John Gill | Chris Lindner | www.8a.nu website

10 December 2002
Following discussions with the team, it was agreed that the selection competition for this event would not be necessary. I will select a team based on recent performance and the result of Sunday's SIBL round. There will, therefore, be no selection competition on 6 January 2003.
The Italian Job team will be announced on Sunday 15th or Monday 16th December.

30 November 2002
It is inevitable that significant changes to the Team will be made soon; probably in January.

The need to maintain a number of members who can enter the 10-12 category of the BRYCS tends to conflict with the desire to keep top-performing climbers on the Team.
Nevertheless, the maximum number in the team cannot exceed 12 so some will have to be removed.
In effect, this will make little difference to activities until after Half Term when Southern Sandstone trips resume.

From January there will be some Friday evening wall visits that will only be available to team members and newcomers who have not been 'tested' on roped climbs.

As always, team members must show good climbing skills, rapid and consistent improvement and reliable attendance.

29 November 2002
Mile End Wall will be hosting a one-off bouldering competition on Saturday 18 January 2003.
The organiser, Rock On (the shop on the Mile End site), is providing some big money prizes that have apparently attracted some 'famous' climbers (although they don't reveal their names).

Categories of entry do not appear to include juniors (you just compete alongside the adults) but there is a team category (5 climbers).

There will be 20 problems graded between V1 and V11 so, if we enter a team, it must consist of our very best competition climbers. This will be a great opportunity to compete on some very hard problems. ALL those who end up being selected will have taken their training very seriously indeed.
A selection comp will take place on the school wall from 4:00pm to 5:30pm on Monday 6 January 2003 (first day back after Christmas holiday).
No more than eight will be invited to participate in the selection comp.

John Gibbons who coordinates the Westway's competition team could well be entering a junior team so you might have some friendly competition.

26 November 2002
I have emailed Robbie Dixon, the SIBL organiser, with a response to his comments that some of you should be playing in the Open category.
The full text is shown below. It also appears on the SIBL forum so feel free to add your own comments.

Hello Robbie

Thanks for organising the comp on Sunday; it was a great day.

I have given some thought to your comments towards the end of the junior comp when you suggested that all those who took part in the climb-off should be playing in the Open category because their ability was so far ahead of the other juniors and it was unfair for them to be competing on a par.
I have discussed this with the five from Dane Court who were involved in the climb-off and the other nine who finished further down the field.

The general consensus is that, when such a large proportion of the competitors are involved in a tie of one sort or another, serious consideration should be given to the setting of the problems that led to the tie in the first place.
I don't mean that they were not hard enough (after all; only two competitors scored maximum on all climbs) and I appreciate the need to have a good number of easy to middle grade problems to encourage the newcomers.
I am more concerned by the decreasing number of really challenging problems that can separate the best climbers without giving unfair advantage/disadvantage to taller competitors.
I know, from personal experience, the difficulty of creating such problems and acknowledge Zippy's skills in managing it on a couple of occasions at Amersham. Nevertheless I feel that the multi-way tie on Sunday indicated a lack of quality technical problems.

Of course, in the last two years the number of junior problems at each SIBL round has dropped from 25 to 18. This must be limiting the scope for more challenging problems. Perhaps the number should return to 20 with a little more thought being given to the more competent junior climbers.

Personally, I didn't see the big climb-off as an ongoing problem; just an unfortunate coincidence that led to a slightly extended Head to Head.

Thanks again, on behalf of our pupils, for your hard work in organising the league.
Our pupils are really enthused by the competition and look forward to successive rounds with increasing excitement and anticipation.

Looking forward to The Westway.

All the best

Mark Alderson
Dane Court Grammar School

Report | Gallery | Results | SIBL Website

10 November 2002
Russel Bates pulled out all the stops and clinched first place last Sunday.
There were some who put this down to his phenomenal reach but such natural advantage cannot detract from Russ's consistent performance over the whole day's competition.
Other team members performed well with Joe Cook winning the head-to-head and Tom making it to eighth in the men's open category.

Report | Gallery | Results | SIBL Website

29 October 2002
Joe Cook would like it to be known that:

"If you're goin to the SIBL round 1- transport has been arranged
be AT SCHOOL by 8 o clock!!!
- bring £10 for the entry fee
- bring a present for Joe (min value £100) "

29 October 2002
This is probably the UK's most popular information site for climbers.
It now has a selection of photos showing various climbing activities and featuring team members.
Go to UKClimbing.com

14 October 2002
Tom Gore finished a well-deserved 5th in a field of 29 competitors at the National Final of the year's BRYCS.
Trevor Nagler just managed to beat Tom and land 4th place.
Tom Arnold, who still has one year in the category, finished in the the top ten.
Tom's very brave brother, Nick, finished 21st despite his extremely limited competition experience!
The London and SE team finished 5th overall.
Pictures of the national final trip
Planet Fear Report

