15:20,800
there's always a little bit of it. Like if you watch a world cup and it's England playing and
819
01:15:20,800 --> 01:15:26,000
you've got English commentary. So maybe I'm allowed it. I don't know. We'll have to let,
820
01:15:26,000 --> 01:15:30,640
people can tell me if I'm allowed to do it because of that. I mean, I guess, yeah, I,
821
01:15:30,640 --> 01:15:35,840
I didn't know that there was like, are you saying there's like separate commentary in each language?
822
01:15:35,840 --> 01:15:42,000
Yeah. Yeah. And so there's a, not in obviously every single country, but there's a lot of
823
01:15:42,000 --> 01:15:45,840
countries with their own commentary team and they have, so what happens with them is they have
824
01:15:45,840 --> 01:15:52,480
our feed sent through to them. So they'll be sitting in a room in a, in a Eurosport studio,
825
01:15:52,480 --> 01:15:56,080
somewhere in the country they're broadcasting from, and they'll get all their information just
826
01:15:56,080 --> 01:16:03,040
from the screen. So yeah, so that comes through, but also what people don't know is that we,
827
01:16:03,040 --> 01:16:08,640
so Eurosport talk to us all, the entire commentary team at the same time. And there's various points
828
01:16:08,640 --> 01:16:12,240
during a broadcast where there'll be advert breaks or there'll be something called,
829
01:16:12,240 --> 01:16:17,040
this is just a bit geeky knowledge for anyone to know. There'll be sort of like breaks and those,
830
01:16:17,040 --> 01:16:20,720
and they're called editing breaks. And that's because at certain points, people who are
831
01:16:20,720 --> 01:16:25,360
directing it want clean audio. So they want everyone around the world at the same time to
832
01:16:25,360 --> 01:16:28,880
stop talking. So the way they do that is they pick a moment where they hope it's not going to be too
833
01:16:28,880 --> 01:16:33,840
busy. And then they count us down from five seconds. So, and this comes fairly randomly in your
834
01:16:33,840 --> 01:16:36,720
ears. So you can be talking like we are now. And suddenly someone will tell you that in five
835
01:16:36,720 --> 01:16:41,280
seconds, you have to stop talking for about five seconds. So that's where we're at.
836
01:16:41,280 --> 01:16:45,120
Five seconds. So you have to like stop, bring your sentence to a close pause,
837
01:16:45,760 --> 01:16:49,680
and then pick it up and make it sound natural. But everyone around the world in the commentary
838
01:16:49,680 --> 01:16:53,840
teams is doing this. So this is what I mean when I say there's lots of levels to this. It's,
839
01:16:53,840 --> 01:17:00,160
it's really complicated and there's an awful lot going on. Yeah. Oh gosh. Yeah. That's a lot to
840
01:17:00,160 --> 01:17:07,520
think about. Just something I have no idea about that would be really hard for me to do as just
841
01:17:07,520 --> 01:17:14,800
like a person who is talking right now and trying to make a podcast, but has no experience.
842
01:17:15,600 --> 01:17:19,520
Well, there's not just, so there's Eurosport in one ear, there's a director from the TV crew in
843
01:17:19,520 --> 01:17:23,040
the other ear. You're trying to listen to the co-commentator and have a conversation as well
844
01:17:23,040 --> 01:17:27,440
as watching the screen to try to work out what's going on. You've got to read stats that are coming
845
01:17:27,440 --> 01:17:31,840
up because no one feeds the stats. We have to find, we have systems, we have to find it. And
846
01:17:31,840 --> 01:17:37,200
then now we have a new system for judging where we get a group sent where they tell us if there's
847
01:17:37,200 --> 01:17:41,040
appeals. So we have, so the incident like in Chamonix won't happen again because we actually
848
01:17:41,040 --> 01:17:45,760
know what happened. So there is a lot that goes on. And I think when people are screaming at the
849
01:17:45,760 --> 01:17:49,520
screens, perhaps when we miss something, again, it's that thing where we're trying to be,
850
01:17:50,080 --> 01:17:52,640
we're punching above our weight. We're trying to be a sport that is,
851
01:17:53,920 --> 01:17:57,360
has all these things and we're still building towards it. And you know, we,
852
01:17:58,320 --> 01:18:02,640
everyone is trying to do the best possible job to try to give you guys the action because no one
853
01:18:02,640 --> 01:18:06,160
wants to do it badly. None of the route setters want to set a route that's impossible or bolder
854
01:18:06,160 --> 01:18:09,680
that can't be climbed. The judges don't want to make mistakes. The athletes don't want to
855
01:18:09,680 --> 01:18:14,880
fall off the wall and we don't want to miss names and miss things. And you know, everyone is trying.
