Trojan Football Gets Things Kicked Off

The Trojan Football team got the summer portion of the 2009 season as they held a 7 on 7 scrimmage on Tuesday at Green Hope. High School OT covered the game and has an article and a photo gallery that can be found HERE

Trojans Walk Off with Win Over Spartans

The Trojans returned home on Monday night as they welcomed the defending Eastern Regional Champion the Sanderson Spartans to town.

Garner gave the ball to Will Norris who was looking for his second consecutive win for the Trojans. But, Norris would not factor in the decision as he left the game in the fourth with the Trojans trailing 7-3. The Trojans then brought in Bryan Woodard who did an outstanding job in relief going the final three inning and gave up just one run.

Despite the outstanding performance from Woodard Garner was still trailing by three going to the bottom of the sixth, and things were looking very bleak for the Trojans. But Connor Torruella led off the inning with a single and later scored on a Jackson Pleasant single. The two hit single by Pleasant brought up CJ Schmitt and on a two ball one strike pitch, Schmitt bolted a two run game tying home run to dead center field which tied the game.

In the top of the seventh, Sanderson got a runner to second base but did not score and in the bottom half, the Trojans found a way to win.

Brett Bailey walked to start the inning and advanced to third on back to back wild pitches. With one out, Brett Walters reached on an error which set the stage for Connor Torruella who had a three, one count and lined a seeing-eye single up the box to win the game for the Trojans.

The win moves Garner to 5-2 on the year as they host Fuquay on Wednesday at 7

Winning Pitcher: Bryan Woodard

Losing Pitcher: JP Cochran

JV Trojans Still Un-Defeated

The JV Trojans scored early and often on Monday as they defeated Sanderson 12-3. The Trojans got five in the first as they sent 12 batters to the plate against the Spartan starter. The big hit of the first inning was an RBI triple from Carrington Austin.

After two second inning runs, Garner put up another five spot in the fourth, but Garner didnt get many extra base hits as they used seven singles to score five runs in the fourth.

While Garner was scoring all these runs, they got great pitching from starter, Steven Brown who pitched three innings giving up two runs and four hits. But give a tip of the cap to Scotty McCreery and Bob Doak who both pitched great in relief.

The Trojans are still un-beaten and will host Fuquay on Wednesday at 5:00

Trojans De-Claw Cougars in Summer League Romp

After a 13-3 win over Smithfield on Wednesday night, Garner picked up right where they left off on Thursday against Wake Forest. With two outs in the bottom of the first, Cougar starter, Nick Boutieller walked five consecutive batters as Garner put up a three spot in the opening inning.

But the Trojans were far from done in the bottom of the second, Garner really got to Boutieller as they scored six runs. With one out, Jackson Pleasant singled which really got things going, Josh Randle would follow with a single to load the bases and Brett Bailey and Alec Hulmes both delivered RBI singles before Brett Walters singled to score a run and Jared Newbry capped the scoring with his first Varsity RBI.

With the Trojans up 9-2 going to the bottom of the fourth, you could tell the Trojans wanted to end the game in just four and a half innings and they did just that. Brett Walters was the first Trojan to hit in the bottom of the fourth and on a one ball, two strike pitch, Walters blasted a solo shot to right field, which was extra special for the Trojan left fielder as his grandmother was in the stands celebrating her birthday.

Again the Trojans kept on going after back to back walks Jackson Pleasant and CJ Schmitt had back to back singles. However, the big blow of the inning came from Brett Bailey who doubled to left field to clear the bases and give the Trojans at 14-2 lead.

While Garner was pounded the Cougar pitching, Jackson Pleasant and Alec Hulmes were dealing on the bump for the Trojans. Pleasant who would start the game for the Trojans worked only three innings giving up just one run, scattering six hits and picked up his second win of the season.

Wake Forest added a late run in the top of the fifth, but it wouldn't be nearly enough as Garner improved to 4-2 on the year as they host Sanderson on Monday at Trojan Park, beginning at 7:00

Winning Pitcher: Jackson Pleasant

Losing Pitcher: Nick Boutieller

JV Trojans Keep On Rolling

It was the same story, different day for the JV Trojans as they hosted Wake Forest at Trojan Park on Thursday afternoon. The Trojans got three runs in the bottom of the first as Vince Jefferies singled to start the inning and would later score on a pass ball which preceded RBI base hits from Jake Faucette and Levin Woodall.

