CrossFit Athletic Group

Next to Summer 2015 when The Freaks were in their prime, this has been my most difficult decision for Athlete of the Summer. Cecilia Steinwascher has shown an incredible recovery from her foot injury and has put herself in the best shape of her life. Dillon Sharp has followed an Athlete of the Spring honor with an even better Summer. Noah Heide has zero holes in his fitness armor. Aaron Sexton really came on late with Fran and Helen, plus he did a backflip. Jessica Suchta finally started to get close to the potential she showed when she was a rookie in Summer 2018. Evan is now beating Jay Junkin in endurance workouts. Chase Kuiper is probably in the best shape and has the best form out of any of our middle school/high school crowd. And... uh... has anyone seen Mr. Bennis work out lately? He's been possessed by the ginger spirit of David... never mind, gingers don't have souls. But you know what I mean. I have lost a lot of sleep since early August trying to make my choice and any spare moment mopping the gym, walking home, or resting in between sessions was usually spent having the debate in my head.

It is now 11:47 pm on September 1, the Harry Potter recap is done, and I've had about an hour to marinate on my choice. I'm finally at peace with it. All I can say is you better hide your puppies. Again.

I held off on publishing the next All-Decade List in May for Best High Schoolers because I was waiting to see if Dillon Sharp was going to make it. Though her spring was great, it wasn't enough to jump over Bubs or Bromm into the top 11. As a consolation prize she got Athlete of the Spring. Sometimes I give an award thinking, Welp I better do this now because they probably won't get the next one. Dillon Sharp was definitely our Athlete of the Spring, and I assumed by giving her that I could then focus on Cecilia and Aaron for the Summer. Little did I know that Dillon was nowhere near done in her constant, relentless quest to prove me wrong.

She made that clear when she did 26 rounds of Cindy, then reminded me on the burpee/kb swing couplet that she is as locked in as any Banet we've ever had. She then showed off her strength on the 1RM overhead squat, and solidified her spot in the rafters with her effort on the Filthy Fifty last week. In between the highlights were daily workouts where she brought a serious focus and effort that not only helped her, but her entire session. What has resulted is the biggest physical and mental transformation I've seen from a girl since Katie Shakes or Emma Wonsil. Much like 2015, this was a decision based on consistency from June 8 - August 31, and Dillon was all there. Congratulations kiddo, you truly earned this one!

...........

As with everything else this Summer, the AOTS and the Dream Team are being picked differently. The attendance is complete and up-to-date through the Shark Week workout (which gives us 70 days), but I have not looked at it since week 6. Coach Casey has kept it locked in a safe along with his emergency supply of PopTarts and How To Convince A Wife To Buy A Hot Tub, the paperback edition. I am picking the Dream Team based solely on who I think did their best. I will publish the final attendance - both individual and rolling - sometime soonish.

Champions Club Summer 2020 Dream Team

• Aaron Sexton - 7:02 Helen, backflip, Hazel-Park-ass-mofo
• Cecilia Steinwascher - faster and stronger than before the ankle injury
• Chase Kuiper - about as impressive as an 8th grader has ever been; Real Deal Holyfield for sure
• Dillon Sharp - AOTS
• Evan Pugh - consistent form and better endurance is catching up with his country strength
• Jaylee Hall - tried to hide from her mom on the second day, now has perfect attendance
• Jessica Suchta - been waiting for a Summer like this Jess!
• Mr. Bennis - looks like he's 50, works out like he's 36
• Mr. Malak - lost like 70 lbs., made most of the Theme Workouts, amusing/arousing mobility noises
• Noah Heide - fittest male athlete in the gym, learning to coach too

Cecilia. I think a special mention needs to be given to Cecilia Steinwascher, as it was her late-July rise that really made my AOTS decision miserable. She might have got herself a banner in just about any other Summer, and it was't like there was something she did or didn't do that cost her. Just one of those things. I could tell Cec was really frustrated by her lack of fitness in June. Even though she didn't miss a day in the spring, she was still behind where she left off last Summer; that injury really did a number on her. But she had the best August out of anyone in the gym, and her top-end speed and midline strength is better than I've ever seen. Now she's ready for whatever kind of season Grand Valley is going to have. I am really proud of how she was able to bounce back like this. This Summer was the most fun I've had coaching her.

Environment. I first started to obsess over the importance of environment last Summer when I went to the CrossFit Health Conference, and I notice it everywhere now that I am looking for it. At the start of this Summer the session restrictions were based mostly on being able to keep everyone spaced out and limit the variance of interactions. Once we settled in, I noticed how each session formed their micro-environment and I wanted to preserve that.

