I actually haven't climbed since finals. People
just expect me to not do cordo moves and stuff
like that and I just kind of want to change that.
I just like enjoy the grind. I enjoy like the
pain. Welcome to another episode of the That's
Not Real Climbing podcast. I'm your host, Jinni,
and I'm excited to introduce my guest for today,
Annie Sanders. Annie is a climber on Team USA,
and she has had an amazing World Cup season this
year with two Boulder Golds and a Lead Gold and
even more podiums. In this episode, we'll learn
about what goes through her mind during her crazy
beta breaks, what her training routine looks
like, and how gym access really influences performance.
I really appreciate her breaking out of her shell
a bit to do this interview. So enjoy this exclusive
interview with Annie. I'm excited to announce
that my sponsor, Mad Rock Climbing, just came
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MedRock order. Back to the show. How are you
doing today? I'm good. How are you? Good, good.
A little bit hectic because I'm taking care of
a cat right now. Maybe she'll make an appearance.
I don't know. We'll definitely get more into
world champs later on. But how are you feeling
now coming back from Korea? Are you still jet
lagged or when did you get back? I got back on
Monday, but I'm definitely still jet lagged.
Like I think last night I slept for like 12 hours
and I'm still pretty exhausted today. Oh my gosh.
It's been like a week, right? Yeah. I feel like
it usually takes me at least two weeks to like
fully recover from any Asia trip. No, I totally
agree with that. People think I'm like crazy
for saying that I feel like I lose a month of
my life whenever I go to Asia. But yeah, I think
it takes me like two weeks there and then two
weeks when I get back. And so I feel like I lose
my entire life. Yeah. Do you have any like jet
lag tricks? Honestly, not really. Just try to
like not nap later in the day because then I'll
be up all night. I've been like taking like two
or three naps around like. noon and maybe like
two it's like the exhaustion hits different though
it's not just like a nap that you can say no
to yeah exactly i can't function anymore yeah
like i can't stay awake yeah how do you climb
with the jet lag i actually haven't climbed since
finals so i'm taking a little bit of a break
right now but usually i just like usually i just
like try to push through it maybe not train as
hard but like I don't know always just try to
like listen to my body and see how I feel what
about when it's like competition time like the
jet lag you get in Asia honestly I don't feel
that much jet lag when I'm going to Asia but
once I get back it like hits me pretty hard and
the same with Europe I think it's when I'm in
Europe I'm there for so long that I don't really
notice it but right yeah I feel like I only feel
the jet lag when I get back from Asia it's really
weird I mean, I guess that's convenient that
you don't feel the jet lag when it's important,
I guess. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Okay. Did you do
anything fun in Korea? I mean, we went shopping,
of course. That was pretty much it. We didn't
really have time to do too much sightseeing.
So we were kind of staying in the area where
the venue was. And how long were you there for?
I honestly can't remember. Maybe like a week.
oh in korea i think i was there for about a week
and a half maybe but i also yeah something like
that i can't i don't know the exact length but
i did go to japan for a week before then for
like training and travel i guess yeah what did
you do in japan i've never been but i would really
like to check it out mostly just like training
and the gyms they were very good but yeah the
trip was like mostly focused around training
because like a lot of the gyms there open very
late so we would just like wait wake up have
to like wait out the day go to the gym and then
by the time we're finished it's already like
bedtime so but like on the rest days we would
go shopping like check out coffee shops do some
sightseeing it's kind of wild that you would
say that you have to like wait out the day in
Japan I feel like for a lot of people going to
Japan is like a dream vacation yeah I mean, we
did do a little bit of sightseeing during that
time, but not much. Are you a foodie when you
travel, or is it just shopping? I'm really into
coffee, and I actually found a 10 out of 10 coffee
shop in Japan, in Shinjuku. Yeah, what's it called?
Give it a shout out. It's called Covert Coffee.
It's really close to the Shinjuku train station.
Okay. Hopefully people can check that out when
they go. Yeah. Yeah. I guess getting a little
bit into climbing and your background with that,
how did you start out climbing? So my mom is
actually a climber. So she started climbing when
she was in college and she kind of like brought
it into the family. I pretty much like grew up
in a gym. I would like hang around her and her
friends' kids like when they were all climbing
together. And then when I was seven, I started
competing and that's when I like fell in love
with competition climbing. decided that's what
i wanted to keep doing with my life okay so sort
of a climbing family or do you have like siblings
uh yeah i have two older sisters my uh one of
my older sisters also climbs she also works at
the gym she coaches little kids Yeah, what was
that dynamic like growing up being like the youngest
one? Or I guess I don't know necessarily if you're
the youngest one. Yeah, I'm the youngest, yeah.
