CrossFit Athletic Group

One of the ways to help determine how important a tournament, showcase, or other sporting event is is by breaking down what exactly you are getting out of the event and comparing it to what you would have been doing if you didn't go.

As previously noted, Sam and Conamora spent last weekend in Missouri doing their soccer thing at a Regional Championship Tournament.

Sam

Sarah wasn't using her bunnies that weekend so she let Sam borrow them

Breakdown of going

• 3 total games (record was 1-2)
• 4 travel days (left Thursday, came back Sunday)
• Number of times the ball actually touched her foot each game: "Umm maybe 30-40"

Opportunities missed by going

• Regular sleep schedule
• Home-cooked meals
• 18 minutes of upper-body pushing ("JT")
• A 10 conditioning workout/45 pull-ups and 45 core-to-extremity squats (Fran)
• Somewhere around 70 snatches at 35-45 lbs (more core-to-extremity)
• Disney Doozy
• Not getting stiff from 20 total hours in a car
• Hours and hours of individual soccer skill work

Verdict. Even though on paper this is heavily favoring not going, this tournament is a no-brainer. Yes she's only in 7th grade, and it's too early for her to get recruited, and an athlete with an imagination could get 90-120 game-like touches in 15 minutes by themselves with a wall, soccer is Sam's thing and to my understanding there is no bigger stage available for her to play in at any time of the year. Hopefully Sam has the chance to go to this tournament every year, and maybe even make it out of this one and qualify for Nationals.

Conamora

If nothing else, at least Conamora's worth some serious intimidation points in the lay-up lineBreakdown of going

• 5 total games (5-0, won the championship, advanced to Nationals in July)
• 7 days of travel
• ? touches each game, probably less than Sam because nobody scored on them until the 'chip

Opportunities missed by going

• Regular sleep schedule
• Home-cooked meals
• 18 minutes of upper-body pushing ("JT")
• A 9-level conditioning workout/45 pull-ups and 45 core-to-extremity squats (Fran)
• Somewhere around 70 snatches at 45-55 lbs (more core-to-extremity)
• Disney Doozy
• Almost 2 miles of running with good form and 60 more reps at pushing
• Probably 40 deadlifts at 135+ lbs. (midline stability/squatting practice)
• Not getting stiff from 20 hours in the car
• Hours and hours of individual soccer skill work

Verdict. Same as Sam. Only thing I'd add is during tournaments where you are winning games handedly, it's good for the focus to shift from winning games to development. Mrs Teri does an amazing job at this, and I've sat on the bench with her while she only lets a girl use her left foot, or makes her goalie dribble down and try and score DURING A FREAKING GAME. That takes 1) balls, in a figurative sense and 2) a deep understanding of what's important at different times. I hope Conamora used the blowouts to accomplish something other than a checkmark in the W column.

Overall notes. Having a realistic understanding of the level you're playing it is crucial to making decisions for travel sports. It is easy to get caught up in the hype of "Hey! We're going to Ohio to play soccer, this must be legit!" and soon realize that the same level of competition could be played in a local tournament. On the other hand, if you have your sights set on major college sports then you'll need to travel out of state to really experience how you hold up against the best. For example, the state of Michigan only has 2 high-major basketball recruits this cycle, so naturally your chances of running into a national-level player in a 17u basketball tournament played in this state are like 1:4,234. Might want to book that flight to Atlanta.

The other important thing is for both Sam and Conamora to understand what is being sacrificed for 3-5 soccer games. Every time you say yes to one thing, you're saying no to a lot more. If they are truly chasing development and excellence in their craft, not just hype, these kinds of tournament demands need to saved for the special occasions - especially when a college scholarship isn't on the line. In different scenarios/times of the year I'm sure they could get 3 competitive games in a day within a 10 mile radius of their house, and not burn an additional 3-6 days that could be spent on development of other stuff.

...........

Josh Van is not playing travel baseball this Summer, and instead is focused on getting his fitness right (he has not missed a single day of CrossFit yet). So I'm going to use Koltin's tournament last weekend as the compare-to.

Breakdown of going

• 3 games
• 5 travel days (would have been 4 if Nick wasn't there too)
• 20-30 total swings over 3 games
• 10-15 total plays in the field

Opportunities taken advantage of by not going

• 18 minutes of upper-body pushing ("JT")
• A 10 conditioning workout/45 pull-ups and 45 core-to-extremity squats (Fran)
• Somewhere around 70 snatches at 65 lbs (more core-to-extremity)
• Disney Doozy
• First-round draft selection and signing bonus
• Biked to gym
• Regular sleep schedule (as regular as is possible for Josh)
• Individual baseball work

Verdict. I give this a win based on Josh's limiting factor, which is his fitness more than his baseball chops. But I would give this an incomplete grade because I don't really know what Josh is doing on the individual baseball work stuff. All I know is he's got a glove, a tee, a dad who will throw him BP any time while complaining about his wrist, and a willing-to-help Aaron Sexton at his disposal. So if Josh is going to take a good risk by stepping away from travel ball for a year, he needs to use the Dillon & Jessica routine and take this time to work on stuff he would never have worked on if his tournament/practice schedule was in full go. CrossFit is only part of that.