CrossFit Athletic Group

I am very irregular. The exact reasons for this fact may be the subject of another post altogether, or even a book. But of all of the things that make me, and therefore our gym irregular, our selection of coaches may be the pinnacle. I know this because of the bulk of emails I get from random companies that help CrossFit Gyms on their business end; 3,2,1 Go Project, The Biz, MindyBody, The Box Magazine, WODIFY. Without exception, every source has a section dedicated to choosing, grooming, transitioning, and paying new coaches for your gym. The Biz says being socially good with people is the first trait to look for in a prospective coach. The Box Magazine recommended shoveling out money to any new coach and making them a full-time employee. Box Pro Magazine (which I guess is somehow different from just The Box Magazine) suggested to look for outside coaches with great credentials to teach specialty classes such as Gymnastics, Olympic weightlifting, and Yoga.

As it turns out, most of the financially successful gyms follow these guidelines pretty consistently – which would explain why we are different than most financially successful gyms in terms of financial things. But still, I think our philosophy for the coaching staff is really cool. And the main theme is youth. When I received my first call from CrossFit HQ officially accepting my affiliate application, I was told I would be either the youngest or second-youngest gym owner in all of CrossFit (I don’t remember which one exactly). But all that time, I was wondering what the reaction would be if Kathy Glassman heard I was actually the oldest on our coaching staff by four years. Being as good as we are with young leadership is something I take pride in. And the leadership does not just happen from the top-down, as many improvements you’ve seen have come from our athletes. That being said, the responsibility always rests on the people at the top.

This article is not meant to be taken too seriously or serve as a blueprint to how I will do things in the future. It is simply an observation of how we got to where we are today. It also doesn’t really ask your opinion on the process. It just sheds some light on what goes on outside of the sessions. Enjoy!

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In 2011, the Champions Club Summer in the Fieldhouse was about to kick off. We were experiencing bigger numbers than we had anticipated due to the increased space and mass of new kids from GA, college, and this new thing called the Mom's Club featuring young guns Mama V, Mrs. Pip, Mrs. Carey, and Crystal. Brian and I saw this as an opportunity to prime some of our dedicated athletes to help out with coaching if needed. This proved to come in handy in the coming months considering Brian was starting his life with Dani, Lalla and Giorgio, and I was going into my senior season in basketball.

We started with a few candidates. Emma, Ryan, Cap'n Jack, Mackenzie Kaiser, Abby Lama, Murley, and (believe it or not) Anita all caught our eye from the days in the Old Weight Room as kids with decent knowledge of the movements and had the potential to help us. Throughout Summer 2011, we let things play out giving each of the athletes a few chances at teaching either individuals or the group. Some did better than others but to be fair, not one of them actually wanted to coach. To this day, I still don’t exactly remember how we convinced them to do this.

Then late in the Summer, we got an influx of younger talent in the form of the Trips, Kyle Washington, and the new GA crew of Aaron Augustyn, Connor Moore, and Aaron Palmeri. For whatever reason, all of these kids seemed to take a liking to the kid who proved to be the finishing touch to the advanced session: Sydni Golfin. We followed their lead and let Sydni join the coaching search.

As the Champions Club continued from the Fieldhouse to the New Old Weight Room, the coaching thing kind of weeded itself out. Emma, Murley, and Sydni all appeared to like it not hate it more than any of the others so we gave them most of the reps: Emma with the Mom’s Club, Murley with the GA kids (aka “Kiddies”), and Sydni with the youngest group (aka “Babies”). In late 2011, we were told the entire football team (aka “Spoiled Babies”) planned to train with us. Up to this point, the coaching help from the three girls was very sporadic. But upon hearing the football news, Brian and I decided that we had to lock in on Sydni, Emma, and Murley and make it clear that we considered them official coaches and shared our expectations of what they were supposed to do. It was a very fancy ceremony – similar to a knighting in England – held in the grand stank between the two benches and the old chest fly machine.

This ceremony proved to be one of the most important moments in the Champions Club’s history – one that made it possible to be operating as a business today. It begun a vicious cycle of trial and error that manifested itself in intense hatred, self-doubt, and even attempts to run away mid-session.

This ceremony also gave birth a different cycle: one of responsibility and unprecedented opportunity. In what other circumstance is a teenager with no credentials given the green light to make mistakes and learn from experience with decisions that could determine the success and failure of a business? While it is scary to think about sometimes, it is also very satisfying when it goes well.

Finally, this ceremony was also where I unofficially designated three categories that every future young prospective coach would unwillingly and unknowingly be grouped into; creatively titled the Murley category, the Emma category, and the Sydni category.

Look how excited they are

Murley

The prospects in this category are completely uncomfortable talking in front of people, very unsocial, lack any kind of confidence, and just display the most organic awkwardness. Not only that, but there is a pessimistic nature present at this level that makes personal and productive conversation nearly impossible. They agree with nothing and complaining without offering a solution is the name of their game. This, of course, is everything I look for in a coach.

Because of the lack of “natural” coaching ability, we see other areas excel. Mainly, the Murley candidate is always the most reliable of the trio. There is also a very, very deep understanding of concepts – which is especially impressive considering the young age. (Jason actually showed this better than anyone.) However, beyond the intelligence and work ethic, we have the most important trait in coaching: unselfishness. Possibly due to the lack of confidence, the Murleys of the coaching world always put themselves and their needs behind the people they are serving. Couple that with reliability and understanding already in place, all it takes is experience to fill in the other parts. This is a long, frustrating process but the low-risk high-reward outcome is worth it. The best way to put it is the Murleys just “get things” better than the other two categories and that overrides any negatives they give off. Thankfully I can take out my frustration on the 9 am’ers.