1 Tom Bolger 600
2 Cal Reedie 599
3 Michael Mullins 562
4 Trevor Nagler 543
5 Thomas Gore 535
6 Joe Wilson 534
7 Richard Winters 530
8 Liam Desroy 528
9 Ben West 517
10 Tom Arnold 511

6 October 2002
Things are looking up at the Skatepark in St Peters. The management there have committed themselves to an expansion plan that includes a new climbing wall. The facility will be ready by January and will include bouldering and roped areas. Dan Chapman, the Managing Director, seems keen to involve enthusiastic and competent climbers and was interested in getting feedback from the Dane Court Team. He has an open invitation to come along to one of our training or open sessions.

5 October 2002
The father of Jeff and Tyler Landman emailed the school to thank us for our contribution to the BRYCS heats this year.
Like many of the parents and officials, he has been impressed by your sporting attitude to competitive climbing. He went on to praise the way you support each other and the rest of competitors.

29 September 2002
At yesterday's final heat of the British Regional Youth Competitions Series, Tom Gore finished third; resulting in second place overall. Tom will now attend his second national final on 12 October at the Leeds Wall.

In the 7-9 Boys category, Tom's brother, Nick finished third overall and will be competing along side his big brother in Leeds.

The rest of the Dane Court BRYCS team gave solid support to Tom as well as turning in some impressive performances themselves.
Results

23 September 2002
The full list of venues and dates for the 2002/2003 League is as follows:

Round 1	High Sports, Redhill	3rd November 2002	Remember that, for Round 1: 1. Year 9's will not be able to attend (they will be on their way to the Kent Mountain Centre). 2. There will be no school-coordinated transport so you must make your own arrangements.
Round 2	The Climb, Amersham	24th November 2002
Round 3	The Westway, London	15th December 2002
Round 4	The Castle, London	12th January 2003
Round 5	Brunel, Uxbridge	2nd February 2003
Round 6	Mile End, London	2nd March 2003	More details at www.sibl.co.uk

17 September 2002
Details of the first round of the Southern Indoor Bouldering League have been announced.
It will take place at Redhill on 3 November 2002.

Sadly, this overlaps with the Kent Fountain Centre trip so if you are not in year 9 and would like to compete, you will be relying on parents for transport etc. You had better start appealing to their better nature.

Dates and venues for rounds 2 to 5 are not yet confirmed but, rest assured, we will have team members at all of them.

16 September 2002
The entire team were caught up in the exciting end to Saturday's BRYCS Heat at Amersham.
Tom Gore was occupying first place (both on the day and overall) until the very last climb when Trevor Nagler managed to top out on his last lead. This nudged Tom into second place but leaves him with a good lead over third place in the rankings (Tom Clowney).

Another significant achievement went almost unnoticed:
Joel Charley's fourth place in the 10 - 12 category is very impressive, particularly when the the margin between third and fourth was so slim (just seven points). Sadly Joel's ranking points from the first heat place him sixth overall but, with another year in the category, his prospects are excellent.
Results so far

11 September 2002
It's a sign of the real commitment made by the team that this year's Outdoor Education Prizes were all awarded to current members.
Matt Cousins, Tom Gore and Richard Sharpe all receive well-earned recognition for their dedication, help and exceptional improvement and performance.
Congratulations to all three of you.
More Info.

25 June 2002
Note that there will be no Buckmore trip on Friday 28 June.
The team training session on Tuesday 2 July will not take place due to the year 10 parents' evening.
There will be three day trips to southern sandstone venues during the summer holiday.

6 May 2002
Tony Musselbrook left onlookers speechless as he delicately picked his way up Jingo Wobbly at Harrisons Rocks today. He demonstrated impressive balance and control as he added three or four moves to the sequence usually employed by the typical 'grown-up' climber.
Tony goes down in Dane Court history as only the fourth pupil to climb this hard and is the youngest by at least two years.
He is certainly among the youngest ever to climb Jingo Wobbly.

Tony had little to say after his amazing feat; in fact he seemed rather astonished by what he had done. Don't worry Tony, you did it and you did it with style!

5 May 2002
Rather like the more conventional school subjects, an Outdoor Education prize can be awarded at the the end of the school year and presented at Prize Evening in September. In the past the prize has been given only occasionally but I hope to award one to a junior pupil and one to a senior/sixth form pupil this year and annually thereafter.
In keeping with the ethos of subject prizes, the Outdoor Education awards will go to high-performing pupils (that's why this item of news appears in the Comp Team section) but I will also take into account the effort and progress made by individuals.
Decisions about the prize winners are made later in the summer term.
Mr Alderson

2 April 2002
If you have a Climber Profile page, please check it for accuracy now.
Any amendments should be sent to info@indoorsout.co.uk

Click here to go to the profile index page.

