March 19, 2024 • 46 mins
Pete Woods walks you through the thrilling world of climbing. A highly respected ESPN climbing broadcaster and experienced youth coach, Pete provides a fascinating glimpse into his climbing journey's exhilarating heights and challenging lows.
Pete shares his early days of climbing passion that fueled him to coach young climbers. Pete's unwavering enthusiasm for the sport and commitment to the climbing community is palpable from coaching to broadcasting. He discusses how his coaching experience has honed his skills as a sports commentator, providing invaluable ability to explain the sport’s intricacies to a broad audience.
Pete also delves into some surprising revelations about his approach to coaching. He shares his enjoyable experiences of coaching renowned climbers like Sean McCall and Jason Holloway during the youth world championships. Hear about his emphasis on understanding complex movements and the joy he experienced in seeing them grow and excel.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Quick PSA, February 23rd at The Hill in Dallas, Texas is the premiere of Climb Malawi.
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(00:24):
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Music.
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(01:00):
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(01:22):
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(01:43):
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(02:08):
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Thank you so much for listening to Sends and Suffers Podcast.
On today's episode of Sends and Suffers, we have none other than Pete Woods.
(02:57):
Now, Pete Woods hails from the Canadian motherland.
And for those of you who have been in the game for a while, I'm talking like
way back. I'm talking like when we were watching climbing videos just past VHS.
The man has been around. Pete is a climbing legend competing in the Canadian
circuit, also being an ESPN broadcaster for climbing and a climbing coach.
(03:21):
You know, in a way, he has hit aspects of the industry that I aspire to be in,
and then others that I don't know if I could really do it.
I mean, broadcasting is hard, but I'm going to let him tell you all about that.
I hope you enjoy this episode with Pete Woods talking about his time and climbing
and professional broadcasting and coaching and just being a man who is chasing
(03:44):
after his dream unabashedly.
Enjoy the episode with Pete Woods.
Music.
Pete, how are you? I'm good, brother. How are you? Doing all right.
The last time I saw you was in Salt Lake when you did a podcast with Chris, our boy, Chris Hampton.
(04:07):
When was that? 2021. That was my first World Cup as a lead commentator.
It's a big deal. It is a big deal. And we did that bit before the first comp.
So we did it like, it was either two days before or the night before.
And it was basically like, sort of, you know, what are you feeling? How did you get here?
But not how was it? it. So it was kind of a fun road up to like express like, this is a big deal.
(04:31):
And you know, you got to remember that it's a big deal, but don't get too freaked out.
Okay. So not going to assume most, I mean, in my mind, you're a living legend.
So let's just be honest in my mind, but I'm not going to assume that most of
my audience knows who you are, where you're from.
Can you tell me who you are, where you're from, a little backstory about you
(04:53):
And what is your connection to climbing, which I think everyone should know,
but, you know, the world's a different place now.
That's true. It's true. My name is Pete Woods, MC Pete Woods.
I am Canadian. I grew up in Ontario, in Ottawa. I was born in Montreal,
so I'm officially French.
Oh, nice. I didn't know that. Yeah, yeah. And I've been living in Alberta for
(05:15):
like 24 years. So I'm on the west side in the mountains.
And I've been climbing for, you know, more than 25 years and I've been coaching and competing.
You know, I started competing the year I started climbing. I started coaching
like five years after I started climbing. I coached youth and stuff.
And when I stopped competing, as you taper down and you realize that the kids
(05:39):
are really good and you're 30-something, I just was approached with an opportunity to...
I MC a tour de bloc, which is a Canadian series of competitions. It goes coast to coast.
It was like our national championship series before we had an official national
championship, provincials, regionals, all that kind of stuff. That makes sense.
Yeah. So early 2000s. But I
(06:00):
think I had, you know, when you have like one of those over the ear mics.
Countrymen. Yeah. And I was like, I'm not wearing that thing.
And it had a little cord and I was holding it like a little Bob,
tiny little Bob Barker microphone.
Yeah. And I MC'd the final at my home gym.
And it was a blast and then so i
was like this is cool like this is something we should do more of
(06:20):
you know in climbing and i was lucky to have a gym owner walson tie
who owns calgary climbing centers in calgary just had
a bit of vision you know and then either that
same year the next year he was like i want to do a live stream so we did a tour
de bloc and we basically i mean it was held together by sheer force of will
like cable internet i was sitting on top of our one of our boulders in the back
(06:45):
bouldering area, I like three laptops,
and a flask of whiskey.
And they use the security cameras that they use for like for judges to go do appeals.
And I just talked about climbing for three and a half hours to myself on a live
stream broadcast with like 47 people watching.
And that was the birth of, I could do this.
(07:06):
And I went from being a hobby to something that I I started working on and learning
sort of how to be part of a broadcast and then how to be an MC and how to,
you know, move between those two spaces in the climbing world. And it's grown.
I did every Canadian nationals that we streamed. And then a couple of years
ago I did, you know, started doing us national comps, uh, which is pretty awesome.
(07:27):
And then did a couple of world cup seasons that we can talk about that,
but that sort of, we had a bit of a gap, but yeah, Yeah. So I've,
I've taken it up to as far as, you know, as far as it goes and I'm still in it and it's so much fun.
So I'd like to back up a little bit. I didn't know that you were a youth coach
and you were actually a coach because like, that's my full-time job coaching
(07:50):
kids and coaching athletes.
How was that part of your life? And do you think that really kind of like help
you become a better broadcaster? And like, did it play into that?
Cause I know that's your your career now, but can you tell me a little bit about
your coaching, like what was it like, what athletes were you coaching, when was this?
Mm-hmm. We're about to take a left turn. It's about to be a coaching podcast
(08:12):
episode. Oh, no, we're going to go back and forth. We're going to go back and forth.
I started coaching when I moved to Calgary and there was an opportunity to coach the B youth team.
So we had like an A team and a B team. So I was coaching the B youth team at
the Calgary Climbing Center, like pretty psyched, 13, 14, 15 year old kids, 12 year old kids.
I actually think there were some younger because we used to be able to compete
(08:33):
Canada, especially it was an 11 seven and under category at nationals.
That's cool. So 10 year old kid, like forget their chalk bags,
like shoes. Don't they walk? They wear the climbing shoes like all day,
like coaching those kids.
It just got me into the idea that you could impart knowledge.
So I, I coached a little bit out of university. I went back and coached volleyball
(08:57):
at my old high school when I was in university.
So I knew that I liked the idea of coaching and I knew that I liked, you know, how it worked.
And so I coached that team and then that coach left and I was given the opportunity
to coach like the, you know, the Calgary's youth team because there was only one gym at the time.
So I coached Calgary's youth team for a couple of seasons and then had an opportunity
to coach the Canadian youth team to the youth world championships.
(09:20):
So I took coach with Mike Doyle. Okay. Who's a legend. Shout out to Mike.
So we took the team to France for the youth world championships in 2002.
Jason Holloway, Sean McCall, like in that era.
And I loved it. And I coached the youth team for another couple of years in
Calgary. And then in a, just a weird twist, they started training first thing in the morning.
(09:40):
And I had a full-time desk job, so I couldn't like get to work at nine every day.
Like I couldn't like the days that we were coaching. So I had to,
I gave up youth coaching earlier than I think I probably would have because
I really enjoyed coaching youth athletes, especially elite, like the Weldons,
Stacey and Vicky Weldon, coached them.
And they were like, they were so psyched and so good.
(10:01):
And I love that, you know, being able to coach kids that were pushing to be national champions.
And then, so I kind of turned it into coaching adults.
So I coach, you know, different versions of an advanced bouldering clinic off and on for, I mean...
Nearly like 18 years oh wow so i've been coaching
pretty regularly now the last few years i coach like individuals and
then i coach an advanced clinic aimed at
(10:24):
kind of v5 to v8 climbers who are
in that plateau space and i focus a lot on movement i'm
like i'm dialed into movement and that along with
broadcasting where you need to focus on what's
going on and can you break down movement can you
explain to people watching at home why something is difficult can you at least
(10:45):
internalize it and then know like when to be interested when not to be interested
like what's generic what's legit difficult how are people doing things differently
and seeing that and breaking it down it's very similar so coaching and broadcasting
when you look at analyzing movement.
Very very similar and you know that connection has really you know it aligns
(11:05):
for me and i super enjoy it it makes a lot of sense because i think that's probably
the hardest part because,
taylor fragamini and i we just finished an episode but we talk about
this all the time when we get on the phone you know we think
that most people overemphasize like the physical aspect
of climbing just like trying to get kids strong and powerful or
like get their endurance up and the reality of what it is is understanding complex
(11:27):
movement and i like makes sense now why you're such a good commentator because
like if you've coached and you understand like movement is the most fundamental
thing it doesn't matter how strong you are like i mean i don't remember what
it was when sasha Sasha Julian did her first 514.
People were like, she can barely do like five pull-ups in a row,
but it didn't freaking matter. She knew how to move.
(11:47):
And like, I think that's the fundamentally the most challenging and most complicated thing, I think.
But yeah, no, that translates a lot into that. And I was curious if like your
coaching can translate. Hold on one second. Yeah.
I thought they were about to open the door and let it slam. Smash in. Yeah, I was like, ah!
Yeah, for those of you who are watching this video, we are currently in Chattanooga,
(12:11):
Tennessee at the very first ever indoor climbing expo.
And I think it's going swingingly so far. What do you think?
I think it's great. I walked around yesterday. There's a pile of people exhibiting
here. And then we had the moonboard comp last night. And it was good.
Off the hook good. Can you talk about that a little bit? Who was at the Moonboarder comp?
(12:34):
And it got a little wild there. I mean, I think a few people came in and smashed
who people were expecting to come in and smash.
Dude, you couldn't have picked, I mean, you maybe could have swapped one or
two people out here and there, but everybody in that room is at the peak of climbing.