That would really be all that the Trojan pitchers would need, but give Wake Forest credit, they really hung in the game down just 4-1 going to the bottom of the fourth. That's when Garner really began to bust the game open. Matt Hawley doubled to begin the Trojan fourth and scored on a bases loaded walk to Taylor Stephens another bases loaded walked scored Woodall and the fourth inning scoring was capped when Carrington Austin got a very painful RBI as he was hit by a pitch, but his pain paid off for the Trojans as Austin Walker scored.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Trojans kept pouring it on with a four spot to take a 11-2 lead and with the bases loaded and just one out. The game was called due to the JV time limit. But the Trojans still got the win to improve to 6-0 on the year.

They also host Sanderson on Monday beginning at 5:00

Winning Pitcher: Jared Newbry

Losing Pitcher: Cory Brookins

Baseball Changes Summer Schedule

The Summer Baseball team changed their schedule around to accommodate a game that needs to be made up with Clayton. That game will be played at home on July 8 and Garner will travel to Middle Creek on July 17.

You can find a printable version of the schedule HERE

A2 coursework & contributions to the blog

Exams may be over but we're going to focus on A2 coursework projects in this blog from now on, as well as all the usual links to language stuff in the media.

If anyone who has been using the blog would like to become a contributor to it, please email me on d.clayton at sfx.ac.uk (swapping the at for @). This would be especially good if you are planning to go on to university to study language or linguistics!

Trojans Slay Spartans to Sweep Season Series

After a 4-2 win at Smithfield on Tuesday night, the Trojans hosted the Spartans at Trojan Park on Wednesday night. Garner started Matt Hawley who was making his first career Varsity start and didn't pitch bad.

Hawley gave up a first inning run on a solo home run by Kevin Rose, but Garner would respond in the bottom half as Jesse Fisher led off the bottom of the first as he homered on the very first pitch to tie the game.

After the Spartans got two in the top of the third, the Trojans bounced right back in the bottom half with a three spot as CJ Schmitt singled home Fisher and Brett Bailey and Alec Hulmes both had RBI singles to chase the Spartan starter from the game.

But, the Trojans were no where near done as they sent 12 batters to the plate in the fourth inning and scored six runs all six runs came on solid singles and a few Spartan walks.

Garner would end the game in the bottom of the fifth as they were up 10-3 going into the fifth. With one out, Schmitt singled, which was followed by a Josh Randle singled and a Brett Bailey single which scored Schmitt and Hulmes singled to score Bailey and the game winning hit came from Brett Walters who singled to left to plate the game winning run and give the Trojans a 13-3 win over SSS.

Garner is now 3-2 on the season as they host Wake Forest-Rolesville at Trojan Park tomorrow night.

Winning Pitcher - Matt Hawley

Losing Pitcher - Blake Mitchell

JV Still Undefeated with Win over SSS

Garner gave SSS a first inning run in the JV game but responded in the bottom half with three runs. Vince Jefferies singled and scored on a two run double by Jake Faucette and Aquail Sanders scored the final first inning run for Garner as Austin Walker singled him home.

The game was tied at four going to the bottom of the fourth when Garner began to put some distance between themselves and SSS as they score two runs in the fourth, but the big inning for Garner was the fifth inning as Taylor Stephens singled and advanced to second on a throwing error, Skylar Strickland then reached and both he and Stephens scored on Spartan errors.

The inning continued for Jared Newbry who singled to right and later scored on a two run triple by Vince Jefferies. The big blow of the inning came from Aquail Sanders who homered to DEEP left center field to give the Trojans an 11-4 lead.

Garner would go on to win the game 12-4 and improve to 5-0 on the year. Garner will also host Wake Forest-Rolesville at 5:00 on Thursday

Winning Pitcher: Anthony Galavatti

Losing Pitcher: Tyler Casselbury

Bryan LP Gas
The Official Propane Supplier of the Trojans
Bill and Randy Bryan, 772-4868

Norris Dominant In Win Over Spartans

LIVE WEBCAST

Will Norris was the tough luck loser in his first Varsity start this summer against East Wake and after a tough loss at South Central, the Trojans rebounded very nice on Tuesday night at Spartan Field at SSS.

With the game scoreless in the top of the second, the Trojans struck first as CJ Schmitt led off the inning with a single and after a walk, Colin Perry laid down a bunt that the Spartan pitcher miss handled allowing Perry to reach which set up a sacrifice fly from Brett Walters then, Alec Hulmes laid down a great bunt as Garner squeezed home a run.

After another great inning from Norris, Garner went right back to work in the fourth with two outs as Brett Walters sent a looping fly ball to left field which fell in for a hit and hustling all the way, Walters ended up at second which proved to be hit as the very next batter, Alec Hulmes doubled to left to plate another run and give Garner a 3-0 lead.

The final Trojan run of the game came in the sixth when Colin Perry led off the inning with a single and Connor Torruella got his first Varsity hit of the summer and it was an RBI single back up the middle and Garner led 4-0.

