CrossFit Athletic Group

At this particular point in the Champions Club's timeline, an outside sports coach might use the phrase "tough competition" to describe our current environment. We're not really taking new people unless they get invited, 95% of the people currently in here are like 5-7 days per week, and some serious prs and gym records are being set. Of course, if an outside coach watched any session involving Calan for 10 seconds he might reconsider the "tough competition" choice of words. And by all accounts Mr. Malak has completely mailed it in since his Dream Team nomination from the Summer. Still, the point is when doing an Athlete of the [Blank] award it's not two or three people running away with it.

This fall, for instance, Lulu and Mrs. Nevarez really got off to good starts; Zander has been doing his thing inside the gym and on the cross country course; Dillon is fitter now than she was when she got AOTS, Mr. Kuiper might have taken a firm lead on the Alpha Dad* role; Anthony Banet has attended for 141 days in a row (no joke) and is eating food; Owen is right there at the top of every workout; Jessica did a 34-minute Murph. Seriously, from top to bottom, I don't see one straggler on our roster. Everyone is close to or on top of their game right now. 

Despite all those names, there is one more who has flown way under the radar for a long time and has quietly put in her best 3-months of CrossFit we have seen so far.

Our Athlete of the Fall is Mrs. Tara.

As embarrasing as it is, it wasn't until three weeks ago where her efforts even hit my radar. I was going through my usual Lulu or Jessica debate in my head when I casually noticed Mrs. Tara was right there in front of me doing deadlifts with a flat back. Hey, I thought, she's having a good workout. Then as I walked around the room trying to distract myself from Coach Casey's deadlift form I suddenly realized I couldn't remember one instance of Mrs. Tara not having a good workout. So I went back in the archives and... here we are.

It actually wasn't the benchmark workouts that stood out the most this fall for Mrs. Tara - although she did get 20 rounds of Cindy as rx'd - but rather some of the regular, unspectacular daily WODs that saw her bump up the weight and intensity. She used 85-lbs. on the burpee/thruster ascending ladder, put in the top parent* time on the c&j/burpee burner, used 75-lbs. in the front squat/k2e descending ladder, and did full handstand push-ups on the dumbbell clean/hspu AMRAP. Mrs. Tara also spent most of the fall working around a dislocated finger she got while doing handstand walks either in late August or early September (I forgot which one.) Needless to say, she taped it up and worked around it just fine.

One of the things that I really appreciate about all of the parents - not just Mrs. Tara - is their willingness to take a back seat (for lack of a better term) when we get a new generation of parents coming in. The Careys, Wonsils and Pips did when Mrs. Kroll, Mr. Auggie, Mrs. Fitz, and Reggie and Arlene came through; that generation did when the Bennis/Colussi/Nevarez/Kuiper/Hana clan came through; that generation is doing it now with the VanDoorn/Malak/Webster/Mrs. Burton/Phannes crew.

This new group really adds an excitement to the gym that, quite frankly, Mr. Carey and Mrs. Bennis are too mature for now. Their taste is more along the lines of sitting at the grown-ups table eating with forks and using napkins while Mr. Webster and Mrs. Jayme are sticking olives on the tips of their fingers at the kids' table. I'm 30 years old and, as you can guess, still sit at the kids table at family holiday stuff, so I thoroughly enjoy and promote the fun the new crew brings in. But somewhere in the background, Mrs. Tara scoffs at everyone, keeps her head down, and makes her presence known where it matters most. It is my hope that giving her this award will serve as motivation to get her crap together with the waivers; I keep telling her people need to sign these things and she keeps holding me back.

*in a secret meeting that took place last week, all the dads all voted in unison that Mr. Bennis was not allowed to be considered a dad

...........

Fall at the Champions Club is usually marked by depression and looking ahead: depression that the Summer crew is gone and looking ahead at when they'll come back for Christmas. A month after we finished our best Summer, we had 9 people in attendance for a benchmark workout. As in, 9 people total across 4 sessions. While it hasn't always been that bad it isn't usually far off. Last year was our best fall and we were happy to get 30 people in a day. Welp... fall 2020 saw 2 regular workout days under 40. Our weekend workout sessions were pushing 30. We all-but closed the gym off to new people and still managed to bring in Mr. Burton, Mr. Andrew, and a recent string of high school freshman and sophomores that should keep our farm system full enough while I try and replenish the Babies session.

We did Murph, Cindy, and Nancy. Mrs. Gloria is a superstar. Mrs. Bennis is back! The Lamphere football kids were balling out on the field. Zander was balling out on the cross country courses - if that's a thing. Dillon and Jessica learned how to practice by themselves. Speaking of Jessica... she's legit and was 2nd in Athlete of the Fall standings. Mr. Bennis installed a spotlight and a pull-up bar. Crystal sat on a rowing machine for 1/12 of a day. I raced Owen and Decker. Josh, Natalie, Michael, and Zeena graduated to the middle school group on Sundays. The girls basketball monstrosity happened. More rankings. BTT is going to Rochestr Adams. Murley and Bubs hit a 10-year anniversary. Mom's Club OGs hit a 10-year anniversary. Lots of other accomplishments.

We are in good shape kids! Let's have a great winter!