So Daniel Woods, Paul Robinson, Taylor McNeil, Ravioli Biceps,
(12:59):
Ravioli Biceps is moonboard, like all he does is climb on the moonboard. That's his jam.
Sierra Blair, Coyle, Alison Vest, Maya Madere, Sarah Gerhardt.
There's like a hundred million V points in that list of people.
And they, I mean,
I was just talking to somebody this morning in the lobby the crowd
(13:22):
was like into it but they were like entertain me
like v12 flash on the
moon board is peak climbing performance
right now in my opinion that is so difficult and doing it for two hours i agree
i agree but i think the thing that you and i have like you and i both agree
and everyone who is a climber agrees but i think the vast majority of climbers like It's just,
(13:48):
it doesn't equate because it's not this big, giant 30-foot high ball or it's not these like, man,
those crimps on this boulder look heinous. It's like.
Oh, there's these series of holds and the move lights up.
But once again, we get back to like where you're talking about it.
Like people don't understand how, they don't understand visually how to discern
(14:09):
movement and what in movement is challenging.
It's like the Paul Robinson move, like boulder that he put up.
And then that huge move that Daniel just was like twinkle fingers on and just
grabbed on and held it like it was nothing and then just pulled through.
And then Paul got up to do the same thing.
Ravi early biceps got up to do the same thing. and it was just like a shutdown.
And everyone's just like, oh, it just doesn't look that hard.
(14:32):
But because it's not this like daunting boulder, this daunting rock of this thing.
Or like a paddle dyno that people understand, I can't do that.
People think they can crimp and people think they can wingspan.
Half pad, open Gaston with two hands.
They don't understand how hard, because I can grab that hold,
but you can't grab that hold at past your expansion of mobility and keep tension
(14:58):
across your chest all the way down the other side through your hand into your other two fingers.
Yeah, no, people don't understand that. You can't do that. It's one of the key
things talking about movement. I always tell people, I'm like,
we don't want to do this with our arms when we can. We always want to kind of be here.
So I think the rubber band has a little bounce. You've got a little suspension
in the system. Just a little bit, but people are like, no, I can do this.
But I mean, that's so, getting back to that, it's like, you know,
(15:20):
this is even more of an emphasis of like why
it is so important to like look and understand movement
and climbing we're in a place that's selling all these
beautiful gorgeous holds but these holds are
solely strictly designed to create awkward movement exactly and i i enjoyed
it thoroughly i mean i definitely i'm not gonna lie i had to leave a little
(15:41):
bit before the end because i was getting hangry and so i needed to eat some
food because i was running around here all day but i was watching them climb
and i'm I'm just like, these people are at,
you know, you were like, we're in the clouds, you know, watching these people.
And someone looked like they were puzzled when you said that.
I was like, the people you are watching climb right now live on Mount Olympus
of rock climbing. Yes. The rest of us are peasants. Yep.
(16:02):
You know, and he was in this guy looked at me like, oh, that makes a lot of sense.
And I'm like, like literally these people hang out with, you know,
Prometheus, Thor, you know, all the gods, like, like the, you know,
Zeus is just like, come up and party.
You know, the rest of us do not, mere mortals do not get to come through there.
And it's just because of their accolades and because of like,
(16:23):
they're just true understanding of movement, of the sport engine.
I mean, even I was talking to Dan Woods yesterday. I never met him.
So I was psyched. We were, you know, we had our little group meeting to kind of, I mean, it was fun.
We hashed out the format yesterday.
Oh, nice. Yeah. So Travis who put on this expo was like, I'm going to have a moon board comp.
(16:46):
Don't stop him. And I had talked about the idea of playing horse and we had
actually done it at the jackalope fest.
We did, we played horse and a dino comp and it worked out really well. It was pretty cool.
Cause you like figure out your opponent's weaknesses and just keep throwing
the same kind of stuff at them.
So we had, we had talked about it, but he hadn't told the athletes anything.
So we had a meeting yesterday, hashed out the format, which is kind of funny
(17:06):
the same day of, and then I asked, you know, I was just sort of chatting with Dan after a,
they're all all super nice a they're all shorter than you think they
are yeah just in case you think he was seven feet tall but
he's my height and he's looking at projects that
are still off the off the grade like
off the number system like they're harder than what's been
done and he doesn't think he's a lot stronger than
(17:29):
he was when he first did v14 he thinks
he understands how to position how to
move how to be mentally strong how to look
after himself how to recover how to prepare and how
to stay up here how to stay focused after
multiple and when we say multiple when we're
talking elite rock climbing multiple failures is in the
(17:50):
months slash approaching a year slash more he's like it shouldn't you shouldn't
do the hardest thing in the world in a month or why would it be the hardest
thing in the world so you have to settle in for an epic journey and he's like
you We think that professional climbers are like,
oh, you're used to it, you just brush it off. He's like, when you want something so bad...
(18:13):
You have to learn to deal with the failure. And I mean, is he a little stronger than he was? Maybe.
Is he older? Yeah. So true. So understanding that the connection between you, body position,
subtleties, micro adjustments, things that like, I'm sure you coach,
I coach as well as when you're climbing V1, V2, you have light bulb moments.
(18:35):
Oh, left hand, then right hand.
Oh, left foot on. Heel. Oh, okay. I need my heel just a little bit farther over
my, I need my hips just a little bit farther over my heel to make this slopey match work.
Like there's like micro adjustments. Yeah. Micro beta.
Yeah. And when you're climbing, you know, at the top of the scale,
it's I need to be one or two degrees closer to the wall, farther away from the wall.
(19:00):
I need to have that toe like angled in and down, not in and over.
Like you're playing with tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny things. It's like climbing on
limestone. I was talking to someone about this last night. It's like grabbing soap.
They were like, and I know I'm about to get so much hate for what I'm about
to say, but this is my podcast.
And I'm saying it anyway. But, you know, I've also, I'm going to be PG because
(19:24):
that was a request because I realized some kids listen to my podcast.
I swear a lot. But, you know, but AF all y'all.
So, but I get bored climbing at the red, you know?
And it's like, I think, you know, and now granted, these are the big steep things,
the paddle thing. and people are looking at me like, you're crazy.
No, granted, I haven't done a lot of the trad. I haven't done a lot of the vert
or any things like that that are super technical.
(19:46):
But this is why I like climbing limestone so much because it's like,
especially like in Wild Iris and El Salto, even when I was in Siriana,
like you have these like micro adjustments.
You can't just put your foot in the pocket. You gotta like turn,
tilt down, like all these little, little, little, little fricking details.
(20:07):
And I think, and it's glassy in between is glassy.
And the, some of the feet get glassy. Like if you go to, if you climb in font, right.
You know, anything porous that slowly like brings in chalk and rubber over time.
And limestone is, it's not forgiving. Yeah.
And that's why we climb a limestone in Alberta valley is like,
(20:29):
you can't, all the, all the rock is the same color. It's all shades of gray.
Oh, that's Texas. And that you can't really see the chalk.
Right. So you climb like people, the first time I went to Red Rocks,
people were like, you can onsite from the parking lot.
In vegas because you can see the chalk on the holds s
and you can walk you you're standing underneath like
a route in the bow valley and i'm walking you through right you're like i'm
(20:50):
gonna flash this thing and i'm walking you through and i'm like okay and then left hand of
that gaston you're like what the gray like okay
which gray streak okay backups remember that remember this
handle yeah yeah the pocket okay and i'll go about two feet to the
right yeah and then up a foot uh-huh that gaston i don't
see it you'll see it when you get there when you get there and
you might not you're like this one no bro that all of this one and you
grab it you're like that's the the one yeah that's limestone yeah limestone
(21:13):
is just reticent i think that's the word i would like to give it
like limestone is the most reticent rock that
i've ever climbed on the only other thing that i think is
close to it is white granite but like that's just gives you nothing oh that
just it just kicks your ass like genevieve and i were in malawi and we were
bolting on white granite white granite down there and i remember just like looking
(21:36):
for holds and i was It's just like on stuff that we were bolting and on sighting.
And we're just like, this is like the hardest thing in the world.
Yeah. It's rough. It's fun though. It is. It is.
So where are you going in your career right now?
Because I think you have, I'm going to be honest, like you kind of have a dream
career, which a lot of us like would like, I think, I think some of us would
(21:59):
like dream about being on the microphone, talking about climbing all day.
This is our career. This is what we're doing.
And but at the same time i think so many people so many people
are afraid of being in front of the camera but i think they like it's
kind of like everybody idolizes actors or like oh this
is such a dream job but then they don't want to do it in my opinion i think
you've got this like really great you've dug out this really great niche for
(22:20):
yourself and i think that is a testament to your charisma your ability to kind
of think outside of the box and i think most climbers climbers who are really
moving and shaking are thinking that way.
And I also think it's just your wealth of experience as a competitive climber.
And I see now hearing a little bit about your coaching life.
I can hear that in your broadcasting and it makes way more sense of why you're
(22:44):
such a good commentator.
Where are you trying to go to right now?
And like, what's your next big hurdle that you're trying to get over and where
are you trying to do? What are you trying to to do.
Well, thank you for one. I really appreciate that.
And I'm going to be a bit real, you know, there's a bit of armchair quarterback,
you know, out in, in the world, in the world, like anybody that watches others.
(23:07):
I know climbers don't watch a lot of other sports, but some climbers watch other sports.
You watch other sports and you either, you're like, like sometimes you're like,
I could do that job. I could come like the commentators are trash today.
Right. You're like, why are you saying that? Or you're like,
John Madden is like, you hear the same things over and over and over.
I mean, I just aided myself, but. Yeah, no, I mean, old people get it.
(23:28):
So people get it. You're like, you kind of roll your eyes and.
The only things you ever really, you see a lot of both, but you,
you see a lot of negatives.
People just pick the one time you mispronounced one person's Slovenian name
with 900 consonants in a row.
And they're like, they'll hammer away on the chat. Like, that's not how you say that.