Okay, yeah. So like being the youngest one and
then also other people who like climbing the
family. I mean, it was pretty cool. We would
always like plan a bunch of trips around climbing.
So like, for example, we used to go to Rifle
in the summer and we would like go camping and
then climbing and stuff like that. So it was
a pretty cool family dynamic. Yeah, you felt
like you actually liked it the whole time. Yeah,
I actually liked it. I mean, my parents gave
me like many options. I like tried many different
sports, but I always stuck to climbing. What
do you feel like was the second closest sport
that you really enjoyed? Definitely swimming.
I still do swim twice a week for cross training.
Really? Yeah, I quit competitive swimming when
I was nine. Just to focus on climbing? Yeah.
Okay, that makes sense. So, yeah, I guess I would
say that I always thought you were more of a
lead climber than a boulderer. I don't know where
I got that thought from. Maybe just from like
the way that you rest on boulders or something
like that. But your results are actually pretty
even. So do you have a preference nowadays still?
No, I don't have a preference. I mean, I like
both equally. So it's like hard to choose one.
Yeah, I guess I found that surprising. I mean,
did you did you used to like lead more, you think?
Honestly, not really. I kind of have always done
both equally. I think I've just been naturally
better as a lead climber because I have more
slow twitch muscles. I move slower on the wall,
but that's something that I'm going to try to
work on this coming off season. In general, how
would you characterize your climbing? I mean,
honestly, I feel like you're kind of right in
a way. I feel like I do climb like a lead climber.
But... It's kind of because I'm also timid on
a lot of boulders. I don't really commit fully
to a lot of the moves, which is why I kind of
suck at coordination moves. It kind of gets to
me at comps, but yeah. I feel like a lot of coaches
and people say that in bouldering, you have to
be very sure in your movement and commit to a
certain beta. And so how do you... I don't know,
managed to perform in bouldering with still being
so unsure about what movement you want to go
with? I think I'm just like really good at pure
strength boulders. Like I can just like pull
through and like, I don't know, I guess thug
my way through a lot of the boulders. But for
example, in like soul finals, that wasn't the
case. Like I had to like be powerful, explosive
and all that type of stuff. So that's why I did
like pretty bad at that round. Okay. Yeah, that
makes sense. And then you can also spend like
a really long time on boulders or lead routes.
Do you feel like endurance came naturally to
you or was it something you like worked really
hard to train and get better at? It's definitely,
I mean, I guess it does come natural in some
ways, but I do have to work very hard to like
maintain it. So like even when I was younger,
I was doing like up, down, ups on like. 5 12
5 13 and I think I would say like most of my
lead sessions I do a minimum of like 15 to 20
routes something like that I think the most I've
done is like 23 in a session but I don't always
do that but yeah I definitely have to work to
keep that endurance and so do you prioritize
keeping that endurance over maybe working on
something like being more powerful honestly not
really I would say I work more on bouldering
that I than I do on lead climbing like I think
I only do ropes once a week so yeah I definitely
boulder a lot more and we'll get into a bit more
of like the details of your training later but
um for now since we just came off the 2025 season
um let's get into that a little bit so looking
back on your 2025 season how do you feel like
it went in general I feel like it went pretty
well like I kept like a good momentum throughout
the whole season but like I performed pretty
well maybe not at all the comps but most of them
but i think like towards the end towards korea
i was just like getting pretty tired it was like
an especially long season for people it sounds
like yeah i think it started in april yeah just
thinking back to a lot of like the boulder comps
do you ever regret trying to like beta break
or static so many of them yeah like definitely
Dude, there are so many times where I just got
so extremely pumped on a boulder where I just
could not recover for the rest of my attempts.
Whoa, really? I think at finals in Seoul on the
second boulder, I was on that second to last
hold for probably a minute and a half or something
like that. And after my first attempt, I was
pretty much done. I could not recover after that.
