CrossFit Athletic Group

I give free time during and after every one of our babies sessions. It's where I go in crisis control mode and stand in front of sharp things or spot JT swinging on the parallel bars his hands barely fit around; otherwise I do my best to not coach and let the kids figure things out for themselves - which is actually my main objective for the Babies Session as a whole, but it really shows itself during the injections od Free Time.

Now that we got the older kids session going I begin to introduce formal coaching and movements, but I am conscious to still keep free time a thing. Within the last two weeks I have been noticing the boys gravitate towards the Smear-The-Queer/King of the Hill route; someone finds the football then the other 4 or 5 kids try to wraastle it from their grasps, rinse and repeat.

Today Adam Demonaco (part of the Emma/Mrs. Demonaco family) must have been in an uber-annoying state, because next thing I knew Cameron picked him up like a rag doll, carried him over to the garbage can, and deposited him like a empty pizza box. So naturally I encouraged this a little and made suggestions for the next person to wraastle in the trash. After awhile, Pierce, the lone 5th grader, was the trashee.

If you look at it from a movement perspective, everyone involved was pushing, pulling, squatting, deadlifting, and bracing. There is also a good amount of cardio involved, judging by how they were sweating and breathing hard. It just looks different than push-ups, pull-ups, front squats, deadlifts, hollow rocks, and running. It's also a lot more fun, considering how they were all laughing. The parents of the kids getting thrown in the trash were laughing just as much as anyone else, so big ups to them!

I coach a lot of soft kids in many different settings, and I think more "roughhousing" like this would go a long way to help that. Watch any Planet Earth episode and you'll see all baby mammals go through a wraastling stage with other cubs or pups in their local group. This kind of play is so important not only for physical development, but mental also. So when you look at Pierce in the garbage can - or, at least Pierce's shoes sticking out of the garbage can - appreciate that there was no bullying, or picking-on, or anything stupid like that. It was simply free play. Pierce took the push-ups, hollow holds, and squats we practiced and managed to fend off a gang of older kids for about 3 minutes before finally succumbing to the garbage. Not only is that impressive for the time being, but also useful for when he's a freshman on the high school varsity lacrossel team 4 years from now.

Play on Pierce!