856
01:18:16,160 --> 01:18:21,360
And I do think we usually do a pretty good job. And you know, it's pretty cool to watch people
857
01:18:21,360 --> 01:18:24,640
coming along with us and also so many new people come to the sport. It's incredible.
858
01:18:25,920 --> 01:18:32,960
Yeah. I mean, there's a lot going on. Distractions are everywhere. I literally just like saw a window
859
01:18:32,960 --> 01:18:39,040
open behind you and I'm still thinking about it. Is it? No, it was just like an automatic system.
860
01:18:40,560 --> 01:18:45,520
It was like a minute ago and I'm still thinking about it and then I'm so distracted by it. So
861
01:18:45,520 --> 01:18:53,520
I've got a long way to go, but that's fine. But okay. So outside of working,
862
01:18:54,240 --> 01:19:00,560
because we've been talking a lot about you working, what are your own climbing goals?
863
01:19:00,560 --> 01:19:07,680
How long have you been climbing? Yeah. So I'm 37 now and I started climbing when I was about
864
01:19:08,800 --> 01:19:16,800
25 or 26, I think. Pretty late. Yeah, it was pretty late. I'd always done sport, but climbing
865
01:19:16,800 --> 01:19:24,560
was new. I don't know. It's a funny one with me because I, especially this year, it's been such a
866
01:19:24,560 --> 01:19:32,240
crazy schedule that there just hasn't been the time to regularly train for me. And I really tried to
867
01:19:32,240 --> 01:19:36,800
fight it at the beginning of the season in terms of like squeezing visits to the gym. And I did
868
01:19:36,800 --> 01:19:41,760
better this year, but sometimes we're just in the middle of nowhere and, or like it's hard because
869
01:19:41,760 --> 01:19:46,000
when the athletes go to these events, their whole job is to stay fit. So they'll arrive and their
870
01:19:46,000 --> 01:19:50,240
schedule is busy, but they'll have time where it's like, okay, this is gym time and they'll
871
01:19:50,240 --> 01:19:55,920
travel an hour to go to a gym, whereas I can't do that necessarily. So it's quite hard during the
872
01:19:55,920 --> 01:20:04,320
season to keep fit, I found. I run, but this year for sure, it just like the last month, September,
873
01:20:04,320 --> 01:20:09,600
I think I was working every single day and I just didn't, there was no time for gym. So for me, it
874
01:20:09,600 --> 01:20:13,840
kind of, it tends to get quite strong over winter and then I hit summer all blazing and then have
875
01:20:13,840 --> 01:20:18,800
this season that crops up and then it drops off a cliff. And I think one thing I'm trying to do is
876
01:20:18,800 --> 01:20:25,600
maybe just row back on the work side a little bit and have a bit of a life, which would be nice.
877
01:20:25,600 --> 01:20:31,040
So I haven't got a rock climbing goal at the moment. Like I did, I bolded 8A almost a year
878
01:20:31,040 --> 01:20:36,480
ago to the date and that was my goal. And I was always been to do an 8A boulder. Like I always
879
01:20:36,480 --> 01:20:44,080
thought that was like outrageously ridiculously impossible. And yeah, there's only one, but hey,
880
01:20:44,080 --> 01:20:49,840
it's done. It's probably soft for everyone saying. You've got to pick a soft one for your first
881
01:20:49,840 --> 01:20:56,160
anyway. Like you can't climb the first grid. This is my excuses rolling out. Yeah. But no,
882
01:20:56,160 --> 01:20:59,040
that was cool. But I haven't really got one right now. Like it'd be nice. I've started training
883
01:20:59,040 --> 01:21:04,400
again recently. Like I think I've done seven days in a trot now and like back to climbing
884
01:21:04,400 --> 01:21:10,000
fairly hard again. But I don't know. We'll see. But I have time off coming. So hopefully I can
885
01:21:10,000 --> 01:21:15,040
get out on the rock and do something. Yeah. Do you ever get a chance to climb with any of the athletes?