So you kind of, you have to have a bit of a thick skin about it and you have
(23:49):
to kind of be able to have people being like, I could do your job.
And you think, okay, let me, let me break it down for you. And I,
and I talked to people about it because I think it's really really interesting.
And it's something that I've learned about myself only in the last year or two
is that I have, I'm an ADHD person and I'm almost 50.
I mean, I could have told you that just solely like within the first 15,
that someone who has been taking ADHD meds since they was like seven or nine years old. I mean, bro.
(24:14):
Yeah. So I've never, I've never, I've always just thought I was a bit like easily
distracted, forgetful, like all these things. Sometimes I talk too much, like all of that.
But then when you're on a broadcast, if you're the, I mean, if you're an an
analyst, it's a bit different, but when you're the lead, you in your headset is a producer.
So you have a voice in your ear, but sometimes they're talking to you.
(24:35):
Sometimes they're not. And you're watching the screen and you're in a conversation
with your co-commentator about climbing as a thread and the competition and what's going on.
And you're deciding what to talk about. And you're deciding when I ask you a
question while you're talking, the producer might be talking to me,
but I'm still listening to you.
And I'm deciding whether I'm gonna finish what you're saying,
(24:57):
or whether I'm gonna snap it off and get back to the action because I see something
setting up to be something we haven't seen before.
Or am I gonna continue your thought and move it to something else or hand it
back to you for something that you're the expert on?
Or am I gonna continue the thought, close it, stop it in the middle,
something's happening, producer's talking,
(25:18):
Something else is happening. Oh, it's semifinals. So there's multiple climbers
on the wall. Oh, camera two. Oh, we're going to a replay.
I'm not going to lie. You lost me at the second oar. Right? Yeah.
Like that's a lot. So that's all happening at the same time for hours.
Not for 10 minutes, for hours. So I've had a few people sit like guest in and just be the analyst.
(25:40):
And I get a text message later. I'm exhausted.
I'm exhausted thinking about it. And I, people are like, are you coming out?
And I'm like, I'm going to crash. Like, you know, it's, it's a lot.
So I, I think that it's a privilege,
but I've worked really hard at it and it worked really hard to try and be good
(26:00):
at it because I think the people watching climbing competitions deserve to be
treated to an experience that is on the level with other sports broadcasts.
So I take it seriously and, you know, I, I definitely work hard at it, but it's not easy.
You know, it's not the hardest thing in the world. Obviously it's a,
it's a great opportunity.
So, and I love it. You know, I wouldn't trade it for a lot of things.
(26:23):
You know, it's, it's a really good time right now.
The biggest hurdle is federations, money, time.
And I don't know if politics is the right word, but I mean, politics are involved
in everything. I mean, yeah, the politics is a broad stroke,
but I like to say politics are just people's opinions.
(26:44):
Yeah, people's thoughts Yeah, so I didn't do the World Cups this year So I had
a conversation at the beginning of the year back and forth and I you know My
availability for World Cups this year and then the IFSC made a decision and
I can't I can't fault them They're still potentially my employer.
Yeah, but they decided they wanted a single voice,
Across all the world cups, a single voice, single voice. So consistency.
(27:08):
So they asked Matt to do every world cup and then every Olympic qualifier,
et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
I personally am of the opinion coming from other sports that having variety is great.
If you watch Sunday night football, it's a different pair than Monday night football.
So wait a minute. Is that mean you and Megan are both not doing it?
Well, Megan can still co right.
(27:30):
So there's a different analyst at every event.
Matt's doing every World Cup. And then the model of the IFSC is to have an athlete
from qualifier sit in on the semi and an athlete from the semi sit in on the final.
Okay. So they haven't adopted pairs of commentators at every event that work
together consistently.
So that's interesting. It is interesting. And it's been their model for a long
(27:51):
time. And again, I'm not going to fault it.
I do think that like Megan and I have worked together a few times.
Yeah, I really like you guys' dynamic.
You can tell when people... So Stasha has been on a bunch of finals broadcasts as well.
And it feels like that's a dynamic. So Matt and Stasha together are a good pair
because you learn how the other person speaks.
(28:13):
You learn how they think. You learn what they may or may not want to say.
You learn their tone. You know when they're finishing to saying something and
you know when they're pausing to say something else.
So you don't cut each other off. These are all things that take time.
And when you work with someone and you know, if you watch other sports,
you know, commentary pairs that have it together and they leave room for each
(28:35):
other. And you're right. It's magic.
That's the perfect word. And they know when like, if I'm being quiet because
I want the moment to breathe and they know that, then the moment breathes.
If they don't and they're like, oh, he's quiet. I better fill the air.
You might lose a magic moment. So that knowledge is so critical.
And I think that like broadcasting and climbing is still quite young.
(29:00):
Um, and there has been, you know, it's, it was kind of a private enterprise for a while.
And then the IFSC is, you know, it was, you know, two years ago was Matt did
all the European ones and I did the American ones and I wanted to do more and
I'd still like to do more. So my goal is to still do more world cups.
I also didn't do us nationals this year because they have a mandate to hire us talent.
(29:25):
So I kind of lost on the cross border, right? Being Canadian,
I think I live in the worst place for the career I'm trying to build.
We can get married and then, you know. Then we have to move to Europe. Oh, wow.
Yeah, because you got to be central. And I get it. I understand that flying
me back and forth to 23 World Cups is,
(29:45):
is expensive matt lives in in europe so it's
a europe-centric sport and i live in the
the wasteland of canada the vastness of
canada so i do appreciate that and then this year canadian nationals if you
were keep that on your calendar there was no open nationals broadcast because
we don't have the funding so my as i want to keep building what i do i took
(30:10):
a big hit this year because I did none.
Oh. So what I've, what I really pushed for starting the tail end of last year
is I started reaching out to festival, like non-sanctioned events and being
like, hey, this is me. This is what I do.
I'm interested. Are you interested? Because I still love to MC.
It's still a good time. Commentary is the closest to my heart because of the,
be able to like to, to coach basically through the screen, through that venue.
(30:33):
Because you're coaching the general public.
You're like, like, I think that's one of the things that's most important about your job.
It's like, Like, a good commentator is going to make or break our sport in the long run.
Because if you are a bad commentator, or I don't want to say bad.
If you are not good at translating movement, translating movement in a way that
(30:57):
is educating the general public and making them more knowledgeable on the sport
instead of just talking about it.
I think that's like the thing because we need people to be educated in it where
they can speak to some degree to it and not just ask, not just say like,
well, none of this looks like free solo, you know?
(31:17):
And it's just like, cause the rest of us are just shaking our heads.
Like, okay, like there's more depth to this.
And the thing is, I don't think it takes, I don't think it takes a lot to understand the depth.
I do think it takes quality information and quality commentating and quality
delivering of information to.
(31:39):
Get a concept of the nuance. Maybe that's the best way to say it.
Once again, I don't think it's that hard to understand, but if you're starting
from a bad place, then you're just not going to get anywhere.
No, and if you misrepresent the level that you're speaking to and you understand
the breadth of a broadcast, so you have people who might be tuning into their first climbing event.
(32:04):
You have people who've been watching competition climbing since Snowbird.
Yeah. So you can't talk down to people and you can't undersell to people.
So you have to, it has to be consistently inconsistent in sometimes you explain
what, when Megan says barn door, what that means. Yeah.
(32:27):
Sometimes you have to let that go. And then you have to be like,
we've said this three or four times. So I did a very interesting thing.
ESPN for a couple of years did a, basically a condensed highlight show of us
nationals and the team trials.
So they edited together highlights of mostly focusing on the winners and then
a little bit of context and they turned the bouldering finals and then lead
(32:51):
and speed finals into one hour broadcasts,
which is like 43 minutes with commercials and all that.
And then we commentate over it as if it was for the first time,
because obviously you can't just pull the commentary out of snippets because you lose all context.
So you commentate over it as though we were watching the highlights for the
first time. And we did that a remotely.
(33:13):
So Megan's at home, I'm at home and the producers are at home.
We're all in different places.
Right. And we have a laptop and we have a call sheet and we have the timing
and we just sit down a, it's not live. So it's a completely different venue
and it's hilarious because some of you can make mistakes and then you get in
your own head about mistakes.
And then sometimes you cut yourself off and it was like, whoa,
whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I didn't like the way I said that.
I sounded like an idiot. And they're like, you were fine. I'm like,
(33:34):
I'm doing it again. I'm like, okay.
And then you get Nate in your ears. Like Megan's used that expression three
times now. You got to explain it.
So they're like, okay, remember who your audience is. Yes, climbers watch this.
Yes, people who don't watch it need to understand what you're talking about.
You can't be elite in commentary.
You have to be even. And the people that, some of the trash you see on YouTube
(33:56):
comments are, what is this guy an idiot?
You know, he doesn't know what this is. And you're like, I promise you, I know.
I'm just telling this dude's mom who's watching at home, you know,
in Chattanooga, what this This move is because she's a new viewer and her son's
in, you know, finals for the first time, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
(34:17):
And in Europe, when you're doing it, and I've seen broadcasts on like 25 television
channels throughout Europe.
So the YouTube views is only North America.
A lot of people watch climbing and it's on TV throughout.
So you have to remember that people might just flip on the TV and be like,
oh, well, let's watch some rock climbing.
And you're like, okay, I'd love to watch some rock climbing.
(34:39):
I have no idea what's going on and no one's telling me. Are they going to watch again?
Probably not. That makes a lot of sense. That makes a lot of sense. Wow. Okay.
So it's important, right? It's important for our product. It's important for
us to grow. I get the Olympics is a big thing.
I personally, obviously I tried to get onto the Olympic broadcast.
(35:00):
Yeah. I mean, I think. First time.
And just that level is turning into who you know. I think, yeah,
I mean, that makes sense. It's pretty tough. And I even, I know people.
I had some people who, like Olympic athletes that I know who know people.