We can't see what's going on behind the camera
or what the coaches are thinking. Do you get
like... talking to from the coaches of like you
gotta stop doing that yeah my coach did tell
me that I should like fully commit to the coordination
beta for like the first three to four minutes
and if I feel like it's like I'm not close at
all or if it's not gonna work then maybe I could
try to static but I don't know I guess like when
I'm in the moment all like my main goal is just
to like get to the top of the boulder so I'm
not really thinking about that and so you're
gonna disregard that coaching Not like just disregard,
but I kind of just like forget about it in the
moment because I'm so locked in. And then I guess
similarly along the vein of like being a slower
climber, you time out a lot in lead. I guess
I'm wondering how that happens because I think
a lot of people look down at the clock, realize
that there's not much time left and then they
like kind of motor. So do you just like stop
looking at the clock at a certain point or what
happens there? uh I mean when I get to about
a minute left I kind of do start to like pick
up the pace but I mean ideally I should be picking
up the pace like lower down on the route because
that's where I lose most of my time but yeah
it's kind of weird because like in my training
I honestly don't climb that slow I would say
I'm actually a pretty fast climber but whenever
I'm like on signing something I'm pretty slow
so that's like something I need to work on Is
it like you think the pressure of like one slip
and then it's over? I think that and I'm just
like more focused on like getting to the top
of the route than I am on like getting as high
as I can in the fastest amount of time like without
timing out. I guess it's kind of surprising to
hear that you start to motor after like when
there's a minute left because I feel like there
are definitely times in lead where there's like
less than a minute and you still look like as
if there was an infinite amount of time left
yeah true i mean maybe i think i'm moving faster
but maybe i'm not i don't know because sometimes
i go back and i like like in the moment i feel
like i'm like flying through the route and then
i go back and watch it and i'm like dang i'm
going really slow right now yeah i need to like
pick up the pace how often do you watch back
your climbs like pretty much after every comp
i like to see like what i could work on what
i could improve Based on what you've watched
this year, what do you feel like you need to
work on for the future? For bouldering, probably
explosiveness and commitment, and then lead,
just climbing faster and more efficient. I guess,
what are you doing to work on those? Or I guess
you haven't started training yet for the next
season, but what's your plan? Honestly, next
year, I think I'm going to focus a little bit
more on bouldering. I don't really have too much
of a plan yet for lead, but I'll probably start
doing a lot more lifting and stuff like that.
I mean, I did lift last year, but it wasn't very
intentional. This year, I kind of want to be
more intentional with what I'm doing. Okay. Why
the focus on boulder for next year? I kind of
want to not suck at coordination moves anymore
because I feel like I have a reputation for,
I don't know, the climber that can never do coordination.
I don't know. I guess people just expect me to
not do cordo moves and stuff like that. And I
just kind of want to change that. Want to prove
them wrong. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I mean, I guess
you, I feel like you more so have a reputation
to like try to static it, but then eventually
you can still do the coordination move. You just
don't do it to start with. I mean, in some cases,
maybe, but. In finals in Seoul, the first boulder,
I just felt so far off of that. I felt like there
was no possible way I could do it, which was
really weird. It was like a swing to a press
and then a paddle finish. And where did you get
on that one? I got to the last move. It took
me a while to get up there, though. Yeah, what
about that one specifically felt weird? Or is
there a certain type of coordination that you
feel like you're worse at? Because, I mean, there's
a lot of different kinds. I don't know when there's
like so many like complex hand foot movements
it really like throws me off it's hard to like
focus on each movement or each move one at a
time I just kind of like blur everything into
one so yeah and also the first move for some
reason just felt really big for me so every time
I would like get that move I would be scared
to commit to the last move because I was like
oh what if I don't make it back to the 10 zone
Are you one of the shorter climbers? I don't
actually know your height. I'm 5 '4". Oh, okay.
So I'm pretty average. Okay. Well, good to know
that you'll be working on that for next season.
I hope to see you commit to some more coordination
moves for next year's bouldering. Yeah, me too.
And thinking back on like 2025 season, do you
have any like favorite or least favorite moments?
I mean, I think my favorite moment was winning.
Like the World Cup in Madrid. That was pretty
special to me. I don't know. I've always been
like characterized as a lead climber. So I guess
winning like a lead World Cup was pretty cool.
Yeah. And that was your first lead goal. Yeah.
Yeah. I think being characterized as a lead climber,
it's like surprising that was your first lead
goal. And you had like a couple boulder goals
before that. Yeah. When you are traveling for
World Cups. How much time do you get to actually
enjoy your travel versus just like being nervous
for a competition? I mean, I wouldn't say I'm
like super nervous for competitions, but there's
not like a ton of time to go out and like do
sightseeing and stuff like that. Because like,
even if we're like not competing, we have to
still like maintain our shape during in between
the competitions. But like, I guess the little
time that we do have is pretty enjoyable. Yeah,
do you have like a favorite place to travel in
the world for World Cups? I mean, we haven't
had a World Cup there since like, what was it?