886
01:21:18,240 --> 01:21:24,880
Sometimes. I think sometimes like at an event, it's a weird one because they have a very different
887
01:21:24,880 --> 01:21:36,400
schedule from me. And it's a weird one to answer because I, I'm, it's not like I'm always sort of
888
01:21:36,400 --> 01:21:44,640
hanging out with the athletes necessarily, because again, it's this, I feel like maybe I need to
889
01:21:44,640 --> 01:21:48,240
sometimes keep a bit of distance because again, it's that thing where I talk about them for a
890
01:21:48,240 --> 01:21:53,280
living. And if they're all my best friends and I'm sort of like it, I think it would be a bit of a
891
01:21:53,280 --> 01:21:58,480
weird dynamic. So I step back a little bit from it. I don't try to get too involved. I'm not trying
892
01:21:58,480 --> 01:22:03,200
to get in on personal climbing trips and stuff like that. Um, but having said that there are
893
01:22:03,200 --> 01:22:08,880
athletes like I do climb with and really enjoy it. And, uh, you know, they're a lot, a lot better
894
01:22:08,880 --> 01:22:13,040
than me. And that's also worth remembering. Like, you know, they're really good. They're really good.
895
01:22:13,840 --> 01:22:16,960
So it's not like, you know, you go for a session and then you can keep up. It's like,
896
01:22:16,960 --> 01:22:21,440
shut you down pretty quick. But, uh, yeah, you know, it's, it's fun sometimes to get
897
01:22:21,440 --> 01:22:28,320
remembered how bad you are. I can only imagine. Um, do you ever participate in competitions yourself?
898
01:22:28,320 --> 01:22:33,920
I've never done a client, a rock client or like a plastic climbing comp. I once entered the,
899
01:22:34,640 --> 01:22:39,520
yeah, I once entered the European ice climbing championships
900
01:22:40,880 --> 01:22:45,200
as the only representative of great Britain, because we were there filming for Epic TV and
901
01:22:45,200 --> 01:22:50,080
we'd, we'd had, we were in the gym getting ready for the comp. Like they had a party in the gym
902
01:22:50,080 --> 01:22:56,480
to like celebrate everyone coming in. And, uh, I definitely had at least two, too many beers.
903
01:22:56,480 --> 01:23:01,920
And then I found out that theoretically I could enter this competition. And then I thought it
904
01:23:01,920 --> 01:23:06,160
would just be the best video for Epic TV ever. So I sort of made this decision. I remember going
905
01:23:06,160 --> 01:23:10,480
to Hugo and being like, I can enter. And he was like, what? It was like, I was like, I can enter
906
01:23:10,480 --> 01:23:15,200
the competition. I'm going to enter and then we can film it. And I just remember then just being
907
01:23:15,200 --> 01:23:20,160
so scared about that because I, I, I've dry tooled a bit and you vaguely what I was doing. But like,
908
01:23:20,160 --> 01:23:24,480
again, it's like, I'm, I don't, but I didn't come last. And I was, I was super happy about that,
909
01:23:24,480 --> 01:23:26,880
but that's the only competition I've ever entered was that one.
910
01:23:26,880 --> 01:23:30,000
Geez. You should do more. I think that would be a lot of fun.
911
01:23:30,880 --> 01:23:33,360
No, there's so much better than me. Like,
912
01:23:33,360 --> 01:23:38,160
well, not like a, not like an international event, like a local one or.
913
01:23:38,960 --> 01:23:43,520
It doesn't, honestly, it doesn't really do it for me. Like I like, I like, I like an audience when
914
01:23:43,520 --> 01:23:48,560
I climb. I like if, if people are watching, I definitely climb harder, but I just don't,
915
01:23:48,560 --> 01:23:52,400
I don't think I'm any good, honestly. And I just think I get shut down and I don't see
916
01:23:52,400 --> 01:23:59,040
the appeal of doing, I don't know, maybe it's weird. I think I just, I'd want to do quite well in it.
917
01:23:59,680 --> 01:24:03,360
And I don't think I would do very well in it. And I think that almost puts me off
918
01:24:03,360 --> 01:24:06,880
entering because I don't think I could be happy with just like having a great day,
919
01:24:06,880 --> 01:24:11,600
trying a bunch of Qualley boulders and coming 50th. I think I'd, I'm, I'm competitive.