And even I got some introductions through Todd Richards. I don't know if anybody
of you people watch like snowboarding, but Todd Richards is like legendary.
(35:21):
And he's been doing snowboarding broadcasts for NBC for like forever. ever.
So him and I did the Jackalope in Montreal when we filmed it like two years ago.
And I was like, can you introduce me to somebody at NBC to get to talk about
the Olympics? And he was like, I can introduce you, but who knows where it goes.
So I'm having trouble getting anyone to even call me back about doing the Olympics.
And I've started a year ago.
(35:41):
Yeah. I mean, I imagine this is just something you got to keep chipping away.
Yeah. And people want it. And if you get into sort of the European,
like the, basically the feed.
So the CBC told me we're just going to buy the feed that the the IOC puts out.
So we're not going to send anybody or spend any money on doing commentary or
over commentary or in studio.
And if they're going to do in studio or an analyst, like in Canada,
(36:04):
they're probably going to pick Sean McCall, Atlanta, yep.
Right. A competitor who's been to the Olympics is going to be their analyst.
Full points. A hundred percent. Makes sense. But they're going to buy the natural
feed that the IOC is going to do.
Okay. Yeah. So it's hard to crack the Olympics. I'm not going to stop trying.
No, I don't think you should. I mean, I mean, I mean, I think classic climber,
(36:25):
like, you don't back off your project.
Keep going for it. Yeah, it takes more than one fall to knock me out. Yeah.
Well, I know they're getting ready to open this thing up, and I don't want to
stop them. I know they're about to blare some music.
But I do want to ask two things, like...
How can people, I think I know how people can help you, but I want to ask,
(36:45):
like, how can people help you achieve your dreams?
Because I know I'm asking you to be on my show, but I think it's important for
us to continue to support people that we like in the community,
that are our friends, that are close to us.
And we believe that are also making this space a better place and more inviting
because I think you are doing the work with that, especially in your commentating
(37:06):
and especially understanding that because that's a lot of shit that we got from the climb.
The TV show, people were like, oh, like, like it just wasn't that good.
Like you guys weren't like, like climbing these crusher things or they just
like, it just seemed really like simple.
And I'm like, well, that's because they were trying to explain it to my mom to watch it.
Like my mom's like oh you climb rocks oh oh
(37:28):
that's great sweetie i think that's great are there any other black people
that do this and i'm like not a lot of us she's like okay we'll just be out
there because you know you're the one you're probably the only one for like
maybe 100 miles and i'm like mom you're not actually wrong about that sometimes
and so she's like just you know just i just want them to be betraying you correctly
you know and like it is like or it's my grandmother.
(37:49):
You know satuku who's like you know jamaican grandmother who's like in her late
80s and she's She's just like, what is this crap?
What are you doing? She doesn't even know. No, she doesn't even know. No, she has no idea.
And so I think it's important. And I think people over, I mean,
there's always going to be that troll.
There's always going to be that troll, but I appreciate you like explaining it.
(38:11):
Cause it means a lot to me because like, like I said, my parents,
the kids, parents that I coach people like that, they're going to listen to this.
And the only way our sport is going to grow is if people are consistently educated.
So back to the question is, how can people help you?
Two questions, how can people help you achieve more of your dreams?
How can we be on your team?
And then the second thing is, is how can people find you and get in touch with
(38:34):
you and things like that?
I mean, I appreciate the opportunity to have this conversation for one.
It's great. And I think you're like a fantastic advocate for the sport.
So I'm really happy to be sitting in the chair with you here today, man.
And I think there's a couple of things. So first, first question has a couple answers.
One is take a breath before you type something on the internet and take a minute
(38:56):
to be supportive or defend somebody.
It doesn't have to be me. It could be an athlete. It can be another commentator. It can be a coach.
It can be someone who's putting themselves out there to try and educate on the
sport. So just take a breath and be like, what are they trying to do? And am I their audience?
And if I'm not their audience, just take a seat and watch, right?
Or help. How can I help? How can I post? How can I share?
(39:16):
Move that stuff around. if you see something that i
do that you like share it like man this guy
is trying to do good things for our community you know this is great i saw
this comp or i was there post stuff that kind
of just building that awareness and saying like this is somebody who's doing
something that is good for our sport and eventually it sort of hits the right
eyes i i laugh i uh like i'm pretty good at social media but i'm not great at
(39:40):
social media and i look at people who've got like i'm like how do i tip over
like where do you get five and ten thousand fault like i have no idea so by by all means,
you know, like and share this post.
Like, you know, that's not how I'm going to grow everything.
But I think that when you, if you watch a, an event or you go back and watch
something historical, you're, you're, you're checking it all out. Just, just.
(40:00):
Share it and be proud to like climbing. I think that sometimes we're bad at
being advocates for our own sport as fans. Oh yeah.
So do that, be a fan and enjoy being a fan and be like, I mean,
I watched this and the athletes were great and this was great. The DJ was great.
The MC was great. The commentary was great. Like just look at the peripherals
(40:21):
of what's going on and remember that. I think that's heavy.
I like that. Be a fan. Cause like that kind of struck struck
a chord with me even last night yesterday when they
were like signing posters and things like everybody's like are you gonna get a poster i'm
like no not really because like i know like
i don't know all of them and i know most
of them most of the athletes either we have traveled in the same spaces enough
(40:43):
where like i i don't know them personally they don't know me personally but
they recognize my face i recognize their face and things like that and so like
a lot of times i'm just like no i'm not gonna bother them i like that but you
know and i think of being a fan that But I also think being,
but what you're stating is being a fan is more of just understanding like that
you're advocating for the sport in a positive light and you're ensuring the
(41:06):
growth of it because fans ensure the growth of the sport or the individual prime example.
Taylor Swift fans have made her a billionaire.
Air yeah they get it right they get
it and i always i draw parallels with skateboarding oh yeah you
couldn't imagine skate like skateboarders are like a
they have signature models so people like people climb over each other to pick
(41:29):
up new drops of shoes of skate decks like yes so we don't we don't do that we
don't sort of have that hero level with our with our climbers they're just sort
of oh they're just dudes like i just i know them it was even weird for me i was I was like,
I'm with Paul and Dan because I've never met them. And I was like,
can I get a picture with you?
They're like, of course. And it feels weird because like, you know.
(41:49):
I've been climbing longer than you and I've watched you come up and do these things.
It's like, you know, it's not too cool to be like, to be a fan.
So I think it's better to be a fan. I definitely struggle with that because I feel like,
i would annoy them and that's like my thing okay
yeah i had the most prized possession i had was a vision streetwear
t-shirt signed by tony hawk right i
(42:10):
lost it but it was my most prized position as a kid because they the vision
street tour came to where i lived and i begged to go you know i could not wait
to go like i like i was up at night like waiting to go watch the best skateboarders
in the world come and skateboard and you ask people you come to the board comp
they're like man like you You don't want to see these eight people.
Like, you don't want to see the best climbers, some of them in the world,
(42:34):
in a space like, what would we like, 20 by 20?
Oh, yeah, to be that intimate is rare. That's like, you know,
I saw the Herbalizer play in a club in Calgary, right?
Like, that's on the list is, that's not in a stadium, right?
That's not at some huge event. That's in a basement club.
So this is, to me, that's the same level. No, it is. It is. It's like there's a band called Man Man.
(43:00):
And I remember before they were even big, they played at this little teeny club.
I think it was called like the Velvet Curtain or the Velvet Door on the street in this bar in Dallas.
And I just remember being at the coolest show in the world. And next year,
I'm like, they are on freaking Jay Leno.
And I'm like, yeah. So let's just imagine, we'll paint the picture and then we'll wrap it up.
(43:23):
We'll paint the picture that your favorite band is going to play your local climbing gym for free.
And you can go. Do you go? Yes. Yeah.
So let's make that the same level as D. Woods, Paul Robinson,
Alice Vest, Maya Madere in a tiny space. That's like big band, small club.
(43:45):
Yeah, that's important. And if you want to find me, MCP Woods is on Instagram.
I have Facebook I don't use it very much Facebook just sort of does its thing
yeah I mean Instagram and Facebook talk.
That's it fair enough do you have a website or anything I do have a website
I put a website up I had somebody design a logo for me which was new so like
a year and a half ago I had someone design a logo and I was like I might as
well build a website dude where's the merch I want some I know I have one I
(44:08):
thought about printing and I've asked people if I made shirts would you buy
them people are like yeah I would
so I'm thinking about it I'm thinking about it I'm doing a rebrand of the podcast
so I'm about to get some brand new merch we should do merch we do a little switch
yeah and then we post about it and we'd be fans and we share that's how that
works So you find me mcpwoods.ca.
I'm super clean and you, you know, my work experience is on there and I, my coaching is on there.
(44:30):
So I'm also into teaching, like I'll come and teach a clinic.
So I do, I've tested a version of a two day of my five week clinic.
So condensed like back-to-back nights like three
hour you know three plus hour sessions and it's movement
focused and that's how to break through
those plateaus how to understand how to move better and i'm trying to do more
(44:50):
coaching outside of my home you know zone so okay cool if you if you you know
are at a gym and you're like man that'd be great to have somebody who's spent
you know almost 20 years coaching movement you know in my space then reach out okay Okay.
Music.
(45:15):
Friends and enemies, lovers and haters. I hope you enjoyed that episode with Pete Woods.
This episode honestly really reminded me that your dreams are worth chasing.
Your dreams are worth going for. And remember, if no one's cheering on the sidelines,
it does not mean that we are not rooting for you.
So get after it, keep going, and remember, if you're not suffering,
(45:41):
are you even sending at all?
Listen, we're too mad here, y'all.
Quick PSA, February 23rd at The Hill in Dallas, Texas is the premiere of Climb Malawi.
This is my first stab at making a documentary. Myself and the team have been
working very hard. It's $10 as recommended donation.
Links into all this information will be on my Instagram and on the website.