2022, 2023, but probably Japan. Oh, right. I
love Japan. Yeah, I mean, when you were saying
that you haven't had a World Cup since a while
ago, I mean, you didn't even start doing World
Cups until a few years ago, right? Yeah. Yeah,
okay. Because the minimum age is 16? Uh, it used
to be like 15. You had to be like turning 16
that year. But now it's you have to be turning
17 that year. I heard rumors that they were even
raising the age to 18. But I don't think I don't
think that's official yet. Yeah, I think you're
definitely one of probably like the youngest
climbers that I've interviewed so far. So it's
crazy how far you've come being so young. Thank
you. What are your goals for 2026? I think honestly
just like the same that they were this year just
like continue training going to world cups competing
and seeing how I do because there's honestly
not really I mean my big goal is like of course
LA 2028 so these next couple of seasons are like
pretty chill for me Speaking of the Olympics,
I mean, I know a lot of the top athletes took
a break this year from competing to, like, rest
from the Olympic season. I mean, like, of course,
Janja only chose a few competitions to go to.
How confident do you feel in, like, competing
against them in the future? I mean, I honestly
don't think too much about it because I feel
like I'm not really that competitive with other
people. I'm more like... competitive with myself
so like if i do bad at a comp i'm mad at myself
like not mad that i didn't podium or whatever
yeah and i guess when you mentioned your goals
none of it included like a specific medal count
or podiuming so i guess it's good in that way
yeah so you don't even think about like who to
watch out for like i mean especially when it
comes to getting olympic spots um i mean there's
probably still only gonna be like two per gender
per country I mean, it might be one. I heard
rumors that it's one. Whoa. I guess we'll see.
Yeah, it's definitely going to be hard to qualify,
but I'm trying not to think too much about it
since that's so far ahead in the future. Interesting
to hear about the one rumors. I don't know if
it's true, but I heard rumors. Yeah, it's hard
to get into rumors because I know definitely
people, yeah, it changes a lot. But I mean, what's
the... purpose of the one per gender per country
rumor because that's that yeah that makes it
really difficult yeah I honestly have no idea
I cannot tell you how confident would you feel
if it was like a combined qualifiers like would
you prefer that I think I would I honestly don't
know it's I think it's too early to tell but
I think I do strive more like in combined disciplines
because I'm like good at both. Do you not have
like any plan to do the lead season for next
year? No, I'm pre -qualified for the lead season,
so I'll still do it, but I just won't train it
as much as I have been. Okay, so then going into
what your training looks like, what does your
training schedule look like? Like number of days
a week? Hours a day. If you're interested in
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to the show i climb like five days a week and
i also swim twice a week and lift like two to
three times a week but for yeah for climbing
i would say i'm in the gym like five to six hours
max maybe seven on longer days then i also do
some like at home exercises since i live so far
from the gym but i'm pretty much like working
out all day I'm surprised that you live so far
from the gym because yeah I feel like usually
at this at a certain point at a certain level
people are like trying to I don't know optimize
their schedule as much as possible. I really
just don't have the money to like move out right
now and I'm trying to like save up for much more
like needed expenses and stuff like that for
like traveling and funding my training and stuff
like that but yeah it takes me like 30 to 40
minutes to get to the gym every day. Sometimes
even longer if I want to go to a big, a different
gym. Is there any like one thing you did that
you feel like made you level up in your climbing
ability? Uh, I feel like, I don't know if it
made me level up, but I feel like the more I
board climb and the more I spray wall, like the
stronger I feel. Which I guess makes sense because
it's just like pure power training. But yeah.
So I think this offseason, I'm going to be doing
a lot more of that type of stuff. You feel like
it helps with comp movement or comp climbing
too? I don't know. I guess just power boulders
and feeling strong. I don't really have access
to a lot of comp boulders and stuff like that.
They don't really set that here in Dallas. So
it's hard to train on that type of stuff. So
a couple of thoughts come to mind. Well, I guess,
so one, for me, I always feel like... If you
board climb a lot, you just get really good at
board climbing. Is that an incorrect take, you
think? No, I think that's correct. But I feel
like if you also supplement it with spray walling,
it could help on power -focused boulders in a
World Cup. Yeah, I mean, in terms of your gym
access, are there climbs that are hard enough
for you? I would say the route setters in the
DFW area are like... pretty strong so they do
set some hard stuff for like themselves to work
on and I do get on those boulders but they're
just like all commercial style and it's not really
anything I would see like in a world cup so it's
like I don't know I guess hard to train in the
gyms I mean I did used to have access to the
team Texas training centers but ever since like
movement bought all the gyms and kind of like
took over they've been making it like a real
pain to like get access to those gyms oh okay
i think leaving up to the soul world cup i've
been on a spray wall like one time and that was
in salt lake yeah same it has been like pretty
difficult to like train maybe you need some contacts
and in terms of like team texas uh yeah i guess
like what happened there like you used to have
access to their training facilities but now you
don't yeah so like Before movement bought like
the gyms and everything, I would just like go
in with one of the coaches and like train for
like three to four hours or something like that.
