And I don’t think this will affect people’s attendance to ABS events seeing as how there really aren’t any other series going on. Overall both comps I felt were great, the mistakes have been realized and I’m really not too worried about next year. I’ll be there, unless some ailment prevents me….which is highly likely. Tyson you know.

In terms of the padding overall, that was a big problem and is a point USAC and the gyms need to better address in the future. There were no pads in ISO precisely because we needed all the pads downstairs to cover every single spot. In some cases it was still not enough. In terms of ISO and the amount of holds and whether they were set-screwed, etc… this is something that Kynan and I, as head setters, probably could have done more to double-check about, but it was ultimately the gym’s responsibility to set up ISO.

Live and learn I suppose.. thanks for the comments.

Chris, I applaud taking the responsibility for the outcome of finals. It think most setters would curl up in the fetal position and hide in a corner until next year.

Regarding not putting potential hard moves up high, it is always difficult to make something exciting up high without putting in EXTRA elements of danger. This is something I have crossed in my years setting production climbing events in the US, as well as the AsianX. What it comes down to is BETTER PADDING, and the knowledge of how to fall by the competitors (and setters). I am blown away how many competitors dont know how to fall (we will see the effects in the years to come if everyones lower back is destroyed). I have yet to see an ABS comp where there IS enough padding.

My thoughts regarding the womens problems, they were a snooze-fest. Besides being too easy, I thought the mens problems tested a variety of styles, and were better set. Obviously, it is very easy to be the armchair setter and tell you this and that. I am sure you did NOT want the outcome you had, however the best thing to do is to learn from your mistakes and move on.

Regarding the kids problems, what I was able to see when I was out of iso, seemed well set. I know setting for kids is doublely hard than setting for adults, so bravo! I would have liked to see more gymnastic movment for the kids, but I realize there is going to be a learning curve with the kids I am not sure the setters or the organization are going to want. I would like to add I thought you did a great job dishing out the steep angles for the younger categories as well as not making the D’s and C’s more crimp ladders. I know it is hard to make work what you made work, so I commend your effort.

From a setting standpoint, this must be corrected in the future. MORE holds on the warmup walls, and you MUST set screw them as well. I know it is a pain in the ass, but there were spinners every time you climbed on the holds. This is a recipe for someone getting hurt while they are warming up. This is especially bad considering one warm-up wall had NO PADDING. BTW, did you know day one for the kids, someone pulled a jug straight off the wall. IMO, there is no excuse for that. Give a voulenteer a box of screws and a drill.

One thing to always remember is that first of all spotting can be dangerous in itself, and second of all many pro competitors would rather not be spotted as long as padding is good.

In terms of the youth comp, I was only there for a short time but did see spotters spotting well. Nonetheless it is a valuable point and another area where USAC can work harder with the gyms and volunteers to ensure that there are enough trained spotters at the event. It is often a challenge at every event since volunteers are essential to make our events happen, we ask a lot of them, and standing in the spotlights for hours on end is not always fun, especially when the person would rather be watching with a piece of pizza or a drink…

Chris, I hope you did see my point about the lack of good spoting at the comp. This probably wasn’t your responsibility, but as an offical member of ABS organization perhaps you can help try to improve the standard of spoting at future comps.

Also, Chris and Kyle, you are both wrong that there were no injuries. I met an older kid in the airport (I didn’t get his name but he competed in open qualis) who twisted his ankle severly in the qualifier. He had it wraped up and was hobbleing around the airport. So there was at least one injury. Would better spotting have helped? I don’t know…climbing is risky, boulderers hurt their ankes, but I’m a firm believer in good spotting, and that it should be mandatory at every ABS comp, down to the local level…I have also seen poorley spotted kids get wheeled out on backboards at ABS comps, that really hits home.

Perhaps this forum should be strickly about setting, but since injuries came up I thought I’d chime in…I also saw kids land flat on their backs with spottters either nowhere to be seen or standing their with their hands in their pockets. This is not acceptable to me, and not a good example for the climbing community.