Please invite your friends. Come on out. I would love for you guys to celebrate
(00:24):
my first documentary and the Climb Malawi community in Africa.
Music.
Check it out.
(01:00):
Organic Climbing is the official sponsor of Sends and Suffers podcast.
And if you didn't know, now you know.
I have been using this company's products since before my podcast,
since I basically started rock climbing.
They're cool. They're rad. They're customizable.
You can get bouldering pads, chalk buckets, backpacks.
(01:22):
They've got shoes. They've got almost anything you can conceive to make you
look fly, to make you functional at the crag. Check out Organic Climbing.
Put in Sends and Suffers at your purchase. It helps this podcast out.
And really support someone who has been supporting the conception of climbing
communities since the beginning.
(01:43):
Josh and everyone at Organic is all about making sure communities grow. grow.
And that is a huge thing coming from a small company that moves massive, massive mountains.
So check out Organic Climbing. Tell them I sent you. Let's get into this episode.
Friends and enemies, lovers and haters, welcome to Sends and Suffers podcast.
(02:08):
I am your host, Mario Stanley.
If you haven't already, please follow, like, and subscribe to Sends and Suffers Podcast.
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(02:32):
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Monthly recaps, early show releases, and all the other cool things that we do.
Thank you so much for listening to Sends and Suffers Podcast.
On today's episode of Sends and Suffers, we have none other than Pete Woods.
(02:57):
Now, Pete Woods hails from the Canadian motherland.
And for those of you who have been in the game for a while, I'm talking like
way back. I'm talking like when we were watching climbing videos just past VHS.
The man has been around. Pete is a climbing legend competing in the Canadian
circuit, also being an ESPN broadcaster for climbing and a climbing coach.
(03:21):
You know, in a way, he has hit aspects of the industry that I aspire to be in,
and then others that I don't know if I could really do it.
I mean, broadcasting is hard, but I'm going to let him tell you all about that.
I hope you enjoy this episode with Pete Woods talking about his time and climbing
and professional broadcasting and coaching and just being a man who is chasing
(03:44):
after his dream unabashedly.
Enjoy the episode with Pete Woods.
Music.
Pete, how are you? I'm good, brother. How are you? Doing all right.
The last time I saw you was in Salt Lake when you did a podcast with Chris, our boy, Chris Hampton.
(04:07):
When was that? 2021. That was my first World Cup as a lead commentator.
It's a big deal. It is a big deal. And we did that bit before the first comp.
So we did it like, it was either two days before or the night before.
And it was basically like, sort of, you know, what are you feeling? How did you get here?
But not how was it? it. So it was kind of a fun road up to like express like, this is a big deal.
(04:31):
And you know, you got to remember that it's a big deal, but don't get too freaked out.
Okay. So not going to assume most, I mean, in my mind, you're a living legend.
So let's just be honest in my mind, but I'm not going to assume that most of
my audience knows who you are, where you're from.
Can you tell me who you are, where you're from, a little backstory about you
(04:53):
And what is your connection to climbing, which I think everyone should know,
but, you know, the world's a different place now.
That's true. It's true. My name is Pete Woods, MC Pete Woods.
I am Canadian. I grew up in Ontario, in Ottawa. I was born in Montreal,
so I'm officially French.
Oh, nice. I didn't know that. Yeah, yeah. And I've been living in Alberta for
(05:15):
like 24 years. So I'm on the west side in the mountains.
And I've been climbing for, you know, more than 25 years and I've been coaching and competing.
You know, I started competing the year I started climbing. I started coaching
like five years after I started climbing. I coached youth and stuff.
And when I stopped competing, as you taper down and you realize that the kids
(05:39):
are really good and you're 30-something, I just was approached with an opportunity to...
I MC a tour de bloc, which is a Canadian series of competitions. It goes coast to coast.
It was like our national championship series before we had an official national
championship, provincials, regionals, all that kind of stuff. That makes sense.
Yeah. So early 2000s. But I
(06:00):
think I had, you know, when you have like one of those over the ear mics.
Countrymen. Yeah. And I was like, I'm not wearing that thing.
And it had a little cord and I was holding it like a little Bob,
tiny little Bob Barker microphone.
Yeah. And I MC'd the final at my home gym.
And it was a blast and then so i
was like this is cool like this is something we should do more of
(06:20):
you know in climbing and i was lucky to have a gym owner walson tie
who owns calgary climbing centers in calgary just had
a bit of vision you know and then either that
same year the next year he was like i want to do a live stream so we did a tour
de bloc and we basically i mean it was held together by sheer force of will
like cable internet i was sitting on top of our one of our boulders in the back
(06:45):
bouldering area, I like three laptops,
and a flask of whiskey.
And they use the security cameras that they use for like for judges to go do appeals.
And I just talked about climbing for three and a half hours to myself on a live
stream broadcast with like 47 people watching.
And that was the birth of, I could do this.
(07:06):
And I went from being a hobby to something that I I started working on and learning
sort of how to be part of a broadcast and then how to be an MC and how to,
you know, move between those two spaces in the climbing world. And it's grown.
I did every Canadian nationals that we streamed. And then a couple of years
ago I did, you know, started doing us national comps, uh, which is pretty awesome.
(07:27):
And then did a couple of world cup seasons that we can talk about that,
but that sort of, we had a bit of a gap, but yeah, Yeah. So I've,
I've taken it up to as far as, you know, as far as it goes and I'm still in it and it's so much fun.
So I'd like to back up a little bit. I didn't know that you were a youth coach
and you were actually a coach because like, that's my full-time job coaching
(07:50):
kids and coaching athletes.
How was that part of your life? And do you think that really kind of like help
you become a better broadcaster? And like, did it play into that?
Cause I know that's your your career now, but can you tell me a little bit about
your coaching, like what was it like, what athletes were you coaching, when was this?
Mm-hmm. We're about to take a left turn. It's about to be a coaching podcast
(08:12):
episode. Oh, no, we're going to go back and forth. We're going to go back and forth.
I started coaching when I moved to Calgary and there was an opportunity to coach the B youth team.
So we had like an A team and a B team. So I was coaching the B youth team at
the Calgary Climbing Center, like pretty psyched, 13, 14, 15 year old kids, 12 year old kids.
I actually think there were some younger because we used to be able to compete
(08:33):
Canada, especially it was an 11 seven and under category at nationals.
That's cool. So 10 year old kid, like forget their chalk bags,
like shoes. Don't they walk? They wear the climbing shoes like all day,
like coaching those kids.
It just got me into the idea that you could impart knowledge.
So I, I coached a little bit out of university. I went back and coached volleyball
(08:57):
at my old high school when I was in university.
So I knew that I liked the idea of coaching and I knew that I liked, you know, how it worked.
And so I coached that team and then that coach left and I was given the opportunity
to coach like the, you know, the Calgary's youth team because there was only one gym at the time.
So I coached Calgary's youth team for a couple of seasons and then had an opportunity
to coach the Canadian youth team to the youth world championships.
(09:20):
So I took coach with Mike Doyle. Okay. Who's a legend. Shout out to Mike.
So we took the team to France for the youth world championships in 2002.
Jason Holloway, Sean McCall, like in that era.
And I loved it. And I coached the youth team for another couple of years in
Calgary. And then in a, just a weird twist, they started training first thing in the morning.
(09:40):
And I had a full-time desk job, so I couldn't like get to work at nine every day.
Like I couldn't like the days that we were coaching. So I had to,
I gave up youth coaching earlier than I think I probably would have because
I really enjoyed coaching youth athletes, especially elite, like the Weldons,
Stacey and Vicky Weldon, coached them.
And they were like, they were so psyched and so good.
(10:01):
And I love that, you know, being able to coach kids that were pushing to be national champions.
And then, so I kind of turned it into coaching adults.
So I coach, you know, different versions of an advanced bouldering clinic off and on for, I mean...
Nearly like 18 years oh wow so i've been coaching
pretty regularly now the last few years i coach like individuals and
then i coach an advanced clinic aimed at
(10:24):
kind of v5 to v8 climbers who are
in that plateau space and i focus a lot on movement i'm
like i'm dialed into movement and that along with
broadcasting where you need to focus on what's
going on and can you break down movement can you
explain to people watching at home why something is difficult can you at least
(10:45):
internalize it and then know like when to be interested when not to be interested
like what's generic what's legit difficult how are people doing things differently
and seeing that and breaking it down it's very similar so coaching and broadcasting
when you look at analyzing movement.
Very very similar and you know that connection has really you know it aligns
(11:05):
for me and i super enjoy it it makes a lot of sense because i think that's probably
the hardest part because,
taylor fragamini and i we just finished an episode but we talk about
this all the time when we get on the phone you know we think
that most people overemphasize like the physical aspect
of climbing just like trying to get kids strong and powerful or
like get their endurance up and the reality of what it is is understanding complex
(11:27):
movement and i like makes sense now why you're such a good commentator because
like if you've coached and you understand like movement is the most fundamental
thing it doesn't matter how strong you are like i mean i don't remember what
it was when sasha Sasha Julian did her first 514.
People were like, she can barely do like five pull-ups in a row,
but it didn't freaking matter. She knew how to move.
(11:47):
And like, I think that's the fundamentally the most challenging and most complicated thing, I think.
But yeah, no, that translates a lot into that. And I was curious if like your
coaching can translate. Hold on one second. Yeah.
I thought they were about to open the door and let it slam. Smash in. Yeah, I was like, ah!
Yeah, for those of you who are watching this video, we are currently in Chattanooga,
(12:11):
Tennessee at the very first ever indoor climbing expo.
And I think it's going swingingly so far. What do you think?
I think it's great. I walked around yesterday. There's a pile of people exhibiting
here. And then we had the moonboard comp last night. And it was good.
Off the hook good. Can you talk about that a little bit? Who was at the Moonboarder comp?