In the bottom of the seventh, Garner sent Norris back out to try for the complete game shut out and after getting the first out, he ran into a bit of trouble as he loaded the bases with two outs before Blake Mitchell got a two run single which lifted Norris from the game as the Trojan crowd gave him a good hand as Jacob Baker came in to get the final strikeout of the game and his first save of the summer.

The 4-2 win gives the Trojans at 2-2 record on the season as they host Smithfield-Selma tomorrow at 7:00 at Trojan Park. The JV game begins at 5:00.

Winning Pitcher: Will Norris - 6 2/3 Innings, 7 Hits, 2 Runs, 1 Walk, 8 Strikeouts

Losing Pitcher: Hunter Jones - 5 1/3 Innings, 8 Hits, 4 Runs, 2 Walks, 5 Strikeouts

Save: Jacob Baker - 1/3 Inning, 0 Hits, 0 Runs, 0 Walks, 1 Strikeouts

JV Improves to 4-0

The JV Summer team improved to 4-0 on the season with a 12-7 win over SSS game one of the double header. Steven Brown got his second win of the season for the Trojans who scored 10 runs in the second inning and staved off a late Spartan rally to win the game.

Cubby's arete went down

Mid crux on Kolus E8 6c, Torridon (click on the images for a large pic)

It’s a funny thing, that just because it’s thought of as being remote, there’s still not that many people that know how good the north west of Scotland is. I suppose it’s a good thing, for those that know. Torridonian sandstone is one of the finest rock types I’ve ever seen. It’s very similar to Gritstone and, sometimes, Northumbrian sandstone, but better on the whole, than both.

Dave Cuthbertson told me years ago about a really outstanding quality arete project he’d been trying that would be E8 7a at least. He spoke about it several times, and eventually told me where it was and to go and try it. I knew by the way Cubby talked about it, that when I finally went there, I would kick myself for not going much earlier. And so I did.

If it was on grit, the arete left of The Torridonian on Seana Mheallan would be one of the hailed true grit classics. But it’s in Torridon, so it’s sat there quietly, just being perfect on it’s own, with hardly any climbers knowing about it.

Yesterday I had a chance to go there with Jamie and Claire, feeling good, with a cold wind forecast. At first we thought it might be too cold to even get warmed up. Fully baltic! Gritstoners should try this place out rather than be starved of friction over summer in the English heat.

During the past three months, nearly every time I’ve gone climbing I’ve felt guilty because I’ve been so behind with all my work because of the volume of it and other things going on. But now finally I’m getting within spitting distance of catching up with overdue work and after a good 14 computer screen hours the day before, I felt justified in going climbing for a whole day without worrying about late work. I want more of that!

I got a bit of a fright snapping an important pebble foothold off at the crux on my last toprope practice. Scary stuff. Thank god it wasn’t on the lead. Jamie said he got a bit nervous when some really big gusts of wind were whipping around the arete just as I was heading for the crux on the lead. It was really windy but it amazed me how the second I started climbing, the wind didn’t even register in my consciousness. For me, everything was completely silent until I was holding the jug on the lip of the slab.

 

Beautiful Glen Torridon

After my lead was done, we went off to try two more amazing projects, possibly even better in quality, with quite exquisite moves on grit smears. One of the routes, I’m hoping could get led on the next visit, the other is E10. Enough said.

If the summer can keep producing routes like this, I’ll be a lucky man. Claire shot these photos. But we also shot a little footage of the hard part of Kolus with the camera just running on the tripod. I’ll post up a wee youtube shortly.

Jamie sorts out ropes

Andy Kirkpatrick DVD released in my shop today

Today, the When Hell Freezes Over DVD of Andy’s famous side splitting lecture is released. It’s available in my webshop now for £11.99, with as ever, my ebook How to Climb Hard Trad that I’m still giving away with all my DVD and book orders. It is indeed a right good laugh. 

Summer League Splits With East Wake

After a very impressive win over Knightdale to begin the season, the Varsity Trojans dropped their first game of the summer as they fell to East Wake 5-1 at Trojan Park on Thursday night.

East Wake got on the board in the opening frame on a three-run home run by Taylor Griswold off Trojan starter Will Norris. However, after the rough first inning, Norris would settle down allowing just one more run over his final five innings of work and Norris gave his team a chance to win.

But, it wouldn't be the night for the Trojans as Garner couldn't string hits together leaving a total of 9 runners on base. The loan Trojan run of the night came in the fifth when Jackson Pleasant doubled home Brett Bailey from first, but that would be about the only highlight for the Trojans on the offensive side as they fall to 1-1 as they head into their first road game of the year on Monday night at South Central High School.