Sorry for the thread drift, I like Kyles attitude and overall I had an awesome time and so did my teamate, and thanks for setting alot of really cool routes! I so almost cried when you took them down!

Best Regards,
Matt

Your point about style differences is a good one. I was quite happy with the Men’s Finals but not the Women’s. This was the first ABS National where we had hold sponsors for each problem and this affected our ability to set varying styles to a certain degree for sure. This is an area for improvement at major events in the future, but will always be a challenge since hold companies cannot afford to supply us with their whole line, and in fact, even if they could, the terrain itself might be a bigger challenge.

Thought I might give my two cents… I thought this was the single best Youth bouldering event I’ve been to. Perfect problems (other than D 3 finals, the location sucked and the problem was too hard), great gym, with a polite, helpful staff, and very well run, from iso to organization to MC. The problems had perfect separation (other than A female who were both in adult finals). I thought it was nice to see little kids (C and D) getting equal opportunity on the overhanging walls as the older kids usually get. No injuries, technicals, or appeals that weren’t easily solved. Anyway you get the point…Great event from my section of the peanut gallery.

As for the adults and Chris’s post…I agree with molly. As a routesetter and a board member for USAC it’s sincerely nice to see responsibility taken for the adult event. An it’s inspiring to know you’re not going to take your football and go home but rather stay in the fight and help the organization learn from this event and make the next one better. Please take my critics with a grain of salt…while I’m a route setter I don’t presume I could set perfect boulder problems for Adult Nationals that would get one finisher. Relatively speaking I agree with your assessment of the men, I don’t think the problems could of been any better for the 5 through 20 men and agree a change of one or two holds on the fourth could of gotten the results you were looking for and everyone else wanted. I beleive you that Zach injury played a big part in this. However the women on the other hand I felt like were a little more off the mark. 17 of the top 20 women finished all four problems in less than 3 falls, and having coached 2 of the top 20 females I was lead to believe none of the female problems were harder than V5. Do you believe a turn of a hold or two on #3 would of changed the course of the event for female finals or just the top 8 that flashed all 4? While I get the point of how awesome it is for the crowd if someone finishes the problems it would seem to me the female problems didn’t really change much in style like they did last year. I’m sure it also has to do with the angle of the walls at this event vs. the spot, but last year they seemed to be very different types of problems as they went from 1 to 4 (ie. techie, powerful, and/or beta intensive)and this year they seemed very similar in nature. Do you think one would feel that way because the problems were too easy or do you feel like regardless of difficulty the problems didn’t lack points for diversity?

Anyway, thanks for the insite I truly believe your honesity will help us all become better routesetters for our clients.

You mention being scared of setting hard and dangerous moves up high because of Zachs injury.

Yet I saw abosolutely NO spotting of any of the competitors in finals, and very weak spotting of the Youth.

I was in the crowd, and the spectators were having fun enjoying themselves…it was a huge crowd. Beer was free and it was all good. The mens problems were exiting to watch. The womens problems looked a little straight forward and lacking any of the cool “show” moves that girls are capable of.

I was actually more interested in the Youth routes, because I was there to coach a kid on my team. I thought the youth routes were very cool with a good mix of styles.

I have two complaints regarding the youth comp:
I think the routes were a little more favorable for power then technique.

and:

I didn’t like how the climbing time went from 5 minutes to 4 per route, because we had been training and practicing for 5 minutes. This was an unpleasnt and unexpected suprise, and through my kid for a loop. He wasn’t sure how long he should rest between burns or howmany burns he could get in 4 minutes, because he had trained for 5.

My biggest complaint is more directed toward the gym itself. ISO SUCKED! Seriously, how are top level competitors supposed to warm up adequatly for pulling V6 and up on BIRTHDAY PARTY walls with jugs! And those overhanging woddies were a freaking joke.

My kid got totaly flash pumped because we could not warm up properly. I am glad he diddn’t injur himself. The solution, easy….set some warm up boulder problems in ISo, with crimps, slopers, pinches pockets, etc.

Still, I don’t want to be a hater. The comp was fun and we had a good time, and I comend your work! Frankly I got sick of listening to allthe other coaches bitch.

Cheers!