Emma

This is designated for the naturals. The kids in this category were born to teach and including them in the coaching circle is a no-brainer. Right off the rip, the Emma category kids catch my eye because of the questions they present. Pudge had this down perfect. Any coach can look good with a bunch of Mr. Wonsils and Alex Faust(es) in a session asking perfectly timed, perfectly leading questions while looking doey-eyed waiting for you explain to them that water is wet. But when they are freshmen and sophomores in high school, I take special note. It means they have a genuine interest in the stuff. That also tells me that they are comfortable presenting an idea in front of a decent crowd and have a baseline level of confidence.

The Emma category is very enthusiastic about new ideas and easy to talk to about coaching or life in general. For this reason, the Emma category is easily the most pleasant to develop…up until dedication is brought into the mix – at which point I often punch myself in the balls out of frustration. For whatever reason, all of our Emma category coaches (all two of them) have had the toughest time getting past their initial stage of development due to inconsistency. It might be from their lack of attendance, or the lack of opportunity to get reps while I favor the Murleys (maybe the latter has to do with the former). But either way, because of their natural ability, I find it hard to ever close the door completely on them.

Sydni

Finally, we have the wild card. The Crazy 8’s. Blasian Jack of Spades. Whatever you want to call it, the Sydni category is saved for the kid that we know would be a long shot. Often times, I can’t put my finger on why I would like them to coach. But instinct tells me that if this person were to buy in, they would actually surpass the other two candidates. In both cases, the individuals possessed one single trait that I found to be so impressive that I had no choice but to take a flyer on them. Sydni, for instance, was by far the most well-liked human I have ever met – even more so than Aaron Augustyn. Whether it was the grief-stricken Mariah Fielder, the Neanderthal-ish Ryan Richard, the uniquely odd Connor Moore, or the demon-spawn Jake Tripoli, everyone flocked to Sydni. Couple that with her being a CrossFit beast and she was in. In Amy’s case, she also had one thing nobody else had: confidence. And I’m not talking the fake-it-till-you-make-it-Chris-style confidence. This is the supreme, stupid confidence of someone who is not intelligent enough to doubt themselves (something I sincerely wish I had).

With this in mind, I give them chances to be included in our conversations and coach a few sessions. Unfortunately as time passes, I notice one single trait that would immediately exclude them from coaching with us. For Sydni, it turns out that she never really wanted to coach that much in the first place. Whelp, fair enough; can’t really blame her. I don’t pay hardly anything and I’m a pain to deal with. For Amy, she was selfish – which is a great trait to have as an athlete (another one I wish I had) – but not so great as a coach. So that’s the Sydni category: really cool if it works, no biggie if it doesn’t.

Jason, Amy, Pudge: The second generation Murley, Sydni, and Emma

The part I did not really consider when picking the coaches was the awkwardness it would bring. It’s gotta be weird to work out with someone for months then randomly have them tell you how much weight to use and stop you in the middle of the workout. Also, the most difficult group to coach is your peers. From personal experience, I’ve had the most difficult time coaching Anita, Jacob, and Jesse because they 1) knew me before I coached them, 2) are close to my age, and 3) have a difficult time flipping the switch from friend to student. I think this is kind of natural though. Catholic school sports teach us about “seniority” and being intimidated by older kids. It’s a hard habit to break but one I’ve never been a fan of. The more we bring kids in who disregard the age lines, the more fictional it becomes.

Another thing to consider is the presence of a standard. In order to dislike something, there first has to be a standard of something good that would make you feel negative about it. When there is no previous standard, it’s just a new thing. And just about every new thing is cool. This was the case in the Summer 2010. I was not good. The only reason I fooled you is because you had never done CrossFit before and therefore couldn’t compare me to anyone (I can’t speak for B the T, but I’m sure he looks back on some of his coaching methods and thinks Why?).

Obviously I am a better coach than Murley and Emma at this point in time. And regardless of what you might say out loud, you would trust my judgment over theirs if it came down to it – the same way their judgment would go over better than someone like, say, Jason when he was coaching in the Summer. But it’s important to remember that the reason I’m better has much less to do with our knowledge and more to do with the difference in how we project it. Emma knows more than any of you non-Brian folk reading this. And Murley knows more than Emma. Both of them (and whoever lands in their respective categories in the future) are so much better than I was at that age. The only difference is I got the opportunity to make ten times the amount of mistakes and none of my athletes knew the difference. Remember, I picked the coaches for a reason. I didn’t just cover my eyes, waive my finger around and say “AAAAANNNNNDDDDD YOU! You’re coaching today!” When you are getting instruction from one of the Not Me’s, they are telling you the exact same thing I would – just in a different way. As an athlete, that’s a good thing to get used to. Your job is to listen to the content, not the delivery.

It’s also important to remember that under no circumstance did any of these individuals knowingly accept the terms and conditions of ridicule and lofty expectations that I bestowed upon them. This is simply a case of me seeing something that I think they could be good at. So far I’d say I’ve come out average. True the last crew did not pan out (or at least, not yet). But Emma (a sophomore) is basically running the science program at Aquinas and conducting/directing her own research projects. While Murley is a 20 year old who has already begun teaching movement clinics for Phys. Ed teachers while getting the attention of the creator of CrossFit Kids. The hits easily outweigh the foul tips.

Picking coaches for the Champions Club is like drafting prospects from High School to the MLB – only we don’t have a well-established farm system to groom them. And believe me, it’s probably number 1 or 2 on my current priority list right now. But until then, your patience is appreciated. We have gone two years between each set, so that means we are due for another group. And just as luck would have it, we have some.

Introducing the Next In Line: Future of The Future

Tyler Jabara. JZ. Erika Banet.