920
01:24:12,400 --> 01:24:13,840
So I think that's why I haven't done it.
921
01:24:15,840 --> 01:24:21,040
It would be really interesting to see you do one and do well. I mean, I'm sure,
922
01:24:21,040 --> 01:24:28,640
at like a local competition or I don't know, maybe like British competition.
923
01:24:28,640 --> 01:24:32,880
Maybe someone could invite me as like a sort of veteran category.
924
01:24:32,880 --> 01:24:35,280
That would be a lot of fun. I would recommend it for you.
925
01:24:35,280 --> 01:24:36,480
One day, we'll see.
926
01:24:36,480 --> 01:24:42,960
All right. So I think that's all I had. We have a few more Discord questions that we'll go into.
927
01:24:42,960 --> 01:24:48,160
Yeah, yeah, sure. So this is what people have asked who are interested in.
928
01:24:48,160 --> 01:24:53,840
Yeah. I mean, some of the questions I've already gone over just because those were also my questions.
929
01:24:53,840 --> 01:24:59,440
And so these are just things that I didn't think about or things that I don't, not really familiar with.
930
01:24:59,440 --> 01:25:07,200
No, that's cool. Yeah. So first one, do you get much feedback from athletes on your commentary?
931
01:25:09,600 --> 01:25:17,200
No, actually. And I feel like they'll occasionally take the piss, like an athlete
932
01:25:17,200 --> 01:25:22,160
actually surprises me that they and when they take the piss, then I realize they're watching,
933
01:25:22,160 --> 01:25:27,840
which is always quite a moment because it is quite an odd one because I stand the same hotels as them.
934
01:25:27,840 --> 01:25:31,600
I see them like I talk to them like, you know, friends with some of them. And it's like,
935
01:25:32,160 --> 01:25:36,000
and then I'm aware that and I think if I thought about it, I go crazy.
936
01:25:36,000 --> 01:25:38,720
Because if you think about the fact that you're saying something about someone,
937
01:25:38,720 --> 01:25:44,320
you just had breakfast with it, which is really do you add in. So very little feedback, honestly,
938
01:25:44,320 --> 01:25:50,960
like there's been a couple of really nice people who have said, like either thank you or well done,
939
01:25:50,960 --> 01:25:56,560
or like, I remember, I can't remember who I was Max. I actually can't remember who it was with
940
01:25:56,560 --> 01:26:01,120
someone in the German team. I got Hannah Moyles name mixed up with Leachier because they had this
941
01:26:01,120 --> 01:26:05,360
really wide shot and I just, I just said the wrong name and they were taking, they were joking about
942
01:26:05,360 --> 01:26:09,680
it with me and then whoever it was, and I think it was Max, but I'm sorry if it's not Max, I've got
943
01:26:09,680 --> 01:26:14,560
name wrong again. He like, he obviously like thought about that he was joking. It wasn't fun. It was
944
01:26:14,560 --> 01:26:19,840
total jest. It was like funny, but he came to me after it was just like, oh, he was like, I know,
945
01:26:19,840 --> 01:26:23,680
he was like, I hope you know you're joking because like you do a really good job and thank you so
946
01:26:23,680 --> 01:26:30,800
much. And I was just like, wow, like that's like, that's, that's cool. And I, it's occasionally when
947
01:26:30,800 --> 01:26:36,000
it happens, it does, it means an awful lot to me when they say that because it's, this is what they
948
01:26:36,000 --> 01:26:41,520
do for a living. This is what they spend hours in the gym training for. And the very least I can do
949
01:26:41,520 --> 01:26:46,800
is, is hopefully say something that they like hearing. And so yeah, it's awesome when they say
950
01:26:46,800 --> 01:26:52,320
that I think it's special, but no, it never really happens. Well, it's a cue for more people to give
951
01:26:52,320 --> 01:27:01,840
you feedback if, or do you want to? Yeah. If they also said to me like, and I'd love it if they said
952
01:27:01,840 --> 01:27:06,880
more like, like people teaching me stuff is like, and I learn it in the commentary box because like,
953
01:27:08,080 --> 01:27:11,120
you know, and that's what the brilliance of having them, because someone will say something
954
01:27:11,120 --> 01:27:14,880
and you're like, oh my God, I've never thought of that. And I'll always say, like I usually say,
955
01:27:14,880 --> 01:27:21,040
if it's genuinely a new thing that I've never heard of before, I'm like, wow. And certainly
956
01:27:21,040 --> 01:27:24,320
