CrossFit Athletic Group

I am hesitant to do these kinds of posts because I don't want to come across like I'm dangling a carrot for you guys to follow, or otherwise giving the false impression of a community vote; 3-on-1-off and no music is going to stay no matter how much Bewick or Aaron try to convince me otherwise. But I also think it helps to be able to see where this train is headed, and also what's going on before and after sessions. The Building a Champion pt. 11 post talked about where we're headed, and that's still the case after an all-timer of a Summer; this post is some of the immediate stuff.

The Building

I am currently renting out all of 32301 Stephenson Hwy. from Dave, who owns the entire building (our side and the KDN/corvette side, which has the address 32311). I am in negotiations to buy my half, and it's looking promising. In the meantime I need to figure out what to do with the front office (the other side of the door by the wallballs). One of the former Champions Club dads is sub-leasing it right now, and that ends in December, so I'm fishing around for some interest. If you or anyone you know would be interested in about 900 sq. ft. of office space, let me know. The price can definitely be negotiated, but it would be somewhere around $700 per month, utilities to be determined. The office will have new windows installed soon, not sure I can say the same about the parking lot.

The vibe you guys have been giving off for the last year and some change gives me a ton of confidence to put everything I have into buying the building so we'll have a permanent home. I love the place, I love the people in it, and... the Rodeway in and the Bar can be sketchy at times, but we'll make do.

New People

I have made quite a few references to what we're looking for in New Kids on the Block. The criteria to look for and the check-with-me-first seem to be clear enough to everyone. Another thing I think is worth sharing is that most of the new people interest I get directly don't actually come from new people at all. I would say once every other week I get a random call or a text from someone who used to work out here on a regular basis.

Hey Chris, it's [insert a same that makes me smile from ear to ear], I know it's been a while but I was wondering if we could talk about me coming back to the Club!

ps. are your calves still huge and muscular?

The longer this thing lasts, the more and more of these I think I'm going to get; I find it hard to believe Mama V, Reggie, Mrs. Pip, Jacob, and Kroll will never be part of our daily lives again, they're just too us. And then there's those, like Madelyn Wesner, who I never guess they'd come back but surprise the hell out of me.

Since the Summer started I've turned away 6 soccer kids, one football kid, a brother of one of my all-time favorite kids, a guy who was looking all over for a coach who would just tell it like it is without sugercoating, my second-cousin, and a dude with a Platform 9 3/4 case on his phone. Those, somehow, aren't really that difficult. The ones I find the most difficult are the people who have been here, gone through the fire just like you guys, and, for one reason or another, left for an extended time. "Once in the Champions Club, always in the Champions Club" is something I want to hold true here.

The reality is we had 120 people for Summer, and about 100 of them are going to stay for the fall in one way or another. And it's not just 100 random mofos that cut the check, it's you guys. It's the moms who stole the show this Summer, it's the Nevarez clan, the Lamphere crew, and the soccer families. It's Mr. Bennis's carpentry skills, Coach Casey's talkative skills, and Mr. Kuiper's Waffle House directional skills. It's Chris Schott, who shows up about as much as I shower, but still makes everyone in his session better.

That doesn't leave a lot of room for New Kids. Mr. Slade/Mr. Mark have been talking up a family I want to give a tryout, I owe it to The Family to give their kids a shot if they're a good fit, and Coach T has two kids he thinks would fit well. Plus, looking ahead, there's a good chance we'll be adding Cecilia and Kris Campbell as full-timers after this fall semester. I need to make sure to leave room for "Once in the Champions Club, always in the Champions Club." The tricky part is knowing when the time is right.

The Website

Yeah, man. The workout times, the pictures, and some of the other little daily posts are starting to feel like they're getting in the way of more important stuff. I'm big into cutting out or modifying things that aren't sustainable, and solo upkeep for the website, in my opinion, isn't sustainable. I think I could use some help; I'd like to keep the site going with regular content, and I'd also like to reserve my typing for certain posts, and spend time at the end of the session talking with you guys, not thinking about the pictures getting uploaded or the times getting posted. I'm not sure if this is a binary thing or not, but I think we can have both.

The tricky part is the times and pictures need to be done in the after-hours. Why? Because if, say, Shakes or Bubs are the sacrificial lambs that take to posting and uploading when a workout is done, that means taking them away temporarily from the post-workout hangout magic. Not willing to do that. If anyone has some ideas, feel free to shoot them my way.

As far as the main page content, I have missed about 4 New Graduate posts on handstand push-ups in the last two weeks, also three one-year anniversary posts. I think those could be very easily community-driven. As with the Guest Posts about cereal and movies. Just type some words into an email, send it my way, and I'll get it up with pictures and tags and all that. The purpose of our website is to make superstars of our athletes. So let's hear about a funny hunting story from Mr. Van, or Mr. Malak's 7 life lessons from coaching his son, or Mrs. Hana's first week back at school, or Dylan Colussi's thoughts on his Champions CLub journey from the Babies to working out next to Lukeand Cecilia, or what songs Zander sings to himself while he's running.

Aaaaand, that's all I got. The more the Champions Club grows, the more maintenance is needed to keep everything running well. Trust me, it's a great problem to have!