But now movement like has all these like strict
rules like, oh, you have to have a movement employee
in here. Oh, you can only go during these times.
And I don't know, I guess since all a lot of
my friends have like left movement because they've.
i don't know i guess just like gotten tired of
working with them so i just haven't had anyone
to go into the tcs with yeah i find that surprising
because i mean usually world cup athletes kind
of get access to any gym they want to get access
to right every time we call the higher -ups they're
like oh yeah we want to help we want to help
but then they just like don't do anything about
it they're like yeah i'm sorry we can't give
you access but like we want to help so like Yeah,
I don't really get what their viewpoint is. You
had mentioned that access to training facilities
and resources makes a big difference with competitions.
Can you just like elaborate on that a bit? Like,
how is your access lacking now? And how do you
feel like it will improve in the future? If you
have like access to comp style boulders, of course,
you're going to thrive in that area. If you don't,
then you're not going to. I mean, back in the
day, the coaches used to set like pretty hard
comp style boulders for like the male, a male
junior categories. And I would get on those type
of stuff. But now I just haven't had access to
that in like the past year or so. So it's been
pretty hard to like train on those style blocks.
The only time I actually can train on those is
when I like fly out to Salt Lake. But I can only
do that like so many times. And so that's why
you use like spray walling a lot. Well, the training
center is actually like where the spray wall
is located and I haven't had access to that.
So I've pretty much like leading up to Korea,
I've just pretty much been board climbing and
climbing out of the gyms. Whoa, really? Yeah,
I did go to Salt Lake for a week, but yeah, it
was very minimal. Yeah, I can only imagine because
I mean, calm climbing is a very specific type
of movement. Yeah, well, I can't imagine like
trying to learn that without having access to,
I don't know, maybe like the hold styles and
like the specific setting. Yeah, I guess now
you're like static style makes a lot more sense
now to me. Yeah, pretty much like all that I
focus on. Well, so yeah, with your upcoming like
2026 goal of focusing on bouldering and coordination
moves, how do you plan to get that experience?
I think I'll be flying. down or up to Salt Lake
a lot more often. And also one of the coaches
is opening a new training center in the Dallas
area. I can't really like talk too much about
it, but I think it'll be a good thing. Okay.
So then moving on into, I guess, a little bit
of your lifestyle. I mean, you just graduated
high school, right? Yeah, I did in the spring.
were you just doing like public school or was
it like homeschooling it's a public online school
so it's pretty much like the exact same thing
that you would be doing in a public school but
all online I've been doing it since seventh grade
so yeah does that make it easier to like balance
school and climbing at the same time uh yeah
definitely I mean like for like the assignments
we still have due dates but we can like work
as far ahead as we want or like whenever we want
throughout the day so It's pretty flexible. Do
you plan on doing like further education or college
or you're just going to be focusing on climbing
like the upcoming year? Definitely further education.
I was going to start college and like this month,
actually, but I decided to just like take a gap
semester just to like fully relax and recover
after the season. But I'll be starting college
next year in the spring. Exciting. What are you
like? What's your major? Uh, digital marketing.
That was something I was considering getting
into and then it didn't work out. So I'm back
to my usual stuff, but, uh, are you like going
to stay at home doing that? Or I know a lot of,
uh, US comp climbers end up moving to the Salt
Lake area for better training facilities. I honestly
don't know yet. I really want to move to Salt
Lake, but I just don't really have the money
to do that right now. Don't really get a lot
of funding from sponsors, but yeah, I guess we'll
see. For right now, I'll be staying at home and
doing school. Do you feel like, well, so first
of all, like USA Climbing doesn't provide any
like stipend for winning comps or being on the
US team or anything like that? No, they do fund
like most of our big expenses, like flights and
hotels and stuff like that, but that's pretty
much it. And in terms of like... Making money
from winning competitions that you go to, it's
not much. It's very minimal, yeah. Definitely
not enough to live off of. I know a lot of competitors
in the U .S. end up going to local comps to make
a bit more money. I feel like you would be kind
of a shoo -in for getting first place. So is
that something you do much? I mean, I used to
do those in the past, but I don't know. It's
just after such a long season, I'm just like
so tired. And like the last thing I want to be
doing is like traveling and doing another comp.