31 March 2002
As a result of changes to the BRYCS competition dates for 2002, the membership of the school team will be seriously considered over the next few weeks. Current members should note the following:

• I will be seeking to increase the number of current year 7 members.
• As it is not possible to accommodate more than twelve in the team, I need to remove some current members.
• Only current members are guaranteed places on Sunday Harrisons Rocks visits.

If you have concerns or questions about your place on the team please do talk to me.

Mr Alderson

31 March 2002
The drier, warmer weather has, at last, allowed some decent days climbing on the Southern Sandstone.
It appears that the more intensive training programme at school and hard work by team members between climbing sessions has resulted in some marked improvements in the standards of members' outdoor grades.
In the last week Callum Harris, Will Cousins and Chris Powell have all climbed their first 6a.
Today, Phil Maringer impressed all by climbing Desperate Dan (6a) after very few attempts and Russ Bates laid siege to Jingo Wobbly (6b) until it surrendered its prize.
Well done to all team members, past and present, who have worked so hard over the winter and now stand to reap the benefits where it really matters (on real rock) over the next few months.

21 March 2002
Your category of entry (10-12 or 13-15) will be decided by your age on 31st August 2002.

19 March 2002
Although it is still to be confirmed, the final is due to be held on 12 October at the Leeds Wall.
Urban Rock appear to be sponsoring the series for a second year.
There is no more news about the age qualifying date but I have sent a couple more emails to remind the BMC of its significance.

18 March 2002
Richard has competed in every round of this year's British Bouldering Championships.
Over the last three weeks he has visited Leeds, Edinburgh and the final at the NEC in Birmingham.
Click here to see the final rankings and pictures.

21 February 2002
This year's competition has been moved to September to coordinate better with adult competitions.
The venues and dates are:

Mile End on 7th (provisional) Amersham on 14th (provisional) and Castle on 28th (confirmed)

The venue and date of the national final is, as yet, unknown.
If the age qualifying date is also changed, this will have significant implications for our team structure, placing four members in an older category where they will lead their roped routes and reducing our 10-12 entry to just one member.
I am making enquiries about the age qualifying date and, if it is moved to September, the team structure will be reviewed.
Mr A

6 February 2002
Joe Cook and Richard Sharpe have finished 14th and 11th respectively in the overall rankings of the British Indoor Climbing Championships.

10 December 2001
Joel Charley (7N) and James Young (8T) will join the Team after the Christmas holiday.
The decision was made following their impressive performances in the Mini Competition last week.
This brings the total number of climbers in the '10-12' BRYCS category to five.

Two current members of '13-15' BRYCS category age or older will be removed from the team at the end of this term. They will be informed on Wednesday 19 December. See below for details.

There will be changes to the Team for the new year.
So many variables have to be taken into account that it is still too early to make decisions.
I will need to think to the future when considering the make-up of the team from January 2002;
e.g. BRYCS 2002 (and 2003!) etc.
Current members will be guaranteed places at the three remaining SIBL rounds but if you are not a team member after Christmas, you will not be eligible for Tuesday training sessions nor Friday evening Wall trips. Team members will always be given priority on trips to Southern Sandstone.
Mr A

6 November 2001
If you have kept an eye on the SIBL Forum over the last week or so you will already know that there are quite a few potential competitors who wanted to go to the final day of the BMC's Festival of Climbing at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. The problem was that one of the SIBL rounds was on the same day! SIBL organisers have made the very helpful and open minded decision to change the date of the second round from 9th to 16th December. Now everybody's happy - including some of you!

By the time you read this your parents should have received a letter about the SIBL date change.
Six team members have also been offered the opportunity to visit the NIA on 16th December.
There is a public bouldering competition during the day so invited members are those who;

1. are eligible by virtue of age (10-12 and 13-15 categories) and
2. have a good record in previous competitions

The concurrent events
at the same venue include:

• a trade show,
• several supervised, fully operational climbing and bouldering walls that are open to the public,
• a photography exhibition
• numerous lectures by prominent mountaineers and climbers
• Public dyno competition
• Public bouldering challenge

Your parents will have received a letter explaining that we will stay on for the Open Competition in the afternoon of 11 November. This will allow Tom and Richard to compete with the adults this time.
Everyone else will finish at about 1:00pm but I would expect that judges will be needed so be prepared. I am sure that Tom and Richard will judge during the Junior competition.

Herne Bay High School have contacted us about the SIBL.
It seems that they will be entering some of their better climbers in round one (including one seventeen year-old in the Male Open category).
The teacher there says that they are going along for the experience and to see what sort of standard they must reach - but just how good are these Herne Bay-ites (do we know any decent climbers from Herne Bay??). You have been warned!