For example, the common stigma with the 8 am session was that it was the "elite" session. But that wasn't the case at all; they were the most coachable session, and allowed themselves to be challenged in ways that were very uncomfortable, both for them as athletes and for me as a coach. At 10 am Dillon and Jessica set the tone that it is okay to compete hard against each other - something that is rare in high school kids, especially girls. The 11 am session, on the other hand, was the Monkey Exhibit. Conamora is now the most talkative person in our entire gym, and the ring leader of a young trio that I think is going to make some major waves in the Champions Club for years to come.

Jaylee. Speaking of the 11 am session, Jaylee Hall joins Ashley Fry and Katie Bromm as the only athletes in Champions Club Summer history to record perfect attendance. There were no asterisk days, and no days not counted; the closest call was one Saturday she had to leave the session a little early to go to volleyball. We stopped the official attendance at 70 days (right after Shark Week) but she still hasn't missed one as of yet, and even got her first pull-up at the Harry Potter workout. It would be totally inappropriate to hand out the M.I.L.F. award to a 14 year-old girl, but Jaylee has shown the Most Improved Limb Function by far.

Also two cool stories about Jaylee. First, the point in her Dream Team mention is true: Back in May she was 10 minutes late at Dorchester for her 2nd day of Fundamentals because she was hiding under her bed hoping her mom wouldn't find her and make her go. Secondly, two weeks ago she was concerned about a small, mysterious lump that was developing on the side of her leg. She brought up the issue to her mom and after thorough examination Jaylee found out that is was actually a muscle.

Paris and Zander. There are probably 60 people who deserve a shout-out for making it through the Summer despite me testing them, physically and mentally, every chance I had. Paris Rettig and Zander Munk stand out to me because of how harsh I was on them in the spring. Paris was Tea's ride, so she got to tag along during lockdown, and I really liked Owen so I let Zander tag along sometimes; I let both of them know that repeatedly too. Now it is September and Paris and Zander are both 100% not package deals. Paris and Zander are here because they work hard and have great form and are Champions Club kids without a doubt.

RLAPNS. Another theme for the Summer is the finale of World Class Fitness in 100 Words. We used a lot of warmups and cool-downs to kick the soccer ball, hit the volleyball, and do that double-tap game (Ally, Bankston, Shakes, and myself have the record of 149, beating the 10 am crew by a landslide). The Monkey Exhibit played spontaneous games of baseball, which made me wonder if maybe specializing in soccer is in Conamora's best interests. And the babies invented a violent game of Keepaway that I ended up taking to the 10 am session. This was fun to watch, and healthy to do, and something that is not going away any time soon.

Theme Workouts. This was the only thing I doubted a bit going into the Summer, and now I realize how dumb it was to doubt you guys. We went out of order, started a week late, none of them were planned in advance, and all of them pushed the Don't Give Anyone A Reason meter over the redline, but they were all so dope! We introduced Space Jam Theme - which included a record 37 people - and brought back the Pirates of the Caribbean workout. Owen wrote "Disney" on a medium white tee for the Disney workout, Coach Casey topped himself for the 80s, we brought back an old format for Shark Week with a new sharking relay course, and Harry Potter went from This Is Never Going To Work to Wow This Worked Perfectly (literally, all 4 teams had 14 people). In case you forgot how they went down:

Disney Doozy

Space Jam Theme Workout

Pirates of the Caribbean Theme Workout

80's Theme Workout

Shark Week Theme Workout

Harry Potter Theme Workout

Summary. Summer 2019 was - and still is - the best Summer the Champions Club has ever seen. It provided an incredibly strong foundation for our gym to build on - especially at the youth level. But Summer 2020, in my opinion, will go down as the most important Summer in our gym's history. We changed a lot of things that made us successful in the past, experimented with different workout formats (most notably the 3-on-1-off schedule), and ended up in a better place on September 1 than we were on March 1. In short, Summer 2020 set a new standard for the Champions Club, and I think this is going to continue going forward.

On a personal note, I wanted to actually enjoy a Summer for once. There always seems to be something coming up - both inside and outside the gym - that I've let get in the way of enjoying the best time of year at the Champions Club. I can say without a doubt that this is the first Summer I've enjoyed from start to finish since 2013.

You are my environment right now. The effort you give, the faith you have in me and the other people, and the dedication you show give me an endless supply of energy to do what I do. I don't think there are many organizations, teams, or programs that are going as strong as we are at this moment. Thank you so much for what you give to this place.

Love you guys for real,

Chris