I just want to be like relaxing and maybe go
outdoor climbing. So do you have like a preference
for outdoor climbing? I don't think I see much
info about your like outdoor sense. I definitely
do enjoy it a lot, but I just don't get outside
that much since I'm like pretty much competing
the entire year. Or like training for it. But
yeah, I might do a little bit this like coming
month or next month. Yeah, I guess now would
be the time since you're taking a break. Where
are you planning on going outside? We're thinking
about maybe rifle. Just like a fun trip. Maybe
not like try anything super hard. Like a family
trip? Yeah. So you don't have any like big ascents
that you're planning on doing outside? Not really.
I'm kind of just going with the flow right now.
I mean, I was working on Golden Ticket last year,
but I really don't think I'm in shape for that
route right now. Okay. If I'm being completely
honest. What is Golden Ticket? It's 14C in the
red, although I do think it's harder than that.
I sent Pure Imagination, which is to the left
of it, third go on that trip, and that one's
also rated 14C. And then I like got on golden
ticket and it felt like at least two or three
grades harder, maybe two grades. So at least
for me, I feel, yeah, I feel like for that route,
it's a lot easier if you're taller. For me, it's
hard to conceptualize what it means to be in
shape for a certain route or for a certain outdoor
bouldering season versus indoor competition bouldering
season. What does that mean to you? It may not
seem like it, but I feel like my endurance is
not that great right now because I haven't really
been training it that much. Maybe if I train
it a little bit, I could get into shape pretty
fast. I don't know. It's not really something
that I'm like too focused on. Well, best of luck
to your outdoor adventures. Thank you. Outside
of climbing in school, do you feel like you have
time for any other hobbies? I mean, honestly,
not really. Like I feel like earlier in the year,
all I was doing was just like climbing in school.
And now that I have a bunch of free time, I just
don't really don't really know what to do with
myself. Kind of just like sitting at home doing
nothing. Oh, really? Yeah. You haven't like picked
up anything new? I mean, I've been like lifting
and stuff like that, but not climbing. Just like
scrolling online or? Yeah, taking naps from the
jet lag. Right. Yeah, that makes sense. I would
recommend, I recommend this to everyone. I don't
know why. I really like crocheting. I'll have
to try that out. Yeah. A lot of my friends do
crocheting. I started it with one of those, I
don't know if you've ever seen like the ads,
but it's called like WooWools and it has like
kids. Oh yeah, I've seen that, yeah. Yeah, that's
how I like started it. I don't even know why
I talk about it so much. I don't even do it right
now because I don't have time for it. But it's
like when I do have time, I think I want to get
into that. Yeah, I'll have to check it out. Okay,
so. Getting into some of the audience questions,
in some professions, a person can dislike or
at least like not love their job, but still excel
and spend a lot of time at work. How applicable
do you feel like that is to climbing? Like if
someone put in a lot of work, but weren't necessarily
passionate about it, do you feel like they could
still be at an elite level? I don't know. I don't
really think so. I feel like you can't. I feel
like it's not possible to spend that much time
in a gym and put that much effort if you're not
passionate about it. I mean, honestly, I don't
think I'm the best person to ask because I love
climbing, but I would think not. Do you remember
moments during training where you just didn't
really feel like doing it anymore? I mean, there's
definitely times in my training where I'm frustrated
because I'm not where I want to be at. I feel
like there was never a time where I never enjoyed
it, I guess. I don't know. I just, like, enjoy
the grind. I enjoy, like, the pain. Yeah. You
never had a moment where it was just like, oh,
I feel like I want to quit climbing altogether?
I mean, maybe after a comp, but that was just,
like, for, like, 10, 15 minutes, and then I'm
fine. I mean, what about, like, the training
portion? I know a lot of athletes say that they
also love, like, the training as well. Yeah,
I really enjoy training. I actually find it more
fun than comp sometimes. Oh, interesting. Okay.
Just like the getting stronger portion? I think
a lot of people have different ideas of what
training entails. Is that just strength training
or board stuff? Or what is training? I don't
know. There's just a lot. Just getting stronger
on the board and also... When I'm doing endurance
on ropes, it's really easy for me to get locked
in. And it feels like I'm just not getting pumped
at all. And I can just keep climbing forever.
