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Entries in ricky reps (4)
10-Year Anniversary: Ricky Carey
Chris Sinagoga | Monday, August 30, 2021 at 4:00PM Man I owe Slick an apology for this one. <-- I wrote that on June 18.
Now it's August 29 at 10:30 at night. I just scrolled through 1 year of archives to write Dillon and Jessica's thing. And now it is time to go back and scroll through 10 years archives and write about Ricky Carey. Here is the firs thing I found:
When I was a sophomore at Foley everyone had to do these service hours for repentance to Jesus for sins like not having a belt and wearing ankle socks; one of the easiest service hours to do was this thing where a bus would come get us during religion class and take us to G.A. for about 45 minutes to help some little 2nd graders read.
The 2nd graders weren't off the hook now: no way! They had to repent for their sins like not coloring in the lines and running with scissors, so their teacher made them write thank you cards to the Foley students who were really just trying to get out of religion class.
As luck would have it, my mom saved all of them (because she's a mom) and on a random snowy January morning in 2017 she brought them out and showed me some rather familiar names. Apparently I was teaching a 2nd grade Ricky Carey how to read. Let that marinate for a little bit.
Fast forward about 6 years and the Champions Club was going on its second Summer, this time in the Fieldhouse. Our 10 am rookie session featured some promising stars like Jay Junkin, Meghan Murley, Frankie Lama, and Seth, who, as a 7th grader, famously took his dad's Corvette on a joy ride one fine afternoon and led the police on a lovely chase around Royal Oak before gracefully pulling back into his own driveway (which permanently put him on the far right Personality on The Graph). Yes, that's the promise of our first-ever Rookie session.
Mixed in there somewhere was a strapping young lad named Ricky Carey, son of Mom's Club standout Mrs. Carey, who would do reps at an exercise until everyone else started moving to the next station, then called it good and moved on as well (the origin of Ricky Reps). Erika Banet called him a chunk in her Senior Tribute, and for once I do not have to be the one to dish out an insult.
Due to a mixture of peer pressure, guilt, and having literally no excuse not to come, Ricky managed to keep existing at the Champions Club through the fall and winter and ended up making some great improvements in his fitness, and continued that through the next few Summers.
First of many Athlete of the Week awards
He also ended up finding a niche with a group that would end up being known as The Freaks. They were... odd, to say the least. Their play time creativity and flavor put the Monkey Exhibit and their wall initiation to shame.
Behind the Champion: Boxy, the CrossFit Box
Who Says CrossFit Can't Be Sexy (pt. 1)
Untitled/Unedited Rant from 12/14/2013: Guys vs. Girls
But in between all of the games and free time and social stuff, a very cool reality was setting in to me as a coach: Ricky Carey was, by some miracle, getting really good at the CrossFit thing. At the time the top high school girl athletes were the 3 Banet girls and Bubs, and on the guys' side we had David Saporito and Jason going head-to-head in most workouts with JZ catching them on a few here and there. Then suddenly in early 2014, Ricky Carey distanced himself from the Conor Moores, Collin Skorupskis, Aaron Sextons, and Aaron Augustyns and put himself right up there with Jason and Sap.
20 straight pull-ups (beat Aaron Sexton's 18)
Second in Athlete of the Winter '13-'14
As this pattern continued I really gained an appreciation for Ricky because he didn't take himself too seriously as an athlete but still managed to follow a constant trajectory in the right direction as one. Over the next two years or so, during the prime of the Freaks Generation, he'd mix in play time highlights...
Who Says CrossFit Can't Be Sexy (pt. 2)
Stealing Katie Bromm's homework
... with legit Beast Modes...
Probably won first-ever Jurassic Park Theme Workout
By the end of Summer 2015 I could not deny it any more: Ricky Carey had turned himself into a really good athlete, and worked himself into being really good at CrossFit. He is a late-bloomer if there ever was one. Since he graduated high school in 2016 Ricky has always been back for Summer and Christmas break and somehow managed to keep getting better.
He was also the first person to spraypaint his name on the floor...
... and was part of two controversial Athlete of the Week awards.
Now Ricky spends his time on the mean streets of Chicago doing whatever it is he's doing for a full-time job. Ricky is the beginning point of an era at the Champions Club defined by a combination of play and performance; being able to mess around and have fun, then flip the switch to move well and put up a great workout score. There will be a lot of kids around this era who will be in the Should We Really Count Them As 10-Year People category; Ricky is not one of them. He is firmly cemented in the foundation of this place and will always be welcomed any time he's back in town.
Thank you for making this place your home for the last 10 years Slick! It would not be the same without you!