Winning Pitcher: Eric Hardin

Losing Pitcher: Will Norris

EW 5 9 2
GAR 1 9 2

JV Improves to 2-0 with another Run-Rule Victory

After a 15-1 bombing of Knightdale on Monday afternoon, the JV Trojans picked up right where they left off against East Wake. Steven Brown got the ball for the Trojans in game two and pitch four outstanding shut out innings for the Trojans giving up only two hits and picking up his first win of the year.

Meanwhile, the Trojan offensive was getting it done. Garner put three runs on the board in the very first inning as Aquail Sanders doubled home Vince Jeffries and after a RBI ground out by Jake Faucette, Carrington Austin capped the first inning scoring with an RBI single to right.

Garner really poured it on in the third as they put a four spot on the board to make it 8-0. But, the Trojans were not done as the plate two more runs, one in the fourth and fifth to take home their second win of the year.

The JV Trojans are back in action Monday at Green Hope.

Winning Pitcher: Steven Brown

Losing Pitcher: Logan Jones

Cappolla's Pizzeria and Grill

Host Family Needed For Exchange Student

Ms. Crystal Allis, WCPSS Exchange student coordinator has a student from Spain arriving June 24th in need of housing.

Students have their own spending money, insurance, etc and speak fluent english. Ms. Allis will be happy to provide you all necessary details or answer your inquiries if you might be considering this valuable contribution, or know of a family who has an interest. She can be reached at crystalallis@me.com

Post 232 Washed Away Again

Garner Post 232 and Benson Post 109 got to the bottom of the fourth inning at South Johnston High School on Wednesday night, then the rains came down in buckets. Since the game did not reach the fifth inning, the game will have to be replayed from the beginning which is a good thing for Post 232 as they were trailing.

The game will be played at Trojan Park a week from Friday during the Joye Family Invitational which features eight teams over Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Post 232 returns to action tomorrow night at 7:00 when they travel to Clinton High School to take on Warsaw.

ENA6 - good luck

There's been nearly 1000 views of this blog today (not that I check...ahem), so I hope it's been of some use to you if you're revising for ENA6.

It's probably worth saying that even though I teach the unit and mark it, I have as much idea as you about what will turn up on tomorrow's paper (honestly!), so even though I've suggested various topics, if they don't come up don't get stressed: just make sure you read the material properly, annotate it sensibly and know exactly what's required on each part of the paper.

Here's what i put on the blog this time last year about what to do...

There are plenty of tips on this blog for how to approach this paper, but remember that reading carefully, annotating well and thinking about the specific demands of each question are the keys to success.

Don't spend too long on parts 1a and 1b: you should be able to get 10 marks for these in about 10 minutes maximum, leaving you about 50 minutes to analyse and evaluate the text for 1c. Remember that you're not just feature spotting (although that is part of your job), but you're supposed to be evaluating how the writer of the text represents the issue he or she is talking about. In the texts we've looked at in class (the ones that haven't been past paper questions), think about how the rabidly anti-PC David Gelernter constructed his attack on the feminist "language rapists" as he termed them, or how Michael McCarthy in his "I'm Happy to Boldly Get it Wrong" argued against prescriptive views in grammar and language change. The title of the paper is Language Debates and you will get more marks if you write like you're contributing to , and care about, the debate.

With part 2a, selecting your relevant sources is important: use a range of texts from the paper (and your own ideas and other study) and don't rely too much on the one you've just analysed for 1c. If you feel confident, tie this debate into that of other language topics. PC and Language Change are closely linked. Accents and dialects are changing too - they could be linked into Language Change. It's a synoptic paper, so look for links with other areas. But, be careful not to confuse your reader. You will be writing for a non-specialist audience, so take care to explain technical ideas and don't assume they will know who particular linguists are.

As for my top tips for which topic it might be, I suspect (based on previous papers and topics, not any inside information obviously) it will be either Political Correctness/ Language and Representation or something about Accent and Dialect. For the latter, I'd say look at ideas like dialect levelling and the ways in which new varieties of English have grown - MEYD, Estuary English etc. I got it right last year (attitudes to Language Change) but hopelessly wrong the year before (the speech of chipmunks and cheerleaders) so don't bet everything you have on my predictions.

Good luck!

The search

Child Language Acquisition - mini-investigation

And here's a quick one in a 1b style for CLA.

Explain the methodology you would use to investigate how children acquire the sounds of English.