So that's really fun. Okay. Good to know. Well,
so earlier you had also mentioned that you don't
really feel nervous for comps. I kind of wonder
what goes through your mind leading up to and
during a comp. I honestly... don't have much
to say about that because I don't I try not to
think too much about comps and like I like mentioned
earlier I'm not super competitive with other
people I'm more like competitive with myself
so I guess there's not as much pressure there
I'm just like trying to perform to the best of
my abilities and like whatever happens happens
okay so like if I'm mad or upset after a comp
it's like because I didn't perform the way I
want wanted to or like as well as I knew I'm
capable of I mean yeah that makes sense um I
know that mindset is a lot of thing is like a
big thing that a lot of athletes struggle with
and so especially as a younger competitor do
you feel like you've had struggles with your
mindset at all during competitions or like where
you get into a negative space like during a competition
I would say so yeah like when I'm not able to
do a boulder it kind of does get into my head
especially when it's like a boulder I know that
I can do but I was like just too timid to like
give it my all or like on a lead route I'm like
getting to the head wall and I'm thinking oh
what if my foot slips and that kind of like throws
me off how do you like get back into the right
mindset or get back get your head back into the
game I honestly don't really have anything right
now it's kind of something I'm still working
on has it ever like ruined an entire comp for
you like you maybe like on a first boulder you
came out and it didn't go the way you wanted
and then it kind of affected the rest of the
competition yeah for sure definitely like Innsbruck
finals was a big one because like looking at
the boulders I felt pretty confident that I could
do them and then I got out and I was trying the
first boulder and I just had no idea what to
do and it really frustrated me and I kind of
just like threw off the whole round Yeah, do
you remember what you were feeling like or what
went through your mind the rest of that finals?
I don't know. I think I was just so focused on
like, oh, I didn't do the first boulder because
I had no idea what to do. I was just so frustrated
and so hard on myself that I couldn't really
focus on giving it my all for the next three
boulders. Even on the slab, which was a pretty
easy boulder, I was just so frustrated that it
took me like... three or four attempts to do
it. I guess in those comps, I mean, you say that
it's always just about like your own performance.
Do you like pay attention to if other people
are topping or getting zones or anything like
that? Maybe a little bit, but it doesn't really
affect me that much. So like if you say you like
know that you need to top a boulder because other
people have, there was like a window of opening
for you to. take a gold or something like that.
Does it motivate you more to try harder? I mean,
I honestly don't know. I always try to try as
hard as I possibly can, even if I'm like not
going to win anything. So it's hard to say. Okay.
So yeah, going back to some of the audience questions
or the last two, they're both like mindset related.
Have you ever worked with a sports psychologist
and what are your thoughts on it? I started working
with one recently this past month, but I don't
know. It's honestly kind of weird for me. How
so? I think I'm just not used to it, but I'm
a pretty introverted person, so I'm not really
used to talking and opening up to people. So
it's kind of weird for me. How do you feel like
it's going? Have you learned any strategies that
you feel like have been helpful or things that
you might want to do? take forward i mean honestly
like not really damn okay but just blast the
psychologist yeah sorry my bad but yeah i don't
know well hopefully i mean it's only a month
so wait it out and see yeah hopefully you'll
get some uh helpful tips there and so the last
one the last audience question was how do you
manage pressure when it starts to get to you
I don't know. I honestly feel like I don't feel
pressure at comps, which is kind of a weird thing.
But, like, I don't know. I guess when I, like,
don't top a boulder, I can, like, get really
hard on myself. But I guess I put the pressure
on myself more than I, like, feel it from other
people. Yeah, I mean, now that you've won, like,
a few medals and golds do you feel like you have
more expectations for yourself or like are you
putting more pressure on yourself to perform
and podium i mean not really i kind of like yeah
i'm pretty chill okay that seems like a good
way to go about it yeah i mean i guess especially
since you mentioned like the next couple years
it's not olympic season so it's just kind of
like a fun time yeah i mean of course i want
to like podium and win but like if i don't then
I guess it's fine as long as I'm climbing strong.
One of the healthier mindsets I've heard about
competing. So do you like competition style boulders?
I do. Yeah, I do really enjoy competing and being
out on the stage and trying hard and stuff like
that, but definitely need to work on those comp
style moves. Another one. Again, about like having
a lot of endurance and doing lead. Do you have
any tips for lead climbing and endurance? I would
just say like, honestly, just like climb a lot
for pure endurance. Just like do like a bunch
of routes. That's what I do when I'm just trying
to build like a base endurance. I do like a minimum
of like 15 to 20 routes, like I said earlier.
