UKC

Tonight's Friday nighter is a 'TED Talk' by Sasha DiGiulian, the top American sport climber.

Since the beginning of her career, Sasha has been extremely successful in her sport. She was the undefeated Junior Continental Champion from 2004-2010 and in 2011 she became the reigning US and Pan American Champion...

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=67950

In reply to UKC News:

They should get Dawes to do one of these talks. Ha.

In reply to UKC News:

Great climber, worthy talk but soooo dull.

In reply to UKC News:
Managed about 12 seconds. So corny. Cringe-worthy.

In reply to tallsop:

She needs to sack her stylist

Was anyone else thinking that dress was part of the evolution of the talk? i.e. the horrid skirt was going to come off at some point and she would reveal climbing gear or sponsorship ...

In reply to Owen W-G:

Yup, horrible dress.

In reply to UKC News: A perverse fascination with the awfulness of "that dress" is the only thing that kept me watching!

In reply to UKC News: all of the above winging gits
What a bunch of sad b.......s, hiding behind your anonymous pseudonyms. I'd like to see any one of you guys up on stage giving a talk, that would be really interesting - nah, perhaps not. If you've got nothing good to say, say nothing.

Gary Latter

In reply to GL: Fair enough point... the presentation was really poor though in terms of intonation, stumbling over words and generally maintaining interest. I've watched films of her climbing and much prefer those - the talk bears out the idea that just because you are incredibly gifted and hardworking it doesn't mean you can articulate particularly well (watch any Match of the Day interview). As a teacher I've been on the giving and receiving end of some really good and really terrible talks, this was definitely mediocre - I bet there are loads of climbers who can say something truly inspirational about their battle to climb their first HVS/E3/7a/8a who would have done a much better job.

(Paul)

In reply to GL:

No need to get your knickers in a twist: great climber, crap talk, crap dress is a completely reasonable set of conclusions. And you don't need to be a great speaker to have a valid opinion.

In reply to ericinbristol: It's hard to disagree, but she's only 19! Give her a break!

In reply to GL: Hi Gary,

Sasha has got to be one of the best out there right now. And at such a young age, it's amazing.

It's great to see climbers on stage sharing the sport at events like these TED talks. I found the whole thing very interesting.

A great role model and a brilliant climber.

Jack

In reply to Jack Geldard - UKC Chief Editor:

I thought it was a very brave and worthy effort to share her thinking!

In reply to Jack Geldard - UKC Chief Editor:
I'm glad to see Jack emphasise some of the important points of this talk, like climbing ability & potential role model effect. I found the talk interesting too & was touched by the occasional faltering.

It has angered me to read negative comments about dress and delivery.
Such impoverished perception.

In reply to michaelrs: got to agree, very strange, she nineteen, doing lectures is not easy, and takes experience, who's got it all at that age?

In reply to UKC News: I work with young people of 16 -19 years and hear dozens of student presentations every year, most of them are more engaging than this. Plenty of kids her age are genuinely talented public speakers. I watched it as I have been impressed with her climbing achievements and enjoyed the short film of her on Pure Imagination a while back.
Being good at climbing does not make you a good public speaker though, one thing I can't stand in parts of the climbing community is a complete unwillingness to criticise talented climbers. Respect their climbing achievements, sure, but if they are performing in another arena they need to earn respect. I have seen a number of well known climbers teaching or giving lectures and like the rest of society some of them communicate well in these circumstances and others don't.
No one on this thread has knocked Sasha's climbing ability and in more natural bits of footage she comes over as a very charming girl. In this (despite the odd interesting insight) her delivery is dull and the whole thing has an excessively American flavour that isn't to my taste.
I had consumed a few too many glasses of wine when I posted the comment about her dress last night, in hindsight probably better left unsaid ...although my wife who lectures in Fashion Design assures me that the waistline is all wrong and the colours don't complement each other.
I don't think any of the fairly light hearted and modest criticisms deserved to be met with comments like:
"all of the above winging gits
What a bunch of sad b.......s, hiding behind your anonymous pseudonyms"
& "Such impoverished perception"
Criticism is a part of life, and I'm sure Sasha is tough enough to take the flak. Chucking insults and assumptions around is a good deal more offensive.
FWIW I look forward to reading of Sasha's future climbing achievements and I'm sure she'll be a fixture at the top of world climbing for many years.

In reply to UKC News:

She is an awesome climber.

The TED website has some fantastic talks.

http://www.ted.com/

In reply to The Ivanator: I think part of the problem is that climber tend not to want to embellish otherwise they will fuel cliff hanger stereotypes. I'm not sure this should stop them giving a decent presentation however. I remember hearing Gaz Parry on bbc radio a few years back and being a bit underwhelmed.

In reply to tallsop: if you only watched 12 seconds dont bother commenting thats barely a sentence

In reply to UKC News:
Best April fool item UKC has done by far.... well done!!!

In reply to UKC News: Truely inspirational... I think I have the direction i've been needing in climbing

d

In reply to danimal88:

Me too. Ordered the dress this morning.

In reply to jon:

Cheers - need to clean the screen now and am out of kitchen towelling!

In reply to Jack Geldard - UKC Chief Editor: Come on, why do you all get so earnest? The first thing you notice when you start the film is her dress and the pearls. She's pretty and quite frankly would look good in a plastic bin bag, but that's not the point, this outfit is not really good enough for her. She's a fabulous and inspiring climber, and if she chooses to tell us about her motivations etc then great. But surely the really most motivating and rivetting film to watch would be Sasha sending amazing routes that the rest of us can only dream of. I would have hoped for an Easter treat like that from UKC.

She usually wears pretty awful dresses. I think it's an American thing.

I really like Sasha, and she's usually really natural when talking (and a little but funny) but having that speech fed into her ear obviously threw her off.

In reply to tallsop:

agree... enough with the cliches and platitudes

In reply to UKC News:

Great climber, terrible speaker! I know she's 19, but the bottom line is that is most boring TED talk I've ever watched. TED talks are supposed to be inspiring, and I doubt any of the strong kids down at the wall would bother watching this. Not going to comment on style, as that's subjective I guess..

I agree with what everyone is saying. The talk itself is a little repetitive. Not a fan of the dress but who actually cares what Sasha's clothes look like?

The core message is to push yourself to the limit physically and mentally.