Remember to follow the 5 point plan as laid out below:

• AIM/ANGLE
• METHOD of DATA COLLECTION
• FRAMEWORK for ANALYSING YOUR DATA
• CONSIDERATION of EXTRA LINGUISTIC VARIABLES/ VALIDITY/ ETHICS
• WHAT YOU EXPECT to FIND

Child Language Acquisition - data set

And just to be on the safe side, here's a quick 1a style question on CLA. All you have to do is identify and label 3 "interesting" features from the data set below:

Data set:

1. I readed that book yesterday.
2. What that man doing?
3. Dat's gusting. I not like that dinner.
4. My tooth is hurty.

If you give your points as comments, I'll try to give you some feedback (my own child language data providers permitting).

ENA6 - revising dialects

Here's some stuff to help you revise dialect and accent.

Andrew Moore's pages on dialect levelling, Estuary and recent change
Features of traditional dialects
Features of modern dialects
Peter Trudgill on Language and Place

Garner Citizen Puts Together Graduation Video

The Garner Citizen News & Times has put together a graduation for GMHS, they also have photos available on their Web Site

You can also access the graduation video by Clicking Here

Thanks to the Garner Citizen for displaying the positives of the Garner Community and promoting the Class of 09!

Summer Teams Sweep Knights in Home Opener

After finishing the regular season third in the Conference and going to the second round of the State Playoffs, the Varsity Summer Baseball team at Garner was looking to build upon that success as they hosted and defeated the Knightdale 10-4 at Trojan Park to begin the summer campaign.

Garner starter Jackson Pleasant, gave up two early first inning runs on a two run home run by Knightdale’s Michael Green, but following the home run, Pleasant settled down and bulldogged his way through five innings allowing just the two runs in the opening frame.

It didn’t take long for the Trojans to respond offensively as they picked up runs in each of the first three runs to take a 4-2 lead. But, Garner really opened things up in the fourth inning as they plated four runs and chased the Knightdale starter from the game. However, the Garner cause was really aided by six Knightdale errors.

Garner would add runs in both the fifth as sixth as they scored in every inning to take the 10-4 lead going to the seventh inning and Jacob Baker came on to nail things down for the Trojans.

Winning Pitcher: Jackson Pleasant

Losing Pitcher: Michael Green

KNI 4 5 6
GAR 10 11 4

JV Summer Team Jousts the Knights in Opener

The JV Summer team got off to a good start in their season opener at Trojan Park on Monday as they hosted the Knightdale Knights.

Garner gave the ball to Scotty McCreery in the season opener and McCreery was in a word, spectacular allowing just one run and scattering three hits in just four innings of work as the Trojans scored early and often as they blasted the Knights 15-1.

Jared Newbry had a big day offensively for the Trojans as he hit in the lead off spot and was three for three at the plate and reached base all four times he was up. The Trojans also sent all nine batters to the plate in each of the first three innings before the game was called in the fifth inning due to the mercy rule.

Winning Pitcher: Scotty McCreery

Losing Pitcher: CJ Nedam

KNI 1 3 5
GAR 15 14 0

Judy McCreery, GRI, SRES and Fonville Morisey

ENA6 - some language variation data

Here's a quick 1a style question for ENA6 using some examples of regional/social variation. The question (in the usual style) is "Comment linguistically on three features of non-standard language use in the data list below".

Data list

She were wearing a mask.
What are yous guys up to?
Second prize don't exist.
What's tha been doing?
There was bare mans.

If you post your 3 features as comments below, I'll give some feedback.

Post 232 Splits Sunday Double Header

Garner Post 232 Split at Double Header with Ahoskie on Sunday afternoon at Trojan Park.

Garner won game one of the twin bill by a final of 6-1. In game one, Sean Willingham got the win for Post 232 and Daniel Terry went deep. Former Garner Trojan, Paco Martin also had a pair of RBI's for Garner in the win.

In game two, Post 232 would go up 3-0 in the third, but Post 102 would come storming back and eventually win the game 5-3 in 11 innings.

Post 232 is back in action on Monday at 5:00 at J.F. Webb High School against Kerr Lake in a double header. Game one begins at 5:00 and game two will follow at 7:00. Both games will be 7 Inning games.

Garden Gate Cafe and Restaurant

Earning the raspberry cheesecake

For the past two and a half years, Morrisons in Fort William have stocked a delightful looking raspberry cheesecake, placed according to the conventions of supermarket choice architecture, right in my line of sight as I head for the milk. I can’t miss it, every time.

I love raspberry cheesecake, but as a climber who isn’t naturally light enough for the grades I want to climb, I feel that I must set limits, and something like that - an out and out treat - is the most obvious target. This is why I’m two stones (28 pounds) lighter than I was at 16 years of age and can climb many grades harder too. Don’t get me wrong, I eat plenty (and I mean plenty!) when I know I’m using the energy. 