Okay. You don't have like a endurance hangboarding
routine? No. I do hangboard, but not for like
endurance, just for pure finger strength. And
so again, going back to you having a more like
static climbing style. I know a lot of like gym
climbers also don't really like big coordination
moves or dynamic moves. So this might be really
relatable to them. And you still manage to excel
at like coordination moves in a static way too.
Any tips for people with a more static and controlled
style as they struggle on moves that ask for
more dynamic movement? I mean, honestly, I would
just say commit to the jump, commit to the quarto
move, and eventually you're going to learn the
movement and dial down the move, even if it takes
you longer than maybe a more powerful climber
would take on it. So you actually do not suggest
people to follow your climbing style and try
to beta break a dino? No, don't do that. Okay.
Okay. Good to know. I mean, you could do both,
honestly. Do the boulder twice. Okay. Well, people
are going to hate to hear that one. Yeah. Yeah.
Work on your weaknesses, I guess. And you'll
be the leader for that as you work on your bouldering
for 2026. Yeah, hopefully. Okay. And really quick
last one. With your unique climbing style, does
it make it difficult for you to collaborate with
other athletes when you guys are previewing boulders
or lead? I mean, honestly, most of the time,
I feel like the beta is pretty straightforward.
So we do agree with most of the movement, most
of the beta. But I also don't really read the
route with anyone usually because I'm pretty
introverted. So I'm too shy to walk up to other
people. ask about beta and stuff like that but
it's something i'm trying to work on people don't
like come up to you and try to ask for your beta
no not really i mean yeah i guess i don't actually
know what people are talking about when they're
going through it like they just read it together
or are they ever trying to like get specific
info about how you're gonna do a climb i mean
maybe like specific info on the more like complex
movements so like a lead route is structured
it's like pretty easy climbing and then maybe
like a hard move and then like a powerful steep
section and then like a slow finish on the headwall
so like most of the time we would be like talking
through the crux of the lead route are there
certain athletes you're happy to see with you
in finals because you feel like you think alike
or climb alike and then you can collaborate better
with them uh i mean honestly It's always fun
to get to compete against all these girls because
they're all super strong and super cool. But
I think I'd have to say Jenny Buckley because
she's one of my closest friends. So it's always
cool to get to compete with her. Oh, okay. That's
good to know. Yeah, she's so nice. I talked to
her a little bit. Yeah, she's super fun to talk
to. Yeah. Do you feel like you guys have similar
climbing styles? Definitely not. She's a super
dynamic climber. Like, complete opposites. I
guess of, like, the other competitors, who do
you feel like is most similar to you? I mean,
I don't know. Probably the lead climbers. Maybe
Chaeyeon Seo. Maybe, like, Imori, too. Although
she is a lot shorter, so that might change things
a bit. I mean, Chaeyeon is pretty good at bouldering,
too, so I'd probably say her. Yeah, she also,
like, went back and worked a lot on her bouldering.
Yeah, she's super strong. Yeah. Well, I hope
that it works out for you next season. I hope
to see you do a lot more coordination moves and
not feel too scared of them. I think that's all
the questions I had for today then. Do you have
any like last minute words of wisdom that you
want to get out there for like maybe people who
are trying to get into climbing or comp climbers?
I mean, I don't know. I guess like. Keep training
hard and having fun. Enjoy the process. All right.
Cool. Anything else that you might want to shout
out or let people know where they can find you?
Get like sponsors? I mean, my Instagram is Annie
.Sanders with an extra S at the end. But yeah,
that's pretty much my main social media. I'm
also on Red Note, actually. Oh, really? Annie
.Sanders. Yeah. Okay. Red Note is like the Chinese?
The Chinese TikTok. Yeah. Okay. why red note
i have like a lot of fans in asia and china so
i don't know a couple friends mentioned to me
that it might be like a good idea to start a
social media platform on there or a social media
account okay gotcha okay sounds good well i will
link those below hopefully i can find the red
note one i've never had anyone try to share their
red notes so i'll take a look there Yeah, that's
all I have then. Thank you again. It was amazing
to talk to you. Yeah, thank you. Thank you so
much for making it to the end of the podcast.
Don't forget to like and subscribe if you enjoyed.
Otherwise, you are a super big climber. If you're
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the discussion on the free competition climbing
discord linked in the description. Thanks again
for listening.