Arundhati Jadhav is a national level rock climber. By the mere age of 18, she has accomplished some tremendous feats. Having always have been an enthusiastic and active child, there was no surprise to her inclination towards rock climbing. This interest was further solidified by her coach and mentor Anand Sir, with whom she stayed back twice a week after school and trained her heart out. Anand Sir, who himself is a professional rock climber and has climbed Mount Everest in 2013, was her main inspiration. She started climbing because of him, and as she got more serious and passionate about it, she started going to a centre at Shivaji Nagar, Pune where they had a wall. She was coached by numerous coaches in Pune as well as an international coach from the States. Some of the coaches who played an important role in her career are Amol Sir, Mantu Sir, Irfan Sir, Deepak Sir and Vicky Sir. In 2016 she competed in her first national competition, and from there on there was no looking back. She participated in her first International Competition in 2018. Her school, Vidya Valley, owing to the plenty of students who had started to take a keen interest in rock climbing, built three walls where Arundhati started to practice. She feels that the great infrastructure of her school Vidya Valley really helped her train and practice comfortably. But it wasn’t all that easy for Arundhati. Every athlete has their share of difficulties, and for Arundhati it came in the form of homesickness and difficulty to adapt and mingle with other climbers in her month-long training camps far away from home. During her first camp when she was selected for the Asian Games to be held in Indonesia, she was the youngest climber among her lot. But due to an unfortunate change in rules by the Indian Olympic Association, she missed out on participation. Later that year, she was selected for the Asian Youth Championship, which was to be held in China. Being the youngest in the team, she lacked the experience that the other climbers possessed. This created an inferiority complex, she dealt with insecurities and body shaming issues. When asked about how she overcame this, she simply said that surrounding oneself with supportive and positive people is extremely important. That’s at least how she overcame all the mental hurdles that came her way. She feels fortunate have her family and friends back in Pune to support her through thick and thin, helping her fight her insecurities and fears. Arundhati said that as the sport isn’t so popular, competition isn’t very intense. India has 6 rock climbing zones divided by the Climbing Federation of India. The top three in every zonal category, move to the national level. In her first national competition, Arundhati was selected for Speed Climbing(Speed Climbing as the name suggests is a race to the top. The fastest obviously wins. It comprises of two identical routes) and Bouldering( Bouldering is somewhat like a puzzle, the wall is only about 10-12ft and has a huge crash mat below. There is no harness or rope. The climber is supposed to solve the puzzle of going up and then has to jump down). In both she secured the first place. In the 2017 nationals she secured the third place in Speed Climbing. In 2018 she secured a top three spot in four out of the six open nationals. In 2019 she moved on to the woman’s category and participated in an international competition which was held in India for the very first time. Since the breakout of Covid19, all activities came to a standstill and so Arundhati has decided to take a break from professional climbing. As for her future, she is sure to never stop climbing as its her passion and something she dearly loves. Her message to the youth and budding athletes is to never stop believing in themselves and giving in their all. There will be plenty of obstacles in a field like hers such as injuries, performance anxiety, maintaining a diet, staying fit, regularly training, etc. It can get very difficult, but only the toughest survive. It is important to follow your passion, as you never know what might come out of it. At the end of the day, one must just enjoy what they do, without getting pressurized or stressed due to anything or anyone. Arundhati’s story is just one among the uncountable lot of athletes out there. As long as you love what you do and are willing to put in the effort, the sky is the limit to what you can achieve