Since I first spotted it, I’ve been tempted every time I’m in there to buy it and munch it. But I didn’t. At first I thought “when I do the Ring of Steall Project, I’ll buy that cheesecake”. I sent the project, but not the cheesecake. Then, I thought, “when I finally top out on Don’t Die, I’m having that bloody cheesecake out of Morrisons”. But I didn’t. Eventually, it was “When I do Echo Wall, this time I’m definitely eating the cheesecake”, and then “when I’ve edited the film” etc. You get the picture.

I’ve picked it up at least four times, and had it in my basket and put it back twice. What’s going on here? Nothing seems to be big enough to deserve the damn cheesecake. Today I picked it up and stared at it again, and put it back, unable to think of anything I’d done that even remotely deserved to break the previous cheesecake denial.

What the hell do I have to do to earn the cheesecake?

I’ve done this more and more over the past 8 years. When I did my first E9 in 2001, I went out with my mates from Uni, got steaming drunk, went clubbing and woke up to a brain melting hangover the next afternoon. Later, when I was repeatedly throwing myself from the last move of Rhapsody, my mate Steve Gordon speculated that the only celebration worthy of doing the world’s first E11 would be to go out and take 11 E’s. We negotiated it down so that I would settle for 11 pints and he would take the 11 E’s. But when I did it, I stayed at home for three months and learnt what HTML was and built up this website.

Richard told me if I ever managed to drag myself up a 9a, we were definitely, definitely hitting the town for a hardcore night. But there was training to be done, and good conditions and bla bla.

You may ask yourself, am I going somewhere with this? The answer I’m afraid, for the moment, is not really. This post is an open question I suppose: Just what deserves the cheesecake??? 

I’ve echoed the thoughts of many others before in stressing the importance of the process of what you do and finding enjoyment in that, rather than the result at the end. So in one sense, celebration of successes is a bit meaningless. Why celebrate when the enjoyable part (the thing you are celebrating) is over. Celebrate by finding the next thing. Obviously that only counts for certain types of things - especially very individual successes like in certain types of climbing. Where things are about people sharing or collaborating, it’s different!

So maybe I’ve got my thinking the wrong way round? Is the finding of a new hard project worthy of the cheesecake, rather than the completion of it? In the next month I am going to try a project I expect to be quite a lot harder than Echo Wall. If that proves the right thing for me to dedicate myself to, should I head for Morrisons? I might have just persuaded myself…

Full disclosure: I looked at the cheesecake today not so much for me, but as I was buying food to make Claire a nice meal on her return from a trip tomorrow. Now before you accuse me of letting my own weird and eccentric ways spill over onto those around me, I should stress that after returning the cheesecake to the shelf, I bought a packet of Rice Krispies and a big pack of no less than eight Mars Bars to make Rice Krispy squares (both our favourite).

Trojans Rack Up All-Conference Selections For Spring Sports

The Spring Sports All Conference Selections were officially announced and the Trojans placed several on the All Conference teams in the Greater Neuse River Conference.

First with Soccer, Coach Connie Barnes saw three players on the All-Conference team:

Meagan Proper
Rachel Gogal
Jenna Carroll

Proper was also named Offensive Player of the Year in the Conference

Track saw four young men placed on the All-Conference team, all from the 4x100:

Terell Sanders
Jeremiah Davis
Dominique Mathis
Ian Hunter

Men's Tennis also came away with a successful season and as a result, Head Coach Joe Walls was named Coach of the Year and the following players were selected to the All-Conference Team:

Jake Smith
Patrick Holmes
Alex Bennett

After a third place finish in the Conference and a trip to the second round of the playoffs, the Baseball team also saw three players as selections to the All-Conference Team:


Jeremy Conyers
Phillip Myrick
Jacob Baker

Last but certainly not least, the Softball team, which went to the third round of the playoffs, saw Head Coach Moe Barbour pick up Coach of the Year, Christie Wright was pitcher of the year and Nadia Jeffries was selected as Player of the Year. In addition, the following players were All-Conference for Softball:

Christie Wright
Halie Warner
Mary Scott Powell
Nadia Jefferies
Raven Smith
Ashley Carroll
Kasey Hamrick

Congratulations to all the players for an outstanding season!

Thinking about meditation

Several people over the years have asked me if I meditate (as training for hard and bold climbing). I always used to say ‘no, I don’t think so’. I certainly didn’t sit down in a field and deliberately try to meditate. But more recently when I was asked again I knew the answer. Yes, I do. But I do not meditate, and then go climbing. The climbing is the meditation. I didn’t realise it for a long time.

