UKH

Article in the Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/apr/24/toby-the-terminator-roberts-c...

Nice one, Natalie.

Saw that as well - I thought I should put the link here as you have, but promptly got distracted by something and forgot. Well done for sharing it John!

Thanks John. Unfortunate that the Laval qualifier event was incorrectly edited to 'world cup'. 

Congratulations! (And good luck to the young 'un. Am still trying to work out how he's hanging off that hold.) 

Mick 

Me too!

Maybe he's doing the first free solo of The North Face of the Uxbridge Road!

I feel like your point is made even better by the fact that you edited your post.

Is it meta? Is it Irony? I have no idea but whatever it is I don't think anyone would suspect you of having omitted Laval.

Great article and brilliantly walking the line of being climbery enough and yet accessible enough for non climbers. I would imagine it was a tightrope to walk. Well done! 

When I was once on the Kilter at the Sheffield Hanger, Toby was on it too (I was doing soft 7Bs at best, thus looking like a slightly poorly three legged kitten next to the waddage on show). Honestly the angle and position that he could hold some of those holds at, and the level of body strength, was frankly physics-defying.

They say you know a unicorn when you see one when it comes to athletes and it's clearly true. He's something else. Incredible strength + lightweight build = monster. Think he is in with a good chance of a Gold!

Also great article in a national newspaper! Nice one

Good write up, his Dad obviously has given Toby great support, but I think a shout out to Mark Croxall who coached Toby in his formative years would have been nice.

A good article, thanks. However, this does illustrate just how exclusive the top end of competition climbing is in this country. As well as all the massive personal effort that any of our top competitors put in, they need the support of someone with very deep pockets to finance all their competitions. I know the cost of being in the GB development squad has meant that some very talented young climbers have had to step away from it. I understand that once a young climber starts to compete at international events the costs are considerable.

Good point. Shauna's dad, Mike, belayed and coached her for years, despite having a tough work life. Some nights he was plainly knackered. But he was always there for her. 

Similarly I remember reading somewhere about a prominent female US climber (sorry, just can't remember her name right now). Apparently her mum used to drive for hours each day to get to a wall and belay her. It was a crazy drive; I just couldn't see how anyone could keep doing it. But again, she did. 

I guess without those levels of dedication/support and, as Mark Kemball points out, deep pockets, further down the line, people just aren't going to come through, no matter how talented. 

A different world!

Mick 

I seem to remember Ashima Shiraishi and Kai Lightner as both having at least one parent who is/ was pretty dedicated to supporting them as well? 

My partner's brother is just moving into the adult age category for fell running and competes for GB, his mum has done a lot of driving to and from races over the last 6+ years, it has an impact on the whole family in terms of the time demand.

Great article Natalie - been following Toby´s meteoric progress for a while, and the Olympics are going to be a nail-biter.

(small niggle - it´s Tristan Roberts, not Tristian!)

(small niggle - it´s Tristan Roberts, not Tristian!)

No, it’s not!

This seems to apply to many (if not all) sports. To be an elite youngster in any sport with a chance of progressing to being an elite adult, huge parental support is almost essential. I'm not sure whether this is a good or bad thing - it's certainly appears to be unfair in some ways, but is someone becoming elite without family support more likely to suffer from things like mental health problems because they're more "alone" dealing with the pressures, etc.

Ah ok, I got that from Olympics.com, my apologies!

I think the sad reality is that it actually applies to pretty much all of life.  There are myriad exceptions of course but generally speaking those with money/ education/ contacts/ knowledge etc tend to advance their kids much more than people without those benefits.

I'm sure parental emotional support is crucial in helping children deal with the pressures of elite sport. But parental financial support is far less of an issue for the elite in a huge sport like football. To take three current generational talents like Toby: Bellingham  joined Birmingham as an under 8, Saka was at the Arsenal academy as an under 7 and Foden signed for City aged 4 and had his private school fees paid by the club. Is football the fairest sport of all when it comes to recognising the lucky winners of the genetic lottery?

Really? I guess that really means 'signed'.

As I understand it, they were quite happy to accept a hand print in poster paint.

ETA: As long as it was sky blue.

Rashford has also been open about having very little as a child to great positive effect.

This is of course not doing Toby and Tristian down as their efforts are clearly being applied to great effect.

Indeed. When Stevie Haston went from Brixton to the London Oratory, he found that he was virtually the only kid who hadn't been coached to death. And that was more than fifty years ago. 

Mick