CrossFit Athletic Group

If you haven't noticed by now, I'm done with the "This person did these things this week, good job" kinds of posts; either you saw what happened or you can ask someone who saw it to tell you. I want to write about the actual person, hoping I can walk the line between Good Taste and What Kind of Edibles Are You On Chris well enough for the 12 people who read this to look forward to reading the next one. This one was particularly difficult, and underwent many revisions and rearrangements, because Jess is one of my all-time favorite kids I've coached here and I think she deserved a good write-up. So I guess I better just get right to the point:

David Sap and I have officially given Jessica the nickname "Granny Smith."

While I can see how some people might view this as condescending, insulting, or even inappropriate, I hope by the end of the post you will see that this nickname is not only necessary in this scenario, but also the highest compliment one can receive.

Can't wait to see where this one is going...

I have this unfortunate habit of assuming, and the Bible says not to assume, the 3rd Agreement is Don't Make Assumptions, and Lira even wrote a post about it a while back (that really didn't have much to do with that topic), and yet I still catch myself making assumptions all the time. The most relevant assumption I make relating to you guys is assuming that the things I want for you are also what you want of yourself - which usually have to do with continuously, relentlessly challenging the boundaries of your abilities.

However, in talking to you, I have discovered that you enjoy things like friends, fun, and hobbies, and that those things are not demons to be slain by counting almonds, practicing free throws, and ignoring holidays, but rather they are elements to your lives that actually make you better. I still find it confusing how that is the case, but I can at least accept it with the embrace of... maybe not a Mr. Curtis handshake and squeeze, but at least a Nick Bewick double-fist bump.

Once I accepted the premise that most people have "lives" and that most people enjoy having those "lives," I have come to realize that while the pursuit of being the best is really difficult, the pursuit of simply never being bad at anything might be even harder, simply because there are so many different things that need our attention in order for us not to be bad at them.

I'd like you all to ponder this question for 20 seconds: What is Jessica Suchta bad at?

Basketball.

Dean! That's two posts in a row! Get the hell out of here!

Couldn't resist mate.

Okay, in terms of CrossFit, what is Jessica Suchta bad at?

...

... Anyone got anything?

Do you know how hard it is to not be bad at anything in CrossFit? Of course you do because how long have you been trying to get your pull-ups or your running or your deadlifts or your L-sits up to par with not much progress? And this is where I have made my biggest mistake in coaching Jessica: I haven't appreciated her for what she is.

A quick site search returned zero results for "Jessica Athlete of the Week", and that just goes to show how much I've been assuming my goals for her match her own for herself. She does not want to be a professional soccer player, nor does she want to be a professional fitness chick or a win-at-all-costs competitor, she just wants to be Jessica... and Jessica just so happens to be very fit, very good at soccer, and capable of competing with anyone in any workout. She is rarely the first pick to win workouts and is often overlooked in favor of higher-priced peers that have specialties in certain areas, but you will never, ever go wrong putting your money on Jessica, and it is for that reason she has been bestowed the nickname "Granny Smith."

Mr. Kuiper knows a bargain when he sees one, and picking her up for $10 in the Attendance Draft might have been the steal of the decade, and that's not even taking workout results into account.