16.02.2023
The home World Championships in Bern bring new challenges and opportunities for the Swiss athletes and coaches in terms of media. The association “WM Sportklettern 2023” thus offered a media coaching for the Swiss Climbing and Paraclimbing national teams for them to get a feeling what it means to have the World Championships in their own country and to prepare them for what will come.
The IFSC Climbing and Paraclimbing World Championships Bern 2023 still seem a long way off, but preparations are well underway. In order to spread the climbing fever as far as possible and fill the halls in August, the organisers are working on various projects and events in the run-up to the World Championships – but ultimately it is the athletes who will make the climbing spectacle come to life and share their experiences on the road to the World Championships. They play a vital role in spreading the word about the fascination that is sports climbing.
Therefore, the Swiss Climbing and Paraclimbing National Teams came together for a very special training day in Biel last Saturday, as in addition to training in the climbing hall, the athletes and coaches were also offered a three-hour media coaching session.
During the coaching, it became clear that this World Championship year will be a very special one for the athletes from Switzerland: What does it mean to have the World Championships at home? Do the athletes see it as an opportunity, or does it increase the pressure? How can they use the World Championships for themselves? How can they help spread the climbing fever? These are just some of the questions that came up and made the athletes and coaches sweat.
However, after three hours of intensive theoretical and practical training with communications expert Janine Geigele and Jocelyn Sommer, CEO of the Bern-based social media agency I Believe In You, the overall 21 participants were certainly more confident in their appearances, but above all more motivated to work on their media presence – as practice makes perfect.
“There was exciting information on social media and a lot of questions to answer in the interview training, which will be important for us especially in the coming weeks and months,” says Michael Bühler, Head Coach of the Swiss Paraclimbing National Team, about the coaching. “We are getting closer and closer to when we make our big appearance at the Climbing World Championships in Bern in the summer and now, we’re also ready for winner interviews!”
Photos: Elio Stettler