What it Means to Be a Climber in 2020
This essay was submitted by Tessa Huang, age 13, from Cary, NC and is the final winner for our 2020 Essay Contest.
2020 was supposed to be a great year for climbing, making its first appearance at the Tokyo Olympics. In February, I was in Japan, one week after Nationals, and I had the privilege of climbing with Janja Garnbret, her coach, Roman Krajnik, and met Futaba Ito. Then the coronavirus turned the world upside down.
Many climbers were excited and working hard for the next season. Climbing is a great sport to enjoy, relax, and hang out with others.
My climbing journey started when I was just 7. For 6 years, I’ve been riding this rollercoaster of emotions with wins, losses, successes, and failures. Then as a community, we all faced everything coming to a halt. In February, climbers in 2020 had to take a break from their ordinary schedules.
This year has been hard for climbers for a countless amount of factors. Almost everything around us has changed from the delay of the Olympic games to wearing masks and social distancing. All the years of training were peaking for me as a first year B, and then suddenly, it came to an abrupt stop. Having to be self-contained in our house, for our well being, and on top of that, moving to a new state in
the middle of the pandemic, was unsettling. Moreover, we were near the New York City area at the time, the hot zone of COVID. We were quarantined from February through August. In September, we moved from New Jersey to North Carolina and switched climbing teams. USA Climbing was also trying to figure out how we can continue the youth competitions. Even though there were so many new challenges, I knew I had to learn to adapt with a positive attitude.
In October, I started playing tennis to remind myself that sports should be fun, even when it sometimes doesn’t feel like it. I have been trying to adapt to my new climbing team, a new state, and a new style of climbing since I grew three inches since February. I have been steadily working out and getting back into shape. My first month in North Carolina has tested me. I was on my own trying to figure out who I was as a climber, as a teammate, and as a person. In February, I was confident, carefree, and decisive. But in September, all that confidence went down the drain. I realized how much strength, power, and endurance I lost. I also lost the support system of my old teammates and coaches due to the move. I am determined to build back up what I had in February, and even more so with a new appreciation for what I had. I am looking forward to building relationships with my new teammates, and learning from my coaches. During this year, I realized that winning and competing isn’t everything. It’s a lot more fun climbing and pushing myself with other people, especially when we can help each other out. I was happy where I was in terms of improving in climbing. However, I have learned a lot from this year, from knowing what to value to rethinking the reason for doing the sport.
In conclusion, this year has been chaotic with everything that has been going on within and outside of climbing. Regardless, I learned what matters is the tranquillity within the team, openness, encouragement, and having fun. Even though we’re still in the middle of the pandemic, I believe we can make it a positive year.
