CrossFit Athletic Group

This Summer's attendance turned out to be pretty accurate mostly in part to Jacob taking about 7 (maybe?) volunteer hours to help me sort the thing out. Since we had a lot of people join for either short amounts of time, or towards the end of Summer, I split it into two cateogries: Full-time and Late Registration. Here's how it turned out.

We should all know by now who was in first place for attendance!

Full Time

Late Registration

Overall I think these really look good. Including the Late Registration list, we had 27 people over 50%. In 2013 we had 35 people at over 50, andin 2015 we had 37 (which, if you count the Babies for this year, we'd be at the same number.) We made up for some lower attendance percentage points at the bottom by sheer numbers, and this is what helped with multiple days of 50+ in attendance (also noting a few mobility days of 47). But having these numbers also means we can finally determine the results of the Draft.

The draft took place early in the Summer and pretty much excluded everyone on the Late Registration list. I did give each team two free agent options to pick up based on who they thought would end up joining. To factor this in, I figured since each team had 20 draft picks, I would count the top 19 (including the captain), giving the free agent choices a chance to factor in if they helped the team. I added up the total percentage points then divided by 19. Here's the results:

4th place: Team Jay

Notes. Despite being the prime beneficiary of Elizabeth's Darko Milicic selection and seeing Cecilia slide to him, Jay could not get over a sub-par drafting of our rookie class. I also believe he was counting on better outings from Mr. Wonsil, Baby Josh, and Baby Mallory. As a GM of infamous Mario Baseball Championship contender teams such as Orville Ridenbacher's Cock (Beaman Winter Classic - '09), Albino's Army (Michael Jackson Young Man' Spring Fling '10), San Antonio Sperm (NBA on TNT theme - '17), and Donkey Punch (Shrek theme - '13), Jay has been known for his conservative approach to drafting. He'll lock in a superstar or two, then bypass other high-level players to ensure he has enough cap room to keep the bottom of the order strong - which notably led to Dry Bones's breakout season in 2014. Look for Jay to make some trades next year to keep the consistency.

Grade. B-. Anyone in their right mind would have picked Mallory and Josh with the first Babies selections, just didn't take into account the weekend vacations. Also shame on him for only taking Jesse out of the Junkin/Eason family.

3rd place: Team David

Notes. The picture above is the top of a David Saporito air squat and is also a perfect representation of his Summer; he was focused on beating everyone else that he forgot to keep track of his own stuff. The team captain, first-pick-holding, and defending Athlete of the Summer managed to get the lowest attendance among the 4 captains. Yet somehow he didn't finish last and was only a few points away from 2nd place. David did not have any stars on his team but did manage to have a good middle-of-the-order group. Plus, by sheer blind luck, he drafted 4 of the top 5 highest-ranking rookies in the 10 am/5:30 classes - including fan-favorite NuNu. David, of course, didn't know half of the people when he drafted them, but I suppose some might call that intuition. Look for David to drop even lower in attendance next year but draft someone in the 90s to make up for it.

Grade. B. Lindsey with the second pick was very questionable at the time but it actually turned out good.

2nd place: Team Biff

Notes. As I mentioned above, Elizabeth somehow got away with passing on Cecilia in favor of Josh Howey - a 50(!) point swing in attendance - with her first pick and pushed her way to a top-2 finish. She made up for this in two major ways: drafting both AOTS contenders Jennifer and Erica in the early rounds, and picking up Evan Pugh (56%) as a free agent. Mrs. Bennis was also a steal in the 3rd round. Elizabeth has been known to panic under pressure - most notably diagnosing herself with athsma during a July 800m run workout. Her first stint as a GM continued that trend, and a better first selection would have put her right in contention for first place. Maybe she passed her prime in 2015, or maybe she'll bounce back like she's known to do and bring home the championship next Summer. Until then, we're just left to ponder that first pick.

Grade. C. Inexcusable, Biff. I would expect that out of Jennifer, but not you.

1st place: Team Shakes

Notes. You may notice that is not a picture of Katie Shakes, but rather a picture of Original Champions Club Diva Aly Baringer yawning in the middle of the workout. If anyone did not see Shakes winning the draft then, well, I don't know what to say. She pounced on the opportunity to pick Ashley Fry after David Sap took Danielle first overall, hit on the rookies with Dylan and Abby Walker, showed good judgement with Mr. Bennis and Josie, and picked up a great free agent in Reggie. Aaaand she was the only captain to finish in the top-10 for attendance. The only nitpick would be drafting Coach Casey over his wife, Mrs. Tara. Had to see that one coming.

Grade. A. Boring, no-nonsense A.

...........

So that's the breakdown. Considering some of the big names we lost this Summer (Sabal, Jacqueline, Jacob, Bubs, Mr. WA, Binno) I'm very happy with how things turned out. By the numbers, I would rank this as our 3rd best Summer - behind 2015 and 2013 - though we did have a thriving Babies session this time around, and one less session during the week as well. Our team workouts were really good this time around, but I'm still salty we only had like 10 show up for 80s (our parents made up for it though). I'll make sure to emphasize that one more next Summer. It's also noticable that we're missing the high school crowd; Danielle is doing her thing, but in the past we had like 8 Danielles, plus another 8 Conors - who was our only other non-rookie high school kid in the top 40 (Maddy came in at 50). This is due to a lack of recruiting on my part and is hopefully getting fixed as we speak. This thing really shines when we have a superstar high school crowd like in 2012-2015, so that will be my main point of attention as the school year goes on (which, hopefully, the turf project will help with).

As for the attendance draft: I really liked it. We always tweak things up - criteria for Athlete of the Summer and Athletes of the Week have changed over the years - but my plan is to hang a list somewhere of every proceeding year's draft champions. Maybe a trophy like the Little Brown Jug or something. I'll think on it. I updated the original post below to include percentage points by the names drafted.

Champions Club Summer 2018 Draft

There you go, Shakes. A picture.

Thank you guys again for a great Summer! It was kind of nostalgic that it opened on the exact same day (Monday, June 11) that we did our first ever workout in this building. Some time in July, I was sitting around with some of the leftovers of the evening session.

"You know Chris," said Mr. Carey, "I was thinking, and I really, genuinely like every single person in the gym right now. I literally can't name a single person I don't like... I really do miss Jacob and Faust, though," he added.

This got me thinking about two things; first, he's right. There are always people I don't really enjoy, but still respect and admire for their work ethic. But this time around, I really think we got it as close to right as we've ever come. More Shannon would have been nice, more David would have been nice, maybe a little less Lindsey, but overall the community was humming! Second, Jacob came back at the end of Summer with a different attitude than when he took a break in February (I think, maybe April?). This kind of place is definitely not for everyone. Not only that, but we're dealing with children (yes, you college kids are still children) and children have a lot of moving parts in their life: school, relationships, interests, jobs, sports, friends. Shoot, I can't remember the last time I genuinely made a new friend (a good point Jacob noted a few months ago). With that being said, if I'm committed to center our gym around kids, I have to accept that some will need to see what other things they like. It's tough in the moment, but better in the long run. I'm pretty picky about attitudes right now, and that's why we have a semi-closed-door policy for workouts and gatherings, but it's definitely not bolted shut. Just knock.

This Summer, I think and hope, provided us with a great base to build on moving forward. It usually does, and that's why I enjoy them so much. We get to simultaneously see in the future and past, while having a blast in the present. So for now, we'll pack everything up in the loft, where it will wait patiently until June 10, 2019, and see if we can hold the fort until then. I really appreciate you guys and, for once, let's keep the momentum going into the fall.