they could have taught me technical things. I definitely wasn't very technical when I started
957
01:27:24,320 --> 01:27:28,160
the job and I think I've got better at that. So, and that's something that they sort of gave me
958
01:27:28,160 --> 01:27:33,680
feedback on just by doing what they do. And I just learned from them a little bit. But yeah,
959
01:27:33,680 --> 01:27:39,360
any criticism, please tell me genuinely. Another question, a bit of a joke. Will
960
01:27:39,360 --> 01:27:45,360
Charlie Bosco ever have a job that you won't end up stealing? I know right. Literally Charlie, he's,
961
01:27:45,360 --> 01:27:50,960
I owe him my career for sure. I owe him my career. And again, it's never been that he's like,
962
01:27:50,960 --> 01:27:56,480
mate's rates got me in the back door, but he's just been there and he's had an eye out for me. And
963
01:27:56,480 --> 01:28:01,280
like the story of how I met Charlie was that I was, I just started climbing. I was psyched over
964
01:28:01,280 --> 01:28:06,880
the moon about it. And he came at that point, he was quite big on the sort of alpinism scene. He
965
01:28:06,880 --> 01:28:12,160
was like a bit of a, he was a blog writer and he came to the gym I was at, he was invited there to
966
01:28:12,160 --> 01:28:19,280
give a talk. And we all went to the pub afterwards. And I remember just being a bit fanboy over Charlie.
967
01:28:19,280 --> 01:28:24,240
And then one of Charlie's friends died in Chamonix and left him all of his guidebooks. And Charlie
968
01:28:24,240 --> 01:28:30,160
had the guidebooks and he wrote, he sent a message to the war and said, could you send these books
969
01:28:30,160 --> 01:28:35,920
to the really enthusiastic guy at the pub, which was me. And I was like, oh, wow. So he gave me all
970
01:28:35,920 --> 01:28:39,520
these guidebooks. And then when I was in Chamonix for the first time, I messaged Charlie and I just
971
01:28:39,520 --> 01:28:45,840
said, do you want to go climbing? And we started climbing together, but he, he definitely had the
972
01:28:45,840 --> 01:28:50,880
jobs that I wanted. And he had his eye out for me in terms of when he knew they were coming to a
973
01:28:50,880 --> 01:28:56,480
close, he suggested me or put me forward for those roles. So with that, without Charlie, I, I, I
974
01:28:56,480 --> 01:29:00,720
wouldn't be where I am now, honestly. And he messaged me the other day because I shouted him out on
975
01:29:00,720 --> 01:29:06,560
air and he said, he said, thank you for the shout out, but it's your sport to commentate now. You
976
01:29:06,560 --> 01:29:09,920
don't need to do that. And I just remember that being a really humble thing for him to say,
977
01:29:09,920 --> 01:29:15,360
because he paved the way for me and the professional standard that I try to maintain. So,
978
01:29:15,360 --> 01:29:20,720
yeah, he's, he's a legend. So thank you, Charlie. Cheers. Are you guys still in touch or like, what
979
01:29:20,720 --> 01:29:25,120
is he doing now? Are you going to steal whatever he's doing now? If it's a better job than mine,
980
01:29:25,120 --> 01:29:28,880
then I hope so. Yeah. Like he just needs to like, what I want Charlie to do is go into a job and
981
01:29:28,880 --> 01:29:32,640
prepare it for me and then I'll come in and improve it for him. That's how the system works.
982
01:29:32,640 --> 01:29:40,480
Okay. Gotcha. Good to know. In a dream world, what kind of broadcast features or technology
983
01:29:40,480 --> 01:29:47,600
would you like to see or have? I would love someone behind the scenes crunching the numbers,
984
01:29:47,600 --> 01:29:53,360
which isn't really a, that isn't really a technical thing, but it, it's something that I think
985
01:29:53,360 --> 01:29:58,480
some sports have that we would benefit from because we have this amazing guy called Paul,
986
01:29:58,480 --> 01:30:02,400
who started off doing it completely. I think he still does do it for free, but he has this whole
987
01:30:02,400 --> 01:30:07,680
database and he just is a huge climbing nerd. It's brilliant. And he just sends me all these stats,
988
01:30:07,680 --> 01:30:12,800
but I find it quite difficult to process some of that whilst I'm trying to talk and interact with
989
01:30:12,800 --> 01:30:17,440
the co-commentator to someone in my ear being like our graphics guy, for example, guy called them
990
01:30:17,440 --> 01:30:23,680
Antonin has this encyclopedic knowledge for climbing competitions that I do not possess.
