CrossFit Athletic Group

I had a few posts drafted up during the Summer that I never got around to finishing having to do with the incredibly disproportionate number of fit high school girls we've had over the years compared to the fit high school boys. If you look back at our All Decade list, you'll see JZ, Jason, and Ryan splattered among 3 Banet girls, Emma, Bubs, Sydni, Lauren, and Bromm. And if you include the after the decade - Dillon, Jessica, Lira, Madison, plus however the Monkeys turn out - the balance is tipped even more favor of the girls, while all the top-performing boys - Aaron, Zander, Owen, Saporito, Luke, Noah - in our group waited until after high school to see their fitness take a major upswing.

Or, I should say, all except one.

One interesting thing about Chase is that the very gift that has given him an immediate advantage on the basketball court also gives him a disadvantage in CrossFit workouts. For every rope climb, run, wallball, or box jump that plays to his height, there's 5 variations of squats, 3 variations of deadlifts and 2 variations of push-ups that punishes his height. And only one pull-up bar that will fit him. The kid was 6'5 coming into the Summer and had another growth spurt, yet he moves as fluently as someone with half the levers.

The most impressive thing about Chase's performance in the gym is obvious to anyone the first time they see him work out: his intensity. Chase Kuiper is a competitor and his rival is himself: brain vs. body. I'm at the point now where I have to tell him to turn that switch off to avoid burnout. He can go to a 10 on command on just about any workout.

But let's talk about the real thing: for the first time in our gym's history we have a high school boy who is not only excelling in CrossFit (I'd put him just a hair behind Ryan in overall capacity), but also his sport; Ryan, JZ, and Jason were good at their sports (lacrosse, baseball and track, respectively) but nowhere near where Chase is on the court. And here lies the glaring hole in our gym that has been pointed out by the likes of Jacob, Coach Casey, Brian the Trainer, Coach T, as well as myself: why don't the top male teenagers 1) stick with us or 2) come to us in the first place. I have some thoughts about this.

First, there is a very real barrier of entry into this gym, and that would be myself. It's not my intimidating stature or humongous calves that deter the boys, but rather my demeanor. I am a good basketball player that tried like hell in the hopes of being considered a great one, and a good coach who tries like hell for the same reason. I have seen, "coached," and actually coached way more elite genetic gifts than I have seen me's. I also hold everyone in my charge -including myself - accountable to their gifts and their expressed desires; I've heard more boys who were cut from the high school team a week ago tell me their goal is to play in the NBA than I've heard All-State caliber soccer girls admit they have a goal to play college. Part of it could be a shyness thing, part of it could be a white people being falsy modest thing, and part of it could be a trust thing. But either way, I've seen a lot of interesting things happen when I attempt to match a work ethic to an individual.

Lastly, there is definitely a bias through which I view the workout performance of the boys in our gym. "Could they beat me?" is a question I often ask myself and, honestly, not always a fair one considering I have a 17-year head start, which just goes to show I'm as guilty as anyone in comparing things that would be better left appreciated as it is.

I say all this because at this point I feel confident enough to say that Chase has passed the Chris test - both the 3-month physical exam and the 3-month mental exam. He has scored in the 99th percentile. He's receiving a full scholarship to the moon and is going to do a box jump to get there. I have no idea what this basketball season is going to look like for him, nor do I know what his career will look like after high school. What I do know is that he is the most physically- and mentally resilient high school kid I've ever coached. I don't think I can throw him off, and by the end of Summer I just stopped trying. My job is to support, not coach or question. This fall as been all me being a fan, and I hope you all will find an opportunity to do the same for him this winter. He can't promise dropping a triple double or throwing one down over some pudding with goggles from Seaholm, but he will come with an intensity - the same one you see here every day - that will be worth the price of admission and more.

I mean... he might also drop a triple double.

...........

Despite my history of attendance-keeping and workout recording, I'm way more of a vibes guy than a numbers guy. Needless to say the vibes this fall were probably my favorite in recent memory. As I was telling Mr. Kuiper a few days ago, a phrase "basketball IQ" gets thrown around often in my circles that refers to a player's feel and understanding for the game that doesn't get picked up by stats, and I feel like our gym has a really impressive CrossFit IQ, or training IQ - however you want to put it. The most obvious example of this is the programming rotations.

Natalie Nevarez is a 7th grader and is currently doing our gym's programming. Before her was Mrs. Hana, Josh Van, [edit - crap, I forgot Chase! that's ironic] Mel, and Aaron. Mel has been around almost as long as I have and has a deep understanding of CrossFit's core principles. Aaron has been around me about as much as anyone over the past 10 years and is uniquely influenced by my coaching style. But Josh Van?? The kid I got on for effort probably more than any high schooler ever?? You better beileve it; his stretch of programming saw tons of people set prs in deadlift and cleans. And Mrs. Hana?? The 2nd grade teacher who gave about 1/10th of the time planning the workouts as she does for her lesson plans? Yup! And now we all have a new floor press pr (including me! - 240!) and major appreciation for difficulty of ring rows.

One of the things CrossFit did early on was put more responsibility on the athlete than any public training program ever had done up to that point, at least to my knowledge. The workout was listed, the resources and information was included, and then it was on us to learn for ourselves. This is the avenue I'm hoping to walk down with you guys. Natalie is just as qualified to program for the Champions Club as myself, or Dave Castro, or anyone with any kind of credentials. Crystal can watch Dillon Sharp do a deadlift and critique her form even though Dillon can clean Crystal's max deadlift weight. Koltin can watch Bubs do split jerks and give a pretty accurate rep landmark to get to despite messing up on his previous set. Mr. Ron can help Mrs Goga with her food even though he's not a professional nutritionist. David Sap and Owen can talk to anyone about cutting down on drinking even when, not even a year ago, they didn't have their own under as much control as they wanted.

We are all coaches because we are all coachable. There are numerous things under construction at the Champions Club at this time - at most times, really - but a group this amount of flexible and resilient is ready for whatever comes.

Thank you guys for a great fall and let's keep walking down this strange road to Godknowswhere this winter with hoodies and hats and our collective mob by our side.

Fall New Kids on the Block: Steep (I'm pretty sure)

Brought back: Avery and Ashley Schulz, last seen in the Double-A session around 2021ish; Mr. Krstich, last seen before baseball season

Hoping to bring back this winter: Mrs. Tara, Mr. Curtis, Tea', Shannon, Allie T, Fecht, Mrs. Lanette, Double-A kids, Sam and Sarah Curtis, unfortunately for Emma Lang probably not Sydney Larson, the rest of CT's family, Coach Casey and Mr. Carey's rippling abs they had as teenagers (they're close!), a benchmark workout or two, some sign that Carvin is still alive, website posts, a Michigan national championship.