The Champions Club has a full-blown infection of soccer players: we have one pro, seven playing in college, eight playing in high school, and an uncountable amount playing in the middle school ranks. When I tell people, "I swear we're not a soccer gym," I sound like that kid on his 4th trip to the principal's office saying, "I swear I'm not usually a talker." At some point I guess I need to come to terms with what's in front of me: an energetic and extremely social herd of kids who happen to be caught in a soccer washing machine but also see the value of what goes on here. A Champions Club without the soccer crowd is, frankly, very local and a lot more boring. We need them just like they need us.
It wasn't too long ago that we had zero soccer kids. It was a simple time; we used bands for pull-ups and tires for burpees, the back half of the gym was used as Dave's storage, and Michigan was going to beat Ohio State any year now. Out of 80ish people, our competitive sports presence consisted of... umm... /checks records... Alyssa Jabara playing college softball and Jennifer Banet running track for the first time in her life (and getting team MVP, I should add).
Then on April 27, 2018 we added, as time would reveal, a program-changing New Kid on the Block. Every Summer since then my parting words to her have been, "This is literally the best I've ever seen you." And each time someone edged her out for a banner. But this time... THIS TIME... I swear I'm going to stop being talkative, Mr. Principal. I swear I mean it. Here, look:
Our Athlete of the Summer 2021 is Cecilia Steinwascher.
Cecilia led the way from start to finish, plain and simple. We only did two official benchmark workouts during the Summer months - Fran and Helen - and Cecilia absolutely crushed those: 3:28 on Fran, which is a Champions Club girls record, and 8:46 on Helen, which is third on the all-time girls list behind only Murley and Shannon. But she also tested out great on the 10k run sub, (6 + 250 and keeping Lulu - AOTS runner up - within striking distance), the 1 rep max deadlift (260 lbs., good for a pr), and 1 rep max clean (160, also good for a pr).
Our emphasis this Summer, however, has been speed, and we modified lots of distance running in place of short parking lot sprints. Previously I have noted I'd be hesitant to call her fast on record; now there is no hesitation. Cecilia Steinwascher is fast regardless of who the competition is. Add that to her short, medium, and long duration workout capacity, her slow and fast heavy lifting ability, and her tendency to look the least bad out of the soccer girls in 2-Ball, and we have one of the fittest Champions Club kids to ever come through our ranks!
Congratulations Cecilia! This is, once again, the best I've ever seen you.
...........
I like how we did the Dream Team last Summer, not basing it just off top-10 in attendance, so we're going to roll with that again. Cecilia was the brightest star, but there were plenty more bright spots.
Crystal Reed - 11th Summer and her best yet - both workouts and attendance
Jaylee Hall - best second half out of anyone, not just checking attendance box any more
Loretta Ritter - survived Shark Week, top attendance, looks like Mallory but much, much quieter
Luke Heide - been waiting 4 freaking years for this, also still ahead of Cec on Athleticism Graph
Lulu - fittest middle school kid ever, also still in middle school for another year
Mr. Gjon - an unyielding positive force of disruptive/excessive talking demerits
Mrs. Tara - Double-Up momentum going on, what, 6 months now? Also the tattoos.
Mrs. Van - Helen, hspu, highest-ever attendance for a parent, probably new Dream Team shoes
Moms. Before we go on any further, a special shout needs to go to the Moms on the roster for Summer 2021: Mrs. Carey, Crystal, Mrs. Tara, Mrs. Nevarez, Mrs. Hana, Mrs. Van, Mrs. Jayme, Mrs. Burton, and Mrs. Lanette. They do legless rope climbs, handstand rollouts, double-digit pull-ups, 200-lb. deadlifts, and hill sprints. Some live within walking distance and some can barely fit their pin on the map at the gym, and all of them - literally every one, no exception - exceeded my expectations this Summer. As much as I try to make this gym about the kids, you guys stole the show!