991
01:30:24,400 --> 01:30:28,480
And he sat next to me during the Verona's youth comp and he wasn't really doing very much because
992
01:30:28,480 --> 01:30:34,320
the graphics for youth is pretty minimal. And he just fed me incredible facts that I then could
993
01:30:34,320 --> 01:30:40,320
use. And so someone like that would be amazing. But in terms of like what's going on, technically,
994
01:30:40,320 --> 01:30:46,400
I think speed could be, I'd like to see some kind of a system where we can show exactly where,
995
01:30:46,400 --> 01:30:52,240
where an athlete lost time, some kind of like ghost mode or some kind of like sector lighting
996
01:30:52,240 --> 01:30:56,240
up system. So the audience also can see, cause we're getting so close now in terms of how close
997
01:30:56,240 --> 01:31:01,120
they are. It'd be cool to have a graphic representation of who's actually ahead. Yeah.
998
01:31:01,120 --> 01:31:06,240
That would be interesting. There's for sure things that can be done improved in terms of predicting
999
01:31:06,240 --> 01:31:12,080
results as well. Because, you know, a computer knows better than we do what's going to happen
1000
01:31:12,080 --> 01:31:16,240
and what the likelihood is. So we have that in quite a basic function at the moment. It would
1001
01:31:16,240 --> 01:31:21,440
be really good to see that prediction system. So we know more clearly, for example, in a combined
1002
01:31:21,440 --> 01:31:25,520
comp, exactly what an athlete has to do to get to a certain position to be safe.
1003
01:31:25,520 --> 01:31:35,120
That would, I think, benefit everyone hugely. Sort of like how they show in the, the graphics,
1004
01:31:35,120 --> 01:31:42,240
like, oh, needs a top in five attempts or something to get gold. Like that, but just easier to
1005
01:31:42,240 --> 01:31:46,000
understand. Like I know that graph, and also that graphic can kind of change depending on what other
1006
01:31:46,000 --> 01:31:51,760
people do. So it's, it's just some way of, you know, when they have a good graph, they can
1007
01:31:51,760 --> 01:31:56,560
do the maths on it. Because they're not doing the play by play. They have time to do that.
1008
01:31:56,560 --> 01:32:02,000
So I tend to leave them to work out exactly who's doing what where, because they have this eye for
1009
01:32:02,000 --> 01:32:07,120
it where they can just see their way through a score sheet very quickly. But to have someone
1010
01:32:07,120 --> 01:32:11,520
doing that for us so we don't get distracted from what's happening would be really helpful.
1011
01:32:11,520 --> 01:32:15,200
Not things I'd ever thought about. So that's really different. And a clock in semi-finals.
1012
01:32:15,200 --> 01:32:18,000
So that's really helpful. And I think that's a really good thing.
1013
01:32:18,000 --> 01:32:21,920
Not things I'd ever thought about. So that's really different. And a clock in semi-finals.
1014
01:32:21,920 --> 01:32:30,640
I'd like a clock in semi-finals. Wait, is there not? No. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
1015
01:32:31,680 --> 01:32:38,480
One day we'll get a clock. Yeah. Hopefully. I've been assured. Yeah. All right. Last question.
1016
01:32:39,360 --> 01:32:45,840
We need to know the origin of Sticky Serato. Someone told me, and I can't remember who it was
1017
01:32:45,840 --> 01:32:50,560
you told me, but someone told me that his nickname, either in the Japanese team or just amongst his
1018
01:32:50,560 --> 01:32:56,400
sort of peers, was Sticky Serato. And I just thought, so, and then when I found this out,
1019
01:32:56,400 --> 01:33:00,240
as I tend to do, when I find something I quite like, I tend to get a bit hooked up in it for a
1020
01:33:00,240 --> 01:33:06,080
moment without realizing I'm doing it. But there's been an Instagram video where someone's edited my,
1021
01:33:06,080 --> 01:33:10,640
which is brilliant, but edited all my times together. That was over 36 hours or whatever
1022
01:33:10,640 --> 01:33:15,760
it was of broadcast time. But yeah, that was my real. That was Sticky Hands. Was that your real?
