S3, E12: “Climbing is a really mental and physical sport. I always say that the mental game needs to be just as strong, if not stronger than the physical, because it’s like a live interactive jigsaw puzzle.”
July 11, 2024
Featuring on episode 12 of Season 3 of Red Bull’s ‘Mind Set Win’ podcast is rock climbing sensation Sasha DiGiulian. Following the recent launch of her film ‘Here to Climb’, which documents her inspiring journey from child prodigy to world champion, Sasha sits down with host, Lisa Ramuschkat, to discuss the physical and mental demands of climbing, facing failure, and her hopes for female representation in the sport.
Sasha’s climbing story began in 1998 when, at only six years old, she discovered her love for the sport at her brother’s climbing-themed party. By seven, she had already won her first regional contest, setting the tone for her illustrious career. Since then, Sasha’s sporting career has seen incredible success, including winning the Female Overall World Championship and placing Silver in the Bouldering World Championships.
At just 18, Sasha became the first North American woman to climb the grade 9a (5.14d), widely recognised as one of the hardest sport climbs ever achieved by a female – an accomplishment she has achieved twice.
Sasha’s influence extends beyond her personal achievements, with her role as a prominent advocate for female representation in sport – notably serving on the Board of the Women’s Sports Foundation.
In the full episode, Sasha speaks candidly about her approach to failure, the mental strategies she deploys to overcome fear, and the importance of empowering women to climb and take on their own sporting journeys.
Here are some key quotes and soundbites from the chat:
On the equal importance of physical and mental strength in climbing
“Climbing is a really mental and physical sport. I always say that the mental game needs to be just as strong, if not stronger than the physical, because it’s like a live interactive jigsaw puzzle. When you’re going on a climb, you’re looking up at this blank cliff and you’re trying to figure out the sequences and the ways in which you can put all of these seemingly disparate aspects of a rock wall together in your mind. And then you’re challenging your physical body to actually do them.”
On her approach to failure
“Climbing is a sport of failure and you fail a lot, maybe 90 plus per cent of the time you’re falling. And what that does to me mentally is I think it trains me to really accept failure as a part of the process. Sometimes we look at progress as this linear expectation of progressing every single day and you showing up to training and then expecting results. You don’t always have that. Sometimes you have regression before you have progression.”
On empowering women to climb and the significance of all female teams
“So much in climbing is very subjective, to be honest, like even our grading scale, it’s, it’s whatever the consensus becomes. And as soon as a woman does a climb, it can be just like downgraded by one man. And that becomes the way that the climb is. There’s so much that’s wildly packed into the sport, but I wanted to start assembling like all female teams so that no success of ours could be attributed to some male being present.”
On allowing herself to be vulnerable in her book and film
“It is, in a way like you’re putting your most vulnerable, authentic self on the page for others to read, scrutinise and analyse, and sometimes [they have] never met you but know your story. And that I think is a part of the compartmentalization that I had to do with the film as well as like this film is gonna come out and I want it to be as vulnerable and candid and real.”
On only being human
“I’m not bulletproof, first of all, and that’s, I think, that it’s something really important for us all to remember because you don’t see the personal struggle as much in even the people that we really love. You may not always know what they’re going through.”
Mind Set Win Season 3 is available on all major podcast platforms including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Deezer. You can watch it on YouTube HERE.