Four Tauranga teens are juggling schoolwork, training and fundraising to represent New Zealand in the elite of sport climbing at the end of the month.

The World Youth Championships is being held in Dallas from August 22-31 with more than 400 young climbers entered.

Fifteen-year-old Mischa Boorman is the only participant from Tauranga who is competing in all three climbing disciplines; speed, lead climbing and bouldering.

'It's tough because you've got to change your headspace for each event,” says coach Rob Moore.

'In bouldering, you get five minutes to try the climb as many times as you like so you can take more risks.

'Lead climbing is slow and precise because you only get one shot at getting as high as you can in six minutes. It's hard to transfer between the first two, and the power and agility that's needed for the final speed climbing event.”

Mischa's personal best time in the Youth B category is 12:34. She'll be competing in that discipline along with 17-year-olds Julian David, Flynn Chisholm and Antony Death, who are in the Youth A category.

'It's the first time these teens have qualified for the world youth champs and they're all really excited,” says Rob. 'They're also feeling confident and strong even though the skill level with athletes from around the world is a really big step up.”

To prepare, the teens have been training six days a week, twice-daily as well as lifting weights in the gym, working with a track and field coach, cycling and a lot of stretching.

'We haven't had a Kiwi youth make a semi-final for around 12 years, so our goal is to make a semi-final. 'I think we have an outside chance of doing that,” says Rob.

They've also each had to raise enough money to cover their own travel to the United States.

'They're really dedicated to this and I'm so proud. We're super excited to see how they go on the world stage.”