1023
01:33:15,760 --> 01:33:20,480
Oh, it was wicked. I loved it. Sorry. I found it so funny when you did that. It was brilliant.
1024
01:33:21,120 --> 01:33:25,280
I was like, ah, it's awesome. I love it when people do that. People sometimes ask me,
1025
01:33:25,280 --> 01:33:31,360
are you okay? And I say, yes. Parody is funny. And there's no way I can speak for as long as I do
1026
01:33:31,360 --> 01:33:36,400
and not say ridiculous things occasionally. And honestly, it's probably part of what makes me who
1027
01:33:36,400 --> 01:33:43,200
I am. As in, it's really going to annoy someone sometimes that I occasionally do that, but it's
1028
01:33:43,200 --> 01:33:54,560
me. So, you know, it's who I am. I mean, yeah, I was actually contemplating whether or not I should
1029
01:33:54,560 --> 01:34:00,720
put it out because it was a little bit gross. Yeah, I agree. But then like we've seen lots of,
1030
01:34:00,720 --> 01:34:04,000
I mean, after the athlete started licking their hands after the world champs thing for the,
1031
01:34:04,560 --> 01:34:07,920
I don't think we can go to a grosser level. So maybe there's no more gross than climbing.
1032
01:34:07,920 --> 01:34:13,280
Maybe that was it. We peaked. But I think apparently it's just because of his skin.
1033
01:34:13,280 --> 01:34:17,280
Like he's just amazing at holding onto volumes. So he's like a gecko, apparently. He can just,
1034
01:34:17,840 --> 01:34:22,800
and you see, and the thing is, once you start seeing something, you start seeing it.
1035
01:34:22,800 --> 01:34:26,800
So people, people listening to this watch the next time he's on a volume problem,
1036
01:34:26,800 --> 01:34:31,760
because he hits it and he doesn't adjust. Like there's no movement. So most athletes will hit
1037
01:34:31,760 --> 01:34:37,120
a slope and have a little twist or something. Usually he's just bang and that's it.
1038
01:34:37,120 --> 01:34:42,080
So it's, it's a, it's a good sort of energy saver he has as well.
1039
01:34:42,080 --> 01:34:48,640
Yeah, definitely. He was just him climbing in general was one of the best moments of the season.
1040
01:34:49,680 --> 01:34:50,320
It's cool, isn't it?
1041
01:34:50,320 --> 01:34:56,480
Actually, it was a bit of a surprise to me that he did not podium during world champs.
1042
01:34:56,480 --> 01:35:03,520
Yeah. I think it, I think it was maybe to a lot of people, but it is where he is 16. It's his
1043
01:35:03,520 --> 01:35:10,720
first season. And I think in the same way as Toby, people expected him, I think, I think sometimes
1044
01:35:11,520 --> 01:35:17,200
he's got time and I think sometimes it's maybe good to have that moment earlier on.
1045
01:35:18,320 --> 01:35:22,640
And I don't think there's any bad thing with Serato fighting through a few more qualification
1046
01:35:22,640 --> 01:35:27,040
rounds. I, you know, he's, if he gets into the Olympics, he's going to be one of the favorites.
1047
01:35:27,040 --> 01:35:34,560
If things continue to win the Olympics. And I think having that knowledge that you can be beaten
1048
01:35:34,560 --> 01:35:40,720
and to have that is no bad thing for him to go through. So I, and I, you know, we've got the
1049
01:35:40,720 --> 01:35:45,040
Asian qualifier soon. I'll be there in Jakarta in a couple of weeks. So, you know, that's his moment.
1050
01:35:45,040 --> 01:35:50,640
And it'd be interesting to see whether he's taken that experience and learn from it.
1051
01:35:50,640 --> 01:35:57,760
I really hope, I hope he shows up in the, in the Olympics. I think it would be really nice to have
1052
01:35:57,760 --> 01:36:04,320
someone young so that there's someone that can be a favorite, like multiple Olympics in a row.
1053
01:36:04,320 --> 01:36:08,960
I feel like that would be great for the sport in general. I agree. I agree. And he's, he's really
1054
01:36:08,960 --> 01:36:14,160
nice as well. Serato is such a cool kid. He's like a bit quirky, a bit weird and just awesome.