Rookies. There is something to be said about having 27 Rookies on the roster and averaging 20+ at the 9 am session every day (with three of them - Katelyn, Samantha, and Jenna - often hitting a later session). Going into the Summer Coach Casey, Mrs. Teri, and the other recruiters made it pretty clear what was expected in terms of attendance; the kids did not disappoint in the slightest. In terms of technique, work capacity, handstand rollouts(!), and running, this is the best Rookie class. In terms of overall energy and effect this group will have on the gym, that will take a little longer to determine; it would take a lot to say a Rookie class is better than Summer 2019 with Madison, Makenna, Paris, Tea, Lira, Dakota, Anto, Moustaache, Mr. Kuiper, Chase, Mrs. Hana, Schulz, Emily and Caitlin O'Malley, and Dillon Sharp. If there was ever one to do it, 2021 might be the one; there are some great young athletes spread across the middle school, high school, and college ranks, and also Mr. Slade might be a lifer.
Babies and Double-A. Both of these sessions went very well this Summer. In 2014 I decided to get the Babies session rolling and it took 3 years to build to the point where we didn't have days of one or two kids showing up to an empty gym. Our first Babies session in June had 5, and every one after that had 7-9. Johnny J is in that session and it's the funniest thing ever. Our foundation is strong with Johnny J, El, Cameron, and Summer, and they are ensuring it won't take as long to rebuild as last time.
The Double-A session, on the other hand, came into the Summer loaded and is leaving even more so. Dita, Michael Banet, JB, and Zeena provide a great foundation, we added Ryan, Parker, Paul, and Rob, and we know Natalie and JT are always an arm's length away and ready to jump in when the time is right. That group ended with 19. If all goes as planned, our Rookie sessions should have a great feeder for the next year or two.
CrossFit by Community. There was a lot of feel this Summer, from my end, at least, that this thing is starting to run itself when needed. Little things like randomly bringing in food for Theme Workouts, checking on Emma Lang or Arthur on a run, keeping Johnny J or baby Brett from playing real-life Frogger on Stephenson Hwy., boxes and squat racks being put back after I left, and Mr. Malak and Mr. Van talking to a rookie to make them feel welcome are all little things I notice that go on without any input from me. The camera broke, the comments stopped working, scheduling posts in advanced stopped working, and I also just realized I forgot to update the schedule page all Summer; none of this made the slightest difference in what went on in the actual gym. This is the sign of a really healthy environment.
5:30 and 6:30 sessions. Those were a lightly-attended for at least half the time, and that's because of the grassroots/farm system approach we're using right now. Since we're building from the Babies on up, it's going to take a while to really fill the college kid/adult crowd to a point where missing Evan and Javier, and having Schott and Jay travel for a Summer would not really mess with the overall vibe of the sessions. This is one of those instances where me saying "we'll get there in a year or so" isn't just brushing it under the rug. Look at the roster and you'll probably come to that conclusion too.
Team Workouts.On the first weekend of Summer we set an all-time single-session attendance record with 42. That was broken on several occasions after that. One of the realizations I came to this Summer - that started with Space Jam last Summer - was we need to double-down on the community thing for weekend workouts. The priority needs to be pairing and team selection, which means the workout needs to be simple enough that Mrs. Carey can be partners with Aaron Sexton. Jump ropes, bars (pull-up or deadlifting), ropes, and boxes will usually be replaced with bodyweight, dumbbell, or medicine ball scales of movements. This is something I am okay with. It gives us a chance to work on high-volume/high-conditioning stuff that I'd often scale around during the week, and allows for you guys to work out with people that usually go to a different session.
Our theme workouts went great: we brought back Olympics - which might have been the most difficult one of all - and introduced Star Wars. Shark Week needs to be modified. Disney works great as the opener. And 80's was the usual embarrassment. Here's the recaps in case you missed them.
Summary. As weird as it sounds, favorite moments of the Summer came when nobody was in the gym; every day in June and July after the "11" am session when all the monkeys left I'd be sitting on the blue bean bag chomping on some string cheese, an apple, and almonds, reflecting on all the great people I had just been around, and realizing there was still about 30 more on the way in a few hours.
When I'm in the middle of a session I get caught up in all the details of bodyweight, butt back, and bracing, but the time alone to reflect really makes me feel humbled at the environment we have here. My job as a coach is to decide when to allow the environment to do the teaching and developing and when I need to intervene. My job as a business owner is to protect our environment at all costs.
Thank you guys for making Summer at the Champions Club what it is. I could not ask for anything better.
athlete of the summer, 