(12:34):
And it got a little wild there. I mean, I think a few people came in and smashed
who people were expecting to come in and smash.
Dude, you couldn't have picked, I mean, you maybe could have swapped one or
two people out here and there, but everybody in that room is at the peak of climbing.
So Daniel Woods, Paul Robinson, Taylor McNeil, Ravioli Biceps,
(12:59):
Ravioli Biceps is moonboard, like all he does is climb on the moonboard. That's his jam.
Sierra Blair, Coyle, Alison Vest, Maya Madere, Sarah Gerhardt.
There's like a hundred million V points in that list of people.
And they, I mean,
I was just talking to somebody this morning in the lobby the crowd
(13:22):
was like into it but they were like entertain me
like v12 flash on the
moon board is peak climbing performance
right now in my opinion that is so difficult and doing it for two hours i agree
i agree but i think the thing that you and i have like you and i both agree
and everyone who is a climber agrees but i think the vast majority of climbers like It's just,
(13:48):
it doesn't equate because it's not this big, giant 30-foot high ball or it's not these like, man,
those crimps on this boulder look heinous. It's like.
Oh, there's these series of holds and the move lights up.
But once again, we get back to like where you're talking about it.
Like people don't understand how, they don't understand visually how to discern
(14:09):
movement and what in movement is challenging.
It's like the Paul Robinson move, like boulder that he put up.
And then that huge move that Daniel just was like twinkle fingers on and just
grabbed on and held it like it was nothing and then just pulled through.
And then Paul got up to do the same thing.
Ravi early biceps got up to do the same thing. and it was just like a shutdown.
And everyone's just like, oh, it just doesn't look that hard.
(14:32):
But because it's not this like daunting boulder, this daunting rock of this thing.
Or like a paddle dyno that people understand, I can't do that.
People think they can crimp and people think they can wingspan.
Half pad, open Gaston with two hands.
They don't understand how hard, because I can grab that hold,
but you can't grab that hold at past your expansion of mobility and keep tension
(14:58):
across your chest all the way down the other side through your hand into your other two fingers.
Yeah, no, people don't understand that. You can't do that. It's one of the key
things talking about movement. I always tell people, I'm like,
we don't want to do this with our arms when we can. We always want to kind of be here.
So I think the rubber band has a little bounce. You've got a little suspension
in the system. Just a little bit, but people are like, no, I can do this.
But I mean, that's so, getting back to that, it's like, you know,
(15:20):
this is even more of an emphasis of like why
it is so important to like look and understand movement
and climbing we're in a place that's selling all these
beautiful gorgeous holds but these holds are
solely strictly designed to create awkward movement exactly and i i enjoyed
it thoroughly i mean i definitely i'm not gonna lie i had to leave a little
(15:41):
bit before the end because i was getting hangry and so i needed to eat some
food because i was running around here all day but i was watching them climb
and i'm I'm just like, these people are at,
you know, you were like, we're in the clouds, you know, watching these people.
And someone looked like they were puzzled when you said that.
I was like, the people you are watching climb right now live on Mount Olympus
of rock climbing. Yes. The rest of us are peasants. Yep.
(16:02):
You know, and he was in this guy looked at me like, oh, that makes a lot of sense.
And I'm like, like literally these people hang out with, you know,
Prometheus, Thor, you know, all the gods, like, like the, you know,
Zeus is just like, come up and party.
You know, the rest of us do not, mere mortals do not get to come through there.
And it's just because of their accolades and because of like,
(16:23):
they're just true understanding of movement, of the sport engine.
I mean, even I was talking to Dan Woods yesterday. I never met him.
So I was psyched. We were, you know, we had our little group meeting to kind of, I mean, it was fun.
We hashed out the format yesterday.
Oh, nice. Yeah. So Travis who put on this expo was like, I'm going to have a moon board comp.
(16:46):
Don't stop him. And I had talked about the idea of playing horse and we had
actually done it at the jackalope fest.
We did, we played horse and a dino comp and it worked out really well. It was pretty cool.
Cause you like figure out your opponent's weaknesses and just keep throwing
the same kind of stuff at them.
So we had, we had talked about it, but he hadn't told the athletes anything.
So we had a meeting yesterday, hashed out the format, which is kind of funny
(17:06):
the same day of, and then I asked, you know, I was just sort of chatting with Dan after a,
they're all all super nice a they're all shorter than you think they
are yeah just in case you think he was seven feet tall but
he's my height and he's looking at projects that
are still off the off the grade like
off the number system like they're harder than what's been
done and he doesn't think he's a lot stronger than
(17:29):
he was when he first did v14 he thinks
he understands how to position how to
move how to be mentally strong how to look
after himself how to recover how to prepare and how
to stay up here how to stay focused after
multiple and when we say multiple when we're
talking elite rock climbing multiple failures is in the
(17:50):
months slash approaching a year slash more he's like it shouldn't you shouldn't
do the hardest thing in the world in a month or why would it be the hardest
thing in the world so you have to settle in for an epic journey and he's like
you We think that professional climbers are like,
oh, you're used to it, you just brush it off. He's like, when you want something so bad...
(18:13):
You have to learn to deal with the failure. And I mean, is he a little stronger than he was? Maybe.
Is he older? Yeah. So true. So understanding that the connection between you, body position,
subtleties, micro adjustments, things that like, I'm sure you coach,
I coach as well as when you're climbing V1, V2, you have light bulb moments.
(18:35):
Oh, left hand, then right hand.
Oh, left foot on. Heel. Oh, okay. I need my heel just a little bit farther over
my, I need my hips just a little bit farther over my heel to make this slopey match work.
Like there's like micro adjustments. Yeah. Micro beta.
Yeah. And when you're climbing, you know, at the top of the scale,
it's I need to be one or two degrees closer to the wall, farther away from the wall.
(19:00):
I need to have that toe like angled in and down, not in and over.
Like you're playing with tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny things. It's like climbing on
limestone. I was talking to someone about this last night. It's like grabbing soap.
They were like, and I know I'm about to get so much hate for what I'm about
to say, but this is my podcast.
And I'm saying it anyway. But, you know, I've also, I'm going to be PG because
(19:24):
that was a request because I realized some kids listen to my podcast.
I swear a lot. But, you know, but AF all y'all.
So, but I get bored climbing at the red, you know?
And it's like, I think, you know, and now granted, these are the big steep things,
the paddle thing. and people are looking at me like, you're crazy.
No, granted, I haven't done a lot of the trad. I haven't done a lot of the vert
or any things like that that are super technical.
(19:46):
But this is why I like climbing limestone so much because it's like,
especially like in Wild Iris and El Salto, even when I was in Siriana,
like you have these like micro adjustments.
You can't just put your foot in the pocket. You gotta like turn,
tilt down, like all these little, little, little, little fricking details.
(20:07):
And I think, and it's glassy in between is glassy.
And the, some of the feet get glassy. Like if you go to, if you climb in font, right.
You know, anything porous that slowly like brings in chalk and rubber over time.
And limestone is, it's not forgiving. Yeah.
And that's why we climb a limestone in Alberta valley is like,
(20:29):
you can't, all the, all the rock is the same color. It's all shades of gray.
Oh, that's Texas. And that you can't really see the chalk.
Right. So you climb like people, the first time I went to Red Rocks,
people were like, you can onsite from the parking lot.
In vegas because you can see the chalk on the holds s
and you can walk you you're standing underneath like
a route in the bow valley and i'm walking you through right you're like i'm
(20:50):
gonna flash this thing and i'm walking you through and i'm like okay and then left hand of
that gaston you're like what the gray like okay
which gray streak okay backups remember that remember this
handle yeah yeah the pocket okay and i'll go about two feet to the
right yeah and then up a foot uh-huh that gaston i don't
see it you'll see it when you get there when you get there and
you might not you're like this one no bro that all of this one and you
grab it you're like that's the the one yeah that's limestone yeah limestone
(21:13):
is just reticent i think that's the word i would like to give it
like limestone is the most reticent rock that
i've ever climbed on the only other thing that i think is
close to it is white granite but like that's just gives you nothing oh that
just it just kicks your ass like genevieve and i were in malawi and we were
bolting on white granite white granite down there and i remember just like looking
(21:36):
for holds and i was It's just like on stuff that we were bolting and on sighting.
And we're just like, this is like the hardest thing in the world.
Yeah. It's rough. It's fun though. It is. It is.
So where are you going in your career right now?
Because I think you have, I'm going to be honest, like you kind of have a dream
career, which a lot of us like would like, I think, I think some of us would
(21:59):
like dream about being on the microphone, talking about climbing all day.
This is our career. This is what we're doing.
And but at the same time i think so many people so many people
are afraid of being in front of the camera but i think they like it's
kind of like everybody idolizes actors or like oh this
is such a dream job but then they don't want to do it in my opinion i think
you've got this like really great you've dug out this really great niche for
(22:20):
yourself and i think that is a testament to your charisma your ability to kind
of think outside of the box and i think most climbers climbers who are really
moving and shaking are thinking that way.
And I also think it's just your wealth of experience as a competitive climber.
And I see now hearing a little bit about your coaching life.
I can hear that in your broadcasting and it makes way more sense of why you're
(22:44):
such a good commentator.
Where are you trying to go to right now?
And like, what's your next big hurdle that you're trying to get over and where
are you trying to do? What are you trying to to do.
Well, thank you for one. I really appreciate that.
And I'm going to be a bit real, you know, there's a bit of armchair quarterback,
you know, out in, in the world, in the world, like anybody that watches others.
(23:07):
I know climbers don't watch a lot of other sports, but some climbers watch other sports.
You watch other sports and you either, you're like, like sometimes you're like,
I could do that job. I could come like the commentators are trash today.
Right. You're like, why are you saying that? Or you're like,
John Madden is like, you hear the same things over and over and over.
I mean, I just aided myself, but. Yeah, no, I mean, old people get it.
(23:28):
So people get it. You're like, you kind of roll your eyes and.
