Ashima, impressions?

Haters gonna hate...Don't know her, can't pass judgement. I know plenty of climbers that crush way harder than I. The ones I like are chill (younger or older) and are supportive even if you don't climb at their grade. The ones I don't like climbing with act like d-bags...I've me em' on both ends of the crushing scale, young or old...Can't hate on someone just because they crush harder than you do...

I've had the pleasure of meeting Ashima and watching her climb at the gym because the same gym hosts divisionals for the American Boulder Series and of course she attends because she's the biggest and best, and there aren't many girls competing at similar difficulty until Nationals due to being in different Divisions for USA Climbing.
It's occasionally quite boring to see her climb indoors, because she rarely does not flash a problem while competing.

It was quite humbling to talk to her and see her climb
It's as if the crowds and cameras don't exist most of the time, at least from what Iv'e seen, and shes SUPER quiet
One of the judges tried to talk to her after she flashed her problem (shocker) and asked her where she planned on climbing next, and she's extremely soft spoken and honestly pretty chill, surprising compared to most rambunctious 11 year olds
And like stated above she's extremely motivated, both self and by her coaches and parents, all things considered its pretty fantastic.

My favorite thing is that her and one of the girls on our team at the gym have essentially become friends. Being in the same category she was of course extremely intimidated by Ashima and its amazing that now theyll take videos for each other at comps and I know a lot of little girls in her category and younger, especially local, really feed off her energy and she's really inspiring to the younger upcoming generation of climbers, they get to see someone their age sending really hard and can really push themselves to become better using her, someone very similar to them to feed off and get inspired.

I can't wait to see her in a few years, especially outside & on rope, because she's going to be amazing to watch, I really want to see her get an FA, I feel like we won't see her peak until she finds a climb that fits her style that she puts the FA on.

Edited...

Eddie2170 wrote:I've had the pleasure of meeting Ashima and watching her climb at the gym because the same gym hosts divisionals for the American Boulder Series and of course she attends because she's the biggest and best, and her only true competition is Brooke Rabatou but they don't compete until Nationals due to being in different Divisions for USA Climbing It was quite humbling to talk to her and see her climb It's as if the crowds and cameras don't exist most of the time, at least from what Iv'e seen, and shes SUPER quiet One of the judges tried to talk to her after she flashed her problem (shocker) and asked her where she planned on climbing next, and she's extremely soft spoken and honestly pretty chill, surprising compared to most rambunctious 11 year olds And like stated above she's extremely motivated, both self and by her coaches and parents, all things considered its pretty fantastic. My favorite thing is that her and one of the girls on our team at the gym have essentially become friends. Being in the same category she was of course extremely intimidated by Ashima and its amazing that now theyll take videos for each other at comps and I know a lot of little girls in her category and younger, especially local, really feed off her energy and she's really inspiring to the younger upcoming generation of climbers, they get to see someone their age sending really hard and can really push themselves to become better using her, someone very similar to them to feed off and get inspired. I can't wait to see her in a few years, especially outside & on rope, because she's going to be amazing to watch, I really want to see her get an FA, I feel like we won't see her peak until she finds a climb that fits her style that she puts the FA on.

It's really obnoxious to state her only competition is such-and-such. You don't know the entire field of young girls, nor will you ever know all young girls that climb, especially ones that might choose to not compete.

A.Javi.Gecko wrote:I just like watching people send v-hard without dropping the F bomb every half-move. Quite inspiring to see that the "innocence of children" seems a peaceful, lightheartedness in Ashima. Plus she has mad passion and drive for an 11 year old!

yeah, i think a lot of climbers can learn from her in that regard (myself included obviously).

Alex McIntyre wrote: It's really obnoxious to state her only competition is such-and-such. You don't know the entire field of young girls, nor will you ever know all young girls that climb, especially ones that might choose to not compete.

Fair enough

In the field of current US competitors of her age category she is generally speaking much stronger, not saying no one could ever beat her, just that she is dominating the bouldering circuit in her age category. Many of them are extremely talented young athletic girls, and I'm sure there are many others, but not many have the motivation & dedication paired with natural ability that she does, and yes at some point there will be someone bigger and better; should they choose to compete of course.

Yeah, I'm with Alex!

How can you say she doesn't have any competition when she doesn't compete against the girls who choose not to compete?!?

Wait, what?

Charles Kinbote wrote:Wait, what?

Huh?

And I didn't necessarily say she had no competition, just that its really only at nationals that she has competitors close to her level of climbing

Eddie2170 wrote: Huh? And I didn't necessarily say she had no competition, just that its really only at nationals that she has competitors close to her level of climbing

Sarcasm, bro.

Random observations: I think that it is interesting that Jake brought up Sasha and Alex, because they developed significantly differently than Ashima.

Alex was a good but not exemplary boulderer (v5 or so) until after she hit puberty (I climbed with her in the gym pretty regularly from the time she was about 12-16). She did not hit v-double digits until she got into her adult body.

I do not know personally, but have heard that it was the same with Sasha; she bouldered v6 or so in the gym (and was much LESS skinny than she is now) until she was 17 or so.

I'm not sure what this says about Ashima, but statistically, she's got a hell of a high bar to hurdle when she matures into her adult body; a bar that gave Cicada, Tori, and Katie a lot of trouble. Furthermore, the word is that Ashima's dad pushes her HARD, and not necessarily in a good way. So she's got the Chris Linder bar to hurdle, too.

Should be interesting to see how she (and Brooke R.) turns out.

Charles Kinbote wrote: Sarcasm, bro.

No I know, I totally got your sarcasm the two paragraphs were 2 separate responses in my head

camhead wrote:Random observations: I think that it is interesting that Jake brought up Sasha and Alex, because they developed significantly differently than Ashima. Alex was a good but not exemplary boulderer (v5 or so) until after she hit puberty (I climbed with her in the gym pretty regularly from the time she was about 12-16). She did not hit v-double digits until she got into her adult body. I do not know personally, but have heard that it was the same with Sasha; she bouldered v6 or so in the gym (and was much LESS skinny than she is now) until she was 17 or so. I'm not sure what this says about Ashima, but statistically, she's got a hell of a high bar to hurdle when she matures into her adult body; a bar that gave Cicada, Tori, and Katie a lot of trouble. Furthermore, the word is that Ashima's dad pushes her HARD, and not necessarily in a good way. So she's got the Chris Linder bar to hurdle, too. Should be interesting to see how she (and Brooke R.) turns out.

Fair enough points, but didn't Cicada Jenerik just win her division at ABS nationals?

Charles Kinbote wrote: Fair enough points, but didn't Cicada Jenerik just win her division at ABS nationals?

I'm not sure what you mean by "division." She came in 17th in the semis, though.

climbingnarc.com/2012/02/20…

She won Female Junior this year

absnationals.org/08/news/FJ…

camhead wrote: Furthermore, the word is that Ashima's dad pushes her HARD, and not necessarily in a good way. So she's got the Chris Linder bar to hurdle, too. Should be interesting to see how she (and Brooke R.) turns out.

I climb at the same gym as her and he's totally a good coach. If she's unhappy or uncomfortable she just smiles and does something else. Totally sweet to all the other kids her age, and helps them with "kid beta". Honestly, he doesn't talk 99% of the time and she just ties-in and warms up on my "gym projects". The laser pointer boulder training is pretty cool too.
edit to add: A climbing partner's daughter went up and started talking to her (also short, and was getting frustrated) and she was incredibly nice to her. Her father was sweet as well.

climbing celebrity is a weird kind of celebrity, especially in crowded climbing gyms.