CrossFit Athletic Group

Bubs is the Athlete of the Spring. I wrote this in May and dated it in the February 2017 archives so she wouldn't see it if she logged in. But was it really a secret?

That's either a bike tire or Bubs must've been really favoring one side during Manion

Instead of me starting this post with some run-on sentences and improper punctuation and grammar, just go ahead and marvel at her last 3 months:

• First ring dip
• First pistol
• First L-pull-up
• First legless rope climb
• First strict handstand push-up (c'mon Bubs!)
• First L-sit from the ground
• PR on deadlift
• PR on clean
• PR on a mile (first mile of Murph)
• PR on Helen
• PR on Manion
• PR on Eva
• PR on Fight Gone Bad (jeebus, there were some tough workouts this spring)
• Murph as rx'd with strict push-ups
• Did that 30-round Hero Workout day after Murph

Are we all in agreement? Good. Now if you'll allow me some time for run-on sentences and improper grammar I'd appreciate it. If not, just come back at 5 pm.

There is a prehistoric era of the Champions Club where good form was a light suggestion and school uniform rules were not. In that era it costed(? is that the past tense?) $75 for the entire year to join and we still had to beg for members. We would took any humanoid with a pulse and semi-functioning limbs, and Mariah Fielder juuuuuuuuust barely qualified. From her and Murley's 10-year post:

On September 22, 2010 a little duckling waddled into Bishop Foley's weight room where the big kids were playing. Her name was Mariah Fielder; Emma Wonsil pointed her out to me a week earlier at a volleyball practice as the girl who was hitting herself in the face with the ball. Most of her early days in the weight room were spent watching from the dip bar.

Man, I really look back fondly of that group (sidenote: two weeks ago I found the original piece of paper that recorded the Champions Club's first ever workout) and if I had any semblance of coaching or leadership at the time, our our gym would have about 6 or 7 more gems right now.

Over the last 12 years I've effed up with our kids in about as many different ways as you can think of: from allowing bad form, to getting us kicked out of the school, to getting us arrested by taking a tractor tire, to forcing Jay to play that last game of one-on-one, to not being up front with my relationship with Murley, to not having a damn clue how to ask for money, to deciding we need to start building from the Babies, to doing a complete factory reset during the lockdowns, to whatever the hell I'm not aware of now that's probably shorting someone.

That's just on a general scale. Now let's talk about how I effed up with Bubs: tried to kick her out in 2010 when she wouldn't just work out (okay, that might have been justified); doubted she'd ever be more than Part-Time a few months before she won Athlete of the Winter; left her out of the Advanced Session a few months before she won Athlete of the Summer; forced her to run track(!) during her softball season; tore her shoulder labrum when I didn't know neck position was important on SDHP and FGB; pressured her to run in the 4x4 relay with the torn labrum; tried to push her away from The Freaks group; doubted she'd come back to visit when she left for college; doubted she'd come back full-time when she graduated; doubted she'd make a 50-minute drive to the gym every day; and as recent as September I doubted that she would fit in with the group we have now.

Have I learned my lesson? We'll see 10 weeks from now; in the original draft of the Summer Invite post my final prediction was "AOTS will be a repeat winner."

Mr. Mark could send Lily to Stanford if he bet on all the times I doubted Bubs. And yet...

Lifts 4 Gifts 2018 - or literally any day over the last 12 years

She's like a freaking chihuahua who doesn't know anything more than love and affection and HIGH PITCHED SHRIEKS right before a workout. She probably would have gotten Athlete of the Spring just for showing up, alone. Add that history to what she actually did in terms of performance and nutrition and it's a no-brainer. If she looked even marginally athletic shooting a basketball, she'd be ahead of Aaron on my #1 all-time favorite list.

...........

Spring was... kinda down in attendance, for the first time since probably 2019. I don't really have any in-depth analysis for it, though, and I don't think one's really needed; it just kinda happens sometimes. I will say the lack of kids around did allow one surprising name to showcase: Arthur Savella! He overcame the Pukie of all Clowns and did heavy back squats, fast runs, double-digit pull-ups, and finished second to Bubs in the Athlete of the Spring running. I'm really proud of how he did this spring and I hope he'll be able to continue that through the Summer.

We were kinda weird with New Kids; the only one we brought on officially was Mici, but a good amount were introduced early with plans to pick up full-time during the Summer: Memphis and McKale, Zavier, Kate and Jack Robinson, and Maggie Good. In late-May we also added Mr. Curtis and Koje to the mix. And Crawford maybe!?

Mr. Kuiper kept up his momentum from the AOTW award. Coach Casey is running and squatting again. Evan is quickly getting himself back in rugby shape. Cec and Aaron are going into Summer in the best shape since being here. Mrs. Hana's doing push-ups. Paris is doing pull-ups. JB and Michael Banet are locked in. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson found good consistency. Memorial Day was packed. The highlight of the spring, though, had to be Jay coming back; there are just certain people this place can't do without, and he's one of them.

We got a good group, y'all. The momentum is going in a great direction for Summer!