The only things you ever really, you see a lot of both, but you,
you see a lot of negatives.
People just pick the one time you mispronounced one person's Slovenian name
with 900 consonants in a row.
And they're like, they'll hammer away on the chat. Like, that's not how you say that.
So you kind of, you have to have a bit of a thick skin about it and you have
(23:49):
to kind of be able to have people being like, I could do your job.
And you think, okay, let me, let me break it down for you. And I,
and I talked to people about it because I think it's really really interesting.
And it's something that I've learned about myself only in the last year or two
is that I have, I'm an ADHD person and I'm almost 50.
I mean, I could have told you that just solely like within the first 15,
that someone who has been taking ADHD meds since they was like seven or nine years old. I mean, bro.
(24:14):
Yeah. So I've never, I've never, I've always just thought I was a bit like easily
distracted, forgetful, like all these things. Sometimes I talk too much, like all of that.
But then when you're on a broadcast, if you're the, I mean, if you're an an
analyst, it's a bit different, but when you're the lead, you in your headset is a producer.
So you have a voice in your ear, but sometimes they're talking to you.
(24:35):
Sometimes they're not. And you're watching the screen and you're in a conversation
with your co-commentator about climbing as a thread and the competition and what's going on.
And you're deciding what to talk about. And you're deciding when I ask you a
question while you're talking, the producer might be talking to me,
but I'm still listening to you.
And I'm deciding whether I'm gonna finish what you're saying,
(24:57):
or whether I'm gonna snap it off and get back to the action because I see something
setting up to be something we haven't seen before.
Or am I gonna continue your thought and move it to something else or hand it
back to you for something that you're the expert on?
Or am I gonna continue the thought, close it, stop it in the middle,
something's happening, producer's talking,
(25:18):
Something else is happening. Oh, it's semifinals. So there's multiple climbers
on the wall. Oh, camera two. Oh, we're going to a replay.
I'm not going to lie. You lost me at the second oar. Right? Yeah.
Like that's a lot. So that's all happening at the same time for hours.
Not for 10 minutes, for hours. So I've had a few people sit like guest in and just be the analyst.
(25:40):
And I get a text message later. I'm exhausted.
I'm exhausted thinking about it. And I, people are like, are you coming out?
And I'm like, I'm going to crash. Like, you know, it's, it's a lot.
So I, I think that it's a privilege,
but I've worked really hard at it and it worked really hard to try and be good
(26:00):
at it because I think the people watching climbing competitions deserve to be
treated to an experience that is on the level with other sports broadcasts.
So I take it seriously and, you know, I, I definitely work hard at it, but it's not easy.
You know, it's not the hardest thing in the world. Obviously it's a,
it's a great opportunity.
So, and I love it. You know, I wouldn't trade it for a lot of things.
(26:23):
You know, it's, it's a really good time right now.
The biggest hurdle is federations, money, time.
And I don't know if politics is the right word, but I mean, politics are involved
in everything. I mean, yeah, the politics is a broad stroke,
but I like to say politics are just people's opinions.
(26:44):
Yeah, people's thoughts Yeah, so I didn't do the World Cups this year So I had
a conversation at the beginning of the year back and forth and I you know My
availability for World Cups this year and then the IFSC made a decision and
I can't I can't fault them They're still potentially my employer.
Yeah, but they decided they wanted a single voice,
Across all the world cups, a single voice, single voice. So consistency.
(27:08):
So they asked Matt to do every world cup and then every Olympic qualifier,
et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
I personally am of the opinion coming from other sports that having variety is great.
If you watch Sunday night football, it's a different pair than Monday night football.
So wait a minute. Is that mean you and Megan are both not doing it?
Well, Megan can still co right.
(27:30):
So there's a different analyst at every event.
Matt's doing every World Cup. And then the model of the IFSC is to have an athlete
from qualifier sit in on the semi and an athlete from the semi sit in on the final.
Okay. So they haven't adopted pairs of commentators at every event that work
together consistently.
So that's interesting. It is interesting. And it's been their model for a long
(27:51):
time. And again, I'm not going to fault it.
I do think that like Megan and I have worked together a few times.
Yeah, I really like you guys' dynamic.
You can tell when people... So Stasha has been on a bunch of finals broadcasts as well.
And it feels like that's a dynamic. So Matt and Stasha together are a good pair
because you learn how the other person speaks.
(28:13):
You learn how they think. You learn what they may or may not want to say.
You learn their tone. You know when they're finishing to saying something and
you know when they're pausing to say something else.
So you don't cut each other off. These are all things that take time.
And when you work with someone and you know, if you watch other sports,
you know, commentary pairs that have it together and they leave room for each
(28:35):
other. And you're right. It's magic.
That's the perfect word. And they know when like, if I'm being quiet because
I want the moment to breathe and they know that, then the moment breathes.
If they don't and they're like, oh, he's quiet. I better fill the air.
You might lose a magic moment. So that knowledge is so critical.
And I think that like broadcasting and climbing is still quite young.
(29:00):
Um, and there has been, you know, it's, it was kind of a private enterprise for a while.
And then the IFSC is, you know, it was, you know, two years ago was Matt did
all the European ones and I did the American ones and I wanted to do more and
I'd still like to do more. So my goal is to still do more world cups.
I also didn't do us nationals this year because they have a mandate to hire us talent.
(29:25):
So I kind of lost on the cross border, right? Being Canadian,
I think I live in the worst place for the career I'm trying to build.
We can get married and then, you know. Then we have to move to Europe. Oh, wow.
Yeah, because you got to be central. And I get it. I understand that flying
me back and forth to 23 World Cups is,
(29:45):
is expensive matt lives in in europe so it's
a europe-centric sport and i live in the
the wasteland of canada the vastness of
canada so i do appreciate that and then this year canadian nationals if you
were keep that on your calendar there was no open nationals broadcast because
we don't have the funding so my as i want to keep building what i do i took
(30:10):
a big hit this year because I did none.
Oh. So what I've, what I really pushed for starting the tail end of last year
is I started reaching out to festival, like non-sanctioned events and being
like, hey, this is me. This is what I do.
I'm interested. Are you interested? Because I still love to MC.
It's still a good time. Commentary is the closest to my heart because of the,
be able to like to, to coach basically through the screen, through that venue.
(30:33):
Because you're coaching the general public.
You're like, like, I think that's one of the things that's most important about your job.
It's like, Like, a good commentator is going to make or break our sport in the long run.
Because if you are a bad commentator, or I don't want to say bad.
If you are not good at translating movement, translating movement in a way that
(30:57):
is educating the general public and making them more knowledgeable on the sport
instead of just talking about it.
I think that's like the thing because we need people to be educated in it where
they can speak to some degree to it and not just ask, not just say like,
well, none of this looks like free solo, you know?
(31:17):
And it's just like, cause the rest of us are just shaking our heads.
Like, okay, like there's more depth to this.
And the thing is, I don't think it takes, I don't think it takes a lot to understand the depth.
I do think it takes quality information and quality commentating and quality
delivering of information to.
(31:39):
Get a concept of the nuance. Maybe that's the best way to say it.
Once again, I don't think it's that hard to understand, but if you're starting
from a bad place, then you're just not going to get anywhere.
No, and if you misrepresent the level that you're speaking to and you understand
the breadth of a broadcast, so you have people who might be tuning into their first climbing event.
(32:04):
You have people who've been watching competition climbing since Snowbird.
Yeah. So you can't talk down to people and you can't undersell to people.
So you have to, it has to be consistently inconsistent in sometimes you explain
what, when Megan says barn door, what that means. Yeah.
(32:27):
Sometimes you have to let that go. And then you have to be like,
we've said this three or four times. So I did a very interesting thing.
ESPN for a couple of years did a, basically a condensed highlight show of us
nationals and the team trials.
So they edited together highlights of mostly focusing on the winners and then
a little bit of context and they turned the bouldering finals and then lead
(32:51):
and speed finals into one hour broadcasts,
which is like 43 minutes with commercials and all that.
And then we commentate over it as if it was for the first time,
because obviously you can't just pull the commentary out of snippets because you lose all context.
So you commentate over it as though we were watching the highlights for the
first time. And we did that a remotely.
(33:13):
So Megan's at home, I'm at home and the producers are at home.
We're all in different places.
Right. And we have a laptop and we have a call sheet and we have the timing
and we just sit down a, it's not live. So it's a completely different venue
and it's hilarious because some of you can make mistakes and then you get in
your own head about mistakes.
And then sometimes you cut yourself off and it was like, whoa,
whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I didn't like the way I said that.
I sounded like an idiot. And they're like, you were fine. I'm like,
(33:34):
I'm doing it again. I'm like, okay.
And then you get Nate in your ears. Like Megan's used that expression three
times now. You got to explain it.
So they're like, okay, remember who your audience is. Yes, climbers watch this.
Yes, people who don't watch it need to understand what you're talking about.
You can't be elite in commentary.
You have to be even. And the people that, some of the trash you see on YouTube
(33:56):
comments are, what is this guy an idiot?
You know, he doesn't know what this is. And you're like, I promise you, I know.
I'm just telling this dude's mom who's watching at home, you know,
in Chattanooga, what this This move is because she's a new viewer and her son's
in, you know, finals for the first time, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
(34:17):
And in Europe, when you're doing it, and I've seen broadcasts on like 25 television
channels throughout Europe.
So the YouTube views is only North America.
A lot of people watch climbing and it's on TV throughout.
So you have to remember that people might just flip on the TV and be like,
oh, well, let's watch some rock climbing.
And you're like, okay, I'd love to watch some rock climbing.
(34:39):
I have no idea what's going on and no one's telling me. Are they going to watch again?
Probably not. That makes a lot of sense. That makes a lot of sense. Wow. Okay.
So it's important, right? It's important for our product. It's important for
us to grow. I get the Olympics is a big thing.
I personally, obviously I tried to get onto the Olympic broadcast.