A lot of people will squirm at the sight of the word meditation. It carries a lot of hippy connotations and seems pretty far from most peoples every day lives, including their sport. But, like other words I commonly deal with like ‘training’ or ‘risk’, it’s the baggage that we’ve attached to the word that seems weird or uncomfortable. The activity itself is quite simply to focus the mind.

It takes a lot of effort to get a true meditative experience, whether it’s by finding the time to sit still and managing the shrug off all the noise that modern life throws at us, or having a really pure, highly concentrated effort on a climb. I really think that you get what you put in here.

I think that sports in general could be a lot more rewarding as activities and especially as therapy to recover from the shit we have to go through in ‘real life’ if this coupling of meditation and sport was better recognised, and people were better at tapping into it.

Note to self: think about this more for coaching climbing...

In the footsteps of…

One of the cool things about climbing is that when you read or hear good stories about climbs that inspire you, those climbs are there for you to go and actually experience. Whether it’s a nice boulder problem your mate raved about, or a big mountain epic shrouded in legend from it’s first ascent stories. Many other sports don’t have this. You hear about football fans standing on the pitch and using their imagination to feel the intensity of big games played out by the stars on the same spot over the years. Not much to go on really, is it?

But if you are a climber, you can have more than this. You can go and repeat the very same routes, pull on the same holds, make the same movements on the rock and feel the same fear, just as in the story you read about as a youngster. With every move you make up the route, the 

first ascent story takes on a new illumination. This is pretty lucky I think.

I just had this experience tonight, onsighting the second ascent (??) of Chairoscuro E7 6b in Glen Nevis. This climb was put up with great determination by Kevin Howett and Andy Nelson in 1988, with Kev’s lead being his hardest ever.

left: Kevin Howett

I read Kev’s account of his first ascent just after I’d started climbing, and just after I’d had a bit of a defining moment in my life visiting Glen Nevis for the first time with Claire when I was 17 and being totally inspired by the place and the multitude of climbs there. Kev’s lead sounded unbelievably bold, taking a huge fall from near the top of the blunt arete of Chairoscuro onto an RP1, and breaking his ribs on the swing in. But he returned soon after, taking more falls from the same spot until he nailed it.

This sounds crazy enough just reading about it, but it’s something completely different to actually be there yourself, wobbling and gibbering through off-balance rockover onto a sloping rail after 35 metres of E7 climbing, when that RP1 is so far below you can’t even see it.

This would have been a great climbing experience for me if I knew nothing about the route. But to be there knowing Kev had fallen from that move and come back for more added a whole other dimension to it. You don’t get this when you turn up at a crag in Spain and look at a bunch of lines on a topo with a number attached. This is the depth that trad climbing has, that other types cannot match. Of course their qualities lie elsewhere - thats fine.

This route was also a personal score settled. I had previously gone to have a try at the route onsight with Niall McNair about seven years ago. At the time we were both onsighting stacks of E6s and I had a couple of E7 onsights under my belt. We tied in and started up Chairoscuro feeling confident. Too confident it seemed. After 4 metres (count them!) we went off route and immediately ran out of holds or any gear and reversed down, confused.

It was strange coming back several years later. It really hit home how different the rock looks with experience behind you. It took me five minutes to spot a sequence through some unobvious quartz knobbles we had completely failed to spot last time.

With that in mind, when I finally committed to the section where Kev fell, I reminded myself as I rocked over, wobbling that I had a lot to throw at the next few moves - experience, experience, experience, and a bit of raw crimp strength too I guess.

I hope it’s nice for Kevin to know that his creation back in 1988 was something that bubbled away in my head for some years and imagined many times what it would be like to be alone up on that arete, onsight and scared. It was just as good as I hoped.

Post 232 falls to Cary

Post 232 fell to Cary 10-0 in 8 innings on Thursday night to drop their record to 9-6 on the season.

They host Ahoskie Sunday in a double header with games at 1:00 and 3:30


Garner Chiropractic & Wellness Center
Timber Crossings Shopping Center
205 Timber Drive West
Garner, NC 27529
(919) 779-2225

The last six weeks in pictures

Good luck with ENA5!

Another King line...

Blair 5 metres in to the big traverse project, just 25 to go. (click the pic for a big version)

After I bagged the E8 Donald King pointed me at the other night, I gave Donald a bell to say thanks for the tip off. Always a man for knowing what’s out there, yet seemingly right under our nose, he came back with another recommendation to look at.

This time spoke about a long limestone crag with potential for a very hard and long traverse along the overhanging base, again something that might ‘have my name on it’. A limestone crag, with good friction, with a 30-40 metre overhanging traverse project that might stay dry in the rain, half an hour from Fort William??? If it had been anyone else I would have told them to pull the other one.

