Buddy Check

Nothing to do with Buddy Check. This is an audio trip report from a bike packing trip I took with a friend to the UK in October. I wanted to tell the story in audio form, and I decided to share it here. Something to tide you over until I release season 3. As with Buddy Check, this story starts with sport (biking here rather than climbing) but also explores much more than that: this time, turning 3...

In this bonus episode I interviewed Drs. Sarah Wu and Carolyn Aibel. They both have PhDs in clinical psychology from the University of Colorado in Boulder, they see therapy patients through private practices - specializing in ADHD, and they are rock climbing partners. We talked about why it makes sense for people with ADHD to resonate with climbing, the way fear can present for people with ADHD, h...

This is a teaser of a conversation I had with Stephanie Zukowski, the intern coordinator for the Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center (BOEC). BOEC is one of the foremost adaptive sports organizations in the country. We talked about their work, what adaptive sports means, how people with adhd and neurodivergence fit into the adaptive sports world, her thoughts on the idea of adhd as a superpower i...

In the season finale of Season 2, a conversation with Jenny Fischer, the CEO of Ocun North America, about how she thinks about her identity as incomplete without an acknowledgment of her adhd but also completely ineffective if she hangs her whole identity on it. As someone who was diagnosed in middle school, Jenny has been sitting with and reflecting on how she relates to her diagnosis for over tw...

This episode tackles the second half of the hypothesis I started with this season: what does the climbing community mean to people with adhd and other neurodivergent identities? Do those identities contribute to our misfit identity as climbers, and is that something to pay attention to and protect as climbing overall becomes more mainstream? Zofia Reych, a climbing anthropologist, historian, and w...

In today's episode, we take the niche theme of this season one step further, diving into the incredibly specific topic of how people with adhd experience and relate to fear in climbing. Even though fear is an important element behind the enjoyment many people with adhd find in climbing, their hyperfocus can become a double-edged sword, leading some climbers with adhd to fixate on thoughts of fear...

Today’s episode explores the narrative that ADHD is a superpower in rock climbing. For some people, the chance to flip the script on their disorder is something they jump at, but for others, it feels like an entirely incomplete way to think about their experience. Seven climbers weigh in on how they think about their brain chemistry in relation to their climbing. Become a Buddy Check Patron! https...

Episode three explores what it is about climbing that can make it so intoxicating for people with adhd. We’ll hear from six different climbers about their experiences with flow, challenge, and sensory regulation. Resources: The ADHD Brain: Neuroscience 101 Order Zofia Reych’s book Born to Climb Subscribe to Zofia's Patreon Follow Jenny on Instagram @jenny.lemonpie

In an attempt to assess the percentage of elite athletes with ADHD compared to the general population, I wound up in a deep dive of baseball statistics and the murky way they help to show this pattern. Episode two tells the story of how it came to be that today, the Major League Baseball players’ association and the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball publish an annual report, available to the...

Episode 1 explains the current state of research into ADHD and dispels some common myths through a conversation with Rose Callaghan, a stand-up comedian based in Melbourne, Australia who uses her comedy to advocate for greater ADHD awareness. Freddie also explains what she is going to be investigating about the overlap between rock climbing and ADHD over the course of season 2. Resources: Rose Cal...

This is season 2 of Buddy Check: the new misfits, coming July 24th, 2024. 

BONUS episode with Hazel Findlay. Some final pearls of wisdom from Season 1. Hazel shares how she thought about her climbing in the months immediately following her father's death and why she is passionate about mental training and coaching for climbers. Stay tuned for information on Season 2 of Buddy Check! Coming the first week of July 2024!

In the season finale of Season 1 of Buddy Check, I interviewed my ex-boyfriend who taught me to climb and with whom I lived in that slide-in Lance camper on the back of our red 1992 Chevy pick-up truck. I asked him the questions I asked of others this season. Questions like - why did you originally want me to learn to climb, was it difficult for you to always have to be the leader in our climbing,...

Joshua Jackman has been coaching youth climbing teams in Spokane, Washington in one form or another since 2003. In this episode, we talk about the changes he has witnessed in 20 years of coaching and he shares some of his philosophies for supporting his athletes to become the best climbers they can be. It's a conversation about youth athletes, but it's really a conversation about how to think abou...

BONUS episode! This bonus episode is a Q&A with Kevin all about overcoming the fear you don’t need by understanding the gear you do. Listen to Kevin nerd out on bolts, bolted anchors, quick draws, ropes, and more to develop your understanding of the gear needed for sport climbing - for your safety and for your fear management practice. Resources: Kevin's website follow him on IG @kevhamrich and th...

Today, a round up of guides and coaches discussing if it’s their job to encourage their clients and students to find their stretch zone or if their role as a mentor is simply to meet people where they’re at, whatever that means for the day.  We close out the episode with a story from Kevin about the importance of finding joy in wherever you are with your climbing, a little meditation on presence i...

This week’s episode is all about guides as a type of climbing mentor. First, we hear from Kevin, a friend of mine and an AMGA certified rock guide about some of the general benefits of hiring a guide, what to look for, and what an AMGA certification actually means in the world of climbing guides. And then from Cecil, an instructor and guide for the Seattle-based non-profit Climbers of Color. Cecil...

In this episode, we look more at the idea Hazel brought up of taking responsibility for your own climbing journey, through my own experience and a story from Gillian, who you also heard from in episode three. You'll also hear from four of the other women I interviewed about why climbing remains incorporated into their lives. 

In episode four, we walk through the basics of understanding mental training techniques for climbing with Hazel Findlay. Hazel is a professional climber and mental training coach, known for her first ascents of big walls around the world as well as her strength in single pitch sport and trad climbing. She is the third person to send Magic Line in Yosemite, a 5.14c single-pitch trad route that was...

BONUS EP! The bet stands. 

This episode explores the relationship between mental health and climbing. In trying to navigate the relationship between anxiety and climbing in my own  life, I was looking around at other women in climbing who I perceived to have a handle on it. You’ll hear from two of them in this episode. You’ll also hear from Becca Wallingford about the research she conducted for her Master’s in Social Work....

Episode 2 of Buddy Check looks at two ways of thinking differently about navigating our climbing partnerships that overlap with our romantic ones. First, what can we learn from queer partnerships, where traditional gender norms are already subverted to some extent? And then, a conversation with a couples counselor about better communication strategies to increase equity in heterosexual romantic cl...

In the first episode of season 1 of Buddy Check, Freddie tells her story of how she first learned to climb. Then, we dive into the preliminary findings from Céline Hequet’s PhD research on the climbing community. Céline is a sociology PhD student at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She is observing and interviewing rock climbers who identify as men about their experience with mentors...

Welcome to Buddy Check, a podcast about how we learn to climb and how who teaches us affects our experience. Season 1 launches January 3, 2024. Thanks for listening.