(35:00):
Yeah. I mean, I think. First time.
And just that level is turning into who you know. I think, yeah,
I mean, that makes sense. It's pretty tough. And I even, I know people.
I had some people who, like Olympic athletes that I know who know people.
And even I got some introductions through Todd Richards. I don't know if anybody
of you people watch like snowboarding, but Todd Richards is like legendary.
(35:21):
And he's been doing snowboarding broadcasts for NBC for like forever. ever.
So him and I did the Jackalope in Montreal when we filmed it like two years ago.
And I was like, can you introduce me to somebody at NBC to get to talk about
the Olympics? And he was like, I can introduce you, but who knows where it goes.
So I'm having trouble getting anyone to even call me back about doing the Olympics.
And I've started a year ago.
(35:41):
Yeah. I mean, I imagine this is just something you got to keep chipping away.
Yeah. And people want it. And if you get into sort of the European,
like the, basically the feed.
So the CBC told me we're just going to buy the feed that the the IOC puts out.
So we're not going to send anybody or spend any money on doing commentary or
over commentary or in studio.
And if they're going to do in studio or an analyst, like in Canada,
(36:04):
they're probably going to pick Sean McCall, Atlanta, yep.
Right. A competitor who's been to the Olympics is going to be their analyst.
Full points. A hundred percent. Makes sense. But they're going to buy the natural
feed that the IOC is going to do.
Okay. Yeah. So it's hard to crack the Olympics. I'm not going to stop trying.
No, I don't think you should. I mean, I mean, I mean, I think classic climber,
(36:25):
like, you don't back off your project.
Keep going for it. Yeah, it takes more than one fall to knock me out. Yeah.
Well, I know they're getting ready to open this thing up, and I don't want to
stop them. I know they're about to blare some music.
But I do want to ask two things, like...
How can people, I think I know how people can help you, but I want to ask,
(36:45):
like, how can people help you achieve your dreams?
Because I know I'm asking you to be on my show, but I think it's important for
us to continue to support people that we like in the community,
that are our friends, that are close to us.
And we believe that are also making this space a better place and more inviting
because I think you are doing the work with that, especially in your commentating
(37:06):
and especially understanding that because that's a lot of shit that we got from the climb.
The TV show, people were like, oh, like, like it just wasn't that good.
Like you guys weren't like, like climbing these crusher things or they just
like, it just seemed really like simple.
And I'm like, well, that's because they were trying to explain it to my mom to watch it.
Like my mom's like oh you climb rocks oh oh
(37:28):
that's great sweetie i think that's great are there any other black people
that do this and i'm like not a lot of us she's like okay we'll just be out
there because you know you're the one you're probably the only one for like
maybe 100 miles and i'm like mom you're not actually wrong about that sometimes
and so she's like just you know just i just want them to be betraying you correctly
you know and like it is like or it's my grandmother.
(37:49):
You know satuku who's like you know jamaican grandmother who's like in her late
80s and she's She's just like, what is this crap?
What are you doing? She doesn't even know. No, she doesn't even know. No, she has no idea.
And so I think it's important. And I think people over, I mean,
there's always going to be that troll.
There's always going to be that troll, but I appreciate you like explaining it.
(38:11):
Cause it means a lot to me because like, like I said, my parents,
the kids, parents that I coach people like that, they're going to listen to this.
And the only way our sport is going to grow is if people are consistently educated.
So back to the question is, how can people help you?
Two questions, how can people help you achieve more of your dreams?
How can we be on your team?
And then the second thing is, is how can people find you and get in touch with
(38:34):
you and things like that?
I mean, I appreciate the opportunity to have this conversation for one.
It's great. And I think you're like a fantastic advocate for the sport.
So I'm really happy to be sitting in the chair with you here today, man.
And I think there's a couple of things. So first, first question has a couple answers.
One is take a breath before you type something on the internet and take a minute
(38:56):
to be supportive or defend somebody.
It doesn't have to be me. It could be an athlete. It can be another commentator. It can be a coach.
It can be someone who's putting themselves out there to try and educate on the
sport. So just take a breath and be like, what are they trying to do? And am I their audience?
And if I'm not their audience, just take a seat and watch, right?
Or help. How can I help? How can I post? How can I share?
(39:16):
Move that stuff around. if you see something that i
do that you like share it like man this guy
is trying to do good things for our community you know this is great i saw
this comp or i was there post stuff that kind
of just building that awareness and saying like this is somebody who's doing
something that is good for our sport and eventually it sort of hits the right
eyes i i laugh i uh like i'm pretty good at social media but i'm not great at
(39:40):
social media and i look at people who've got like i'm like how do i tip over
like where do you get five and ten thousand fault like i have no idea so by by all means,
you know, like and share this post.
Like, you know, that's not how I'm going to grow everything.
But I think that when you, if you watch a, an event or you go back and watch
something historical, you're, you're, you're checking it all out. Just, just.
(40:00):
Share it and be proud to like climbing. I think that sometimes we're bad at
being advocates for our own sport as fans. Oh yeah.
So do that, be a fan and enjoy being a fan and be like, I mean,
I watched this and the athletes were great and this was great. The DJ was great.
The MC was great. The commentary was great. Like just look at the peripherals
(40:21):
of what's going on and remember that. I think that's heavy.
I like that. Be a fan. Cause like that kind of struck struck
a chord with me even last night yesterday when they
were like signing posters and things like everybody's like are you gonna get a poster i'm
like no not really because like i know like
i don't know all of them and i know most
of them most of the athletes either we have traveled in the same spaces enough
(40:43):
where like i i don't know them personally they don't know me personally but
they recognize my face i recognize their face and things like that and so like
a lot of times i'm just like no i'm not gonna bother them i like that but you
know and i think of being a fan that But I also think being,
but what you're stating is being a fan is more of just understanding like that
you're advocating for the sport in a positive light and you're ensuring the
(41:06):
growth of it because fans ensure the growth of the sport or the individual prime example.
Taylor Swift fans have made her a billionaire.
Air yeah they get it right they get
it and i always i draw parallels with skateboarding oh yeah you
couldn't imagine skate like skateboarders are like a
they have signature models so people like people climb over each other to pick
(41:29):
up new drops of shoes of skate decks like yes so we don't we don't do that we
don't sort of have that hero level with our with our climbers they're just sort
of oh they're just dudes like i just i know them it was even weird for me i was I was like,
I'm with Paul and Dan because I've never met them. And I was like,
can I get a picture with you?
They're like, of course. And it feels weird because like, you know.
(41:49):
I've been climbing longer than you and I've watched you come up and do these things.
It's like, you know, it's not too cool to be like, to be a fan.
So I think it's better to be a fan. I definitely struggle with that because I feel like,
i would annoy them and that's like my thing okay
yeah i had the most prized possession i had was a vision streetwear
t-shirt signed by tony hawk right i
(42:10):
lost it but it was my most prized position as a kid because they the vision
street tour came to where i lived and i begged to go you know i could not wait
to go like i like i was up at night like waiting to go watch the best skateboarders
in the world come and skateboard and you ask people you come to the board comp
they're like man like you You don't want to see these eight people.
Like, you don't want to see the best climbers, some of them in the world,
(42:34):
in a space like, what would we like, 20 by 20?
Oh, yeah, to be that intimate is rare. That's like, you know,
I saw the Herbalizer play in a club in Calgary, right?
Like, that's on the list is, that's not in a stadium, right?
That's not at some huge event. That's in a basement club.
So this is, to me, that's the same level. No, it is. It is. It's like there's a band called Man Man.
(43:00):
And I remember before they were even big, they played at this little teeny club.
I think it was called like the Velvet Curtain or the Velvet Door on the street in this bar in Dallas.
And I just remember being at the coolest show in the world. And next year,
I'm like, they are on freaking Jay Leno.
And I'm like, yeah. So let's just imagine, we'll paint the picture and then we'll wrap it up.
(43:23):
We'll paint the picture that your favorite band is going to play your local climbing gym for free.
And you can go. Do you go? Yes. Yeah.
So let's make that the same level as D. Woods, Paul Robinson,
Alice Vest, Maya Madere in a tiny space. That's like big band, small club.
(43:45):
Yeah, that's important. And if you want to find me, MCP Woods is on Instagram.
I have Facebook I don't use it very much Facebook just sort of does its thing
yeah I mean Instagram and Facebook talk.
That's it fair enough do you have a website or anything I do have a website
I put a website up I had somebody design a logo for me which was new so like
a year and a half ago I had someone design a logo and I was like I might as
well build a website dude where's the merch I want some I know I have one I
(44:08):
thought about printing and I've asked people if I made shirts would you buy
them people are like yeah I would
so I'm thinking about it I'm thinking about it I'm doing a rebrand of the podcast
so I'm about to get some brand new merch we should do merch we do a little switch
yeah and then we post about it and we'd be fans and we share that's how that
works So you find me mcpwoods.ca.
I'm super clean and you, you know, my work experience is on there and I, my coaching is on there.
(44:30):
So I'm also into teaching, like I'll come and teach a clinic.
So I do, I've tested a version of a two day of my five week clinic.
So condensed like back-to-back nights like three
hour you know three plus hour sessions and it's movement
focused and that's how to break through
those plateaus how to understand how to move better and i'm trying to do more
(44:50):
coaching outside of my home you know zone so okay cool if you if you you know
are at a gym and you're like man that'd be great to have somebody who's spent
you know almost 20 years coaching movement you know in my space then reach out okay Okay.
Music.
(45:15):
Friends and enemies, lovers and haters. I hope you enjoyed that episode with Pete Woods.
This episode honestly really reminded me that your dreams are worth chasing.
Your dreams are worth going for. And remember, if no one's cheering on the sidelines,
it does not mean that we are not rooting for you.
So get after it, keep going, and remember, if you're not suffering,
(45:41):
are you even sending at all?
Listen, we're too mad here, y'all.
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