1055
01:36:14,800 --> 01:36:17,920
I really like him. He's great. Yeah. I wish we could hear more from him.
1056
01:36:17,920 --> 01:36:23,600
Yeah. And also that, by the way, people always say that we should provide him with a translator.
1057
01:36:23,600 --> 01:36:27,920
We do provide him with a translator. There is a translator literally there, but like it's very
1058
01:36:27,920 --> 01:36:34,400
much his choice to speak in English. And like the interview questions are one of those things that
1059
01:36:34,400 --> 01:36:41,680
is quite hard to do sometimes. And it is a lot going on and I'm not there ever. Certainly when
1060
01:36:41,680 --> 01:36:45,200
I have been there occasionally we'll make a call where it's like an athlete will maybe want to try
1061
01:36:45,200 --> 01:36:48,720
to speak in English and we'll just be like, look, it's like, it's just going to be easier to do it
1062
01:36:48,720 --> 01:36:52,960
with a translator because they're just more, you know, they're more expressive in the language they
1063
01:36:52,960 --> 01:36:59,120
want to speak in. But if an athlete is speaking in English on a, on a, on a interview, it's because
1064
01:36:59,120 --> 01:37:03,920
they've literally chosen to do so. So it's, we have that option for them. I just see, I see that
1065
01:37:03,920 --> 01:37:08,720
comment a lot, but it's disgraceful. And you're like, there is one standing right there. They just,
1066
01:37:08,720 --> 01:37:14,320
they decide not to use it. Yeah. I just, I wish we could know more about his thoughts after, but I
1067
01:37:14,320 --> 01:37:20,800
get him wanting to get the practice and speak in English. So yeah, maybe I'll assist. I mean,
1068
01:37:20,800 --> 01:37:28,320
next time we might, we might sort of insist on it, but maybe it'll be better next time. Maybe,
1069
01:37:28,320 --> 01:37:34,160
maybe. All right. Well, I think that's all the questions I had. Thank you so much for joining
1070
01:37:34,160 --> 01:37:41,760
me today. It was great to hear about everything behind the scenes. Anything you want to shout out
1071
01:37:41,760 --> 01:37:46,080
or let people know where they can find you? No, just say, if anyone ever wants to send me
1072
01:37:46,720 --> 01:37:50,720
a message or like a discussion, I'll try to answer as much as possible. My Instagram is
1073
01:37:50,720 --> 01:38:01,760
mackroom1. You can go into that. And then, yeah, and genuinely like it's, I, the comments people
1074
01:38:01,760 --> 01:38:06,800
have is always appreciated. And I like, please keep sending them in everyone. And, and as I said,
1075
01:38:06,800 --> 01:38:12,400
like I look at the nasty ones and the nice ones and the nice ones though, mean a huge amount. And
1076
01:38:12,400 --> 01:38:17,120
there's been a few people in the last year, just random people. And it's been a bit of a tough year
1077
01:38:17,120 --> 01:38:22,080
for me for various things. And the people who have reached out, I just want to say thank you so much
1078
01:38:22,080 --> 01:38:26,720
because occasionally someone sending a message at the right moment has genuinely like saved me for
1079
01:38:26,720 --> 01:38:31,920
some pretty dark places. So thank you to the people who, you know, out the blue will send you
1080
01:38:31,920 --> 01:38:36,960
something just being like, oh, this made you laugh or like, you know, something happened. And I appreciate
1081
01:38:36,960 --> 01:38:42,080
that. And so thank you to everyone who did that. Awesome. Well, yeah, thank you so much for joining
1082
01:38:42,080 --> 01:38:47,360
me. No worries. Thank you for having me. I'll see you soon. Thank you so much for making it to the
1083
01:38:47,360 --> 01:38:52,560
end of the podcast. If you're watching on YouTube, I would love to hear your discussion and thoughts
1084
01:38:52,560 --> 01:38:58,400
in the comments below. And don't forget to like and subscribe if you enjoyed. If you're listening
1085
01:38:58,400 --> 01:39:03,600
through a podcasting platform, I'd appreciate if you rate it five stars and you can continue the
1086
01:39:03,600 --> 01:39:09,680
discussion through my competition climbing discord linked in all of the descriptions
1087
01:39:09,680 --> 01:39:28,960
through all the platforms. Thanks again for listening.