But it wasn’t. So today Blair and myself went to check things out. It was even better than I expected! I spent four hours working out the moves on the massive rising traverse, often on big burly undercuts with absorbing technical but really powerful climbing. Brilliant stuff. By the time I’d made several short links along it, I was ready to lie down and sleep in the evening sun.

I think this one will come in about route grade 8c or 8c+. Every time I tried to link I was thinking more 8c+. There’s my endurance training through the rest of June right there!

I’ll keep you posted on progress.

Thanks again Donald, thats two pints I owe you.

Geek-speak

This is a bit of a weird one, but if you're looking for examples of how different social groups use language to cement their in-group status, then have a look here for expressions used by fans of science fiction and fantasy.

Communities of practice
A community of practice is an aggregate of people who come together around mutual engagement in some common endeavor. Ways of doing things, ways of talking, beliefs, values, power relations - in short, practices - emerge in the course of their joint activity around that endeavor. A community of practice is different as a social construct from the traditional notion of community,primarily because it is defined simultaneously by its membership and by the practice in which that membership engages. And this practice involves the construction of a shared orientation to the world around them - a tacit definition of themselves in relation to each other, and in relation to other communities of practice. The individual constructs an identity - a sense of place in the social world - through participation in a variety of communities of practice, and in forms of participation in each of those communities. And key to this entire process of construction is stylistic practice.

A post about the post

I've nicked this link from the Teachit Language sputnik (which is available to Teachit Language subscribers) as it's excellent material for revising the ENA5 Language Change texts from different times question. If you click here, you'll be taken to the British Postal Museum and Archive site from where you can download letters from different time periods - perfect for helping you see how similar themes are dealt with over the centuries.

For example, the 1750 - 1900 link has these letters: an early Valentine card, a letter from a slave owner in Jamaica and a soldier's letter from the Crimean War.

Dream Holds review

My friend Scott emailed recently looking for some pictures for a brochure he was putting together for his new range of holds. He already runs a business making climbing walls but this is his first venture into the area of manufacturing climbing holds.

I mentioned I might buy some holds from him for my soon to be finished board and he offered to give me a load to try out! I told him I’d get a review up on here to share my thoughts on his range, since they are a bit different to what you are probably used to pulling on ‘down the wall’.

Scott has done what many people have attempted over the years, right back to the earliest climbing walls - mimic real rock. The reason? Well, there are two separate reasons really. Firstly, real rock formations are clearly more varied and aesthetic both in the shapes they form and the movements that result from them. The other quite obvious reason is that if you are training to climb real rock, training on something as close to it as possible is a rather good idea.

But so many hold manufacturers have moved away from ‘rock-like’ shapes and gone for highly synthetic smooth shapes in recent years. I guess this reflects how indoor climbing has separated a little more from outdoor climbing for an ever greater proportion of climbing wall users - perhaps mimicking real rock hasn’t seemed so important as indoor climbing has become so much more of an activity in it’s own right?

All fair enough of course, but where there is a lot of ying, some yang often makes a pleasant change. Scott’s Dream Holds are definitely full strength yang.

There is another fine reason why hold manufacturers have gone down the smooth and sleek route with rounded blobs in abundance; they are kind on the skin and body. Smooth, rounded and fine grained holds are definitely easier to train on for a long time before sore skin sets in. But this comes at a cost. The movements these holds lend themselves to are predictable, often fast, and basic (in certain aspects of the movement at least). Ever noticed that your grade indoors is waay higher than outdoors? This is the most common reason.

So, Scott has gone fully the opposite way and provided an alternative, making no compromises and taken moulds directly from our finest rock types, from chunks hand picked for their loveliness/evilness (these may be interchangeable terms for lovers of training for rock climbing).

What has come out is a range of holds with a true variety in every aspect, just like you’d get visiting a different rock venue on a road trip. There is glassy smooth, there is Gabbro cheese-grater rough, there is spiky sharp, massive, tiny and just plain weird. Exactly what you find on the crag.

To climb on, you have to slow down a bit overall because it’s not obvious at all how to take the hold on first acquaintance. There is much more udging, adjusting and matching hands than you normally find on indoors, exactly the types of moves indoor climbers often fail to spot when climbing outside. These minor adjustments, you could call them ‘components’ of whole moves that you get so commonly on real rock are what provides much of the pleasure in rock movement; the feeling that a small adjustment made such a huge difference. For sure this will be good for those who climb indoors for the purpose of training for outdoors. 

But even for those who don’t, these will be a very welcome break from the mundane blob pulling experience that is rather too common these days. Every climbing centre should have at least a few routes of these I think. In fact I think these holds will be at their best on F6 to low F7 graded routes on more friendly angles that make up the bulk of what climbing walls must set.