“It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.”- Henry David Thoreau
PROFILE
CrossFit Teens, Homeschooling and Isolation: “Every minute was spent on training or homework”
The CrossFit teen population is growing, both in numbers and popularity, as more and more of them, as well as teen division alumni make waves in the individual ranks each year. There’s also a growing pressure for young athletes to sacrifice a great deal for a spot on the CrossFit Games floor.
The problem?
CrossFit teens are putting all their eggs in the CrossFit basket, and the motivation to sacrifice prom and football games and pizza for extra hours in the gym can wear off when you’re left with rowing intervals and four hours of homework on a Tuesday night.
Emma Cary
That’s exactly what 2021 CrossFit Games 16th place finisher Emma Cary experienced for almost all of high school. Throughout most of her young life, Cary has dreamt of becoming a pediatrician alongside being an elite CrossFit athlete. That has meant taking an extremely heavy course load in high school in addition to the blood, sweat and tears it takes to be the Games champion at 15-years-old in the teen division and an elite athlete at 16-years-old.
Looking back on it now after graduating high school, Cary recognizes the hardships of her school experience.
“It was 6 am to after midnight multiple days a week. It wasn’t something that occasionally happened, it was common. I didn’t feel good, and I wasn’t seeing the progress I wanted,” Cary said. It was an extremely strenuous situation for the teenager, going so far as to affect her recovery and sleep.
“Every minute was spent training or doing homework. Even while I would eat, I would do homework. There was just no time to relax, sometimes no time to even stretch or recover my body. It was like, I can sleep or I can stretch, and right now I need to sleep. It was tough.”
While looking forward to her senior year, which she had blocked out with her schedule as a more “fun” year to soak in the high school experience, Cary decided in the summer of 2021 to complete the year online. Although it was a hard choice, setting aside her dream of becoming a doctor for now, Cary knew that in order to go all in on training for the CrossFit Games this was a necessary decision.
“Nothing could make me feel like (CrossFit) does, that’s just a whole new level of passion, that’s what I truly love to do. I found that I might have to sacrifice other dreams for that and that’s okay.”
Cary finished her senior year a semester early while doing online school, which she says was extremely beneficial for her training schedule and lifestyle. It was the first time she felt independent from school, she said, and it gave her freedom to control her time as she saw fit.
In addition, as she saw improvements on her CrossFit game, Cary learned the valuable lesson that having too much on your plate can make the quality of your output decrease, but when she put her energy into one specific focus, she could be her very best.
That’s why they set about creating a modern, user-friendly gym management system that has helped thousands of gym owners around the world build wildly successful businesses.
PushPress is a gym management software that helps you build your business, not just manage it. They offer a full stack of systems, so you can focus on what’s important – growing your business and helping people get healthy.
In case you missed it, Lauren Kalil, the host of The Bottom Line, spoke to Tyler Watkins and Brian Friend about if CrossFit can grow through predicting performance?
Adaptive CrossFit for Kids is an initiative we can all get behind. Check out these two kids absolutely crushing it in Wilmington, DE. Talk about inspiring.
“All things are difficult before they become easy!”
Mat Fraser is back on the Nashville Dads Club with a hilarious skit about Mutant Conditioning.
Amanda Stoker has a book out, called Train the Mind, Heal the Heart, which details her CrossFit journey and how she developed mental toughness and emotional weakness at the same time.
PROFILE
MEMBER EXCLUSIVE
22 Questions with Brent Fikowski: Ozark, TV On The Radio, Kawhi Leonard and Hot Dog Eating Contests
Known as “The Professor,” Canadian Brent Fikowski climbed back to the upper echelon of the sport this past season at the 2021 NOBULL CrossFit Games, finishing third and getting back onto the podium for the first time since 2017.
Fikowski is known for his intense attention to detail when it comes to all things CrossFit. But who is the man with the plan off the competition floor?
He is a new father, and of course, still gunning for that elusive title. So what makes the man with the gigantic CrossFit brain tick, we decided to find out, and asked 22 questions, in accordance with the year, to let you know who the man behind the man with the plan is.
This is excellent and definitely something athletes, coaches, managers, media, and fans want and should have.
One thing that jumps out though is the timeline for athletes who have to choose among registering between multiple divisions in the period from Quarterfinals to Semifinals; specifically in cases when an athlete has qualified as both an individual and in their age group. Let’s take a look.
Remind Me: This year athletes who qualify for multiple Semifinal stages are only permitted to participate in one of those (Individual, Team, or Age Group). This means that following Quarterfinals they have to make that decision. However, because those three Quarterfinal stages take place on three different weekends that span just over a month, and as invitations for Individual Semifinals have been sent out, Age Group athletes were left unsure of what to do.
Many of them reached out to CrossFit and received communication in response suggesting that they can accept and register for their individual Semifinal and then after the Age Group Quarterfinals they can choose to revoke that in lieu of an Age Group Semifinal.
Jenn Ryan, a Masters athlete that qualified for Individual Semifinals: “I reached out to CrossFit Games support and Kurtis Bowler the day we received the email invites to confirm the situation.”
She explained: “After the age group quarterfinals, once we receive (if/when) our semifinals invites, we can then rescind the Granite Games or whichever Semifinal we accepted for. I don’t know the timeline bc we weren’t told that. It’s kinda tight for sure. I would assume they’ll backfill at that point.”
Though this allows the affected age group athletes more time to make their decision, a closer look at the timeline provided by CrossFit presents a new challenge.
Potential Timeline of Events:
April 13 CrossFit Individual Semifinal Registrations Due
April 21-23 Age Group Quarterfinals
May 6 Age Group Quarterfinals Leaderboard Finalized
May 10 Age Group Semifinal Registration Opens
May 20 Week 1 of Individual Semifinals Begins
May 23 Age Group Semifinals Registration Ends
May 27 Week 2 of Individual Semifinals Begins
May 26-29 Age Group Semifinals (14-17; 35-49)
June 2-5 Age Group Semifinals (50-65+)
The middle portion of the above schedule exposes a potential conflict due to how late the registration window for Age Group Semifinalists begins and ends relative to the first couple weeks of Individual Semifinals. While we don’t know for sure what the backfill process is, if there is intent to round out the finals to 30 for Individual Semifinals, the timeline to do so is extremely narrow for backfill athletes and the semifinal event teams hosting them.
Who are the Age Group athletes that have qualified and accepted invitations to Individual Semifinals by week?
There are a total of 18 masters athletes, and 1 teenage athlete, who meet these criteria, here they are broken down by week, age, Semifinal, and Open placement.
Week 1 (May 20-22) Masters Athletes:
Joelenne Neville, 36 years old (Torian Pro), 79th in the Open
Carrie Freestone, 39 years old (Torian Pro), 131st in the Open
Week 2 (May 27-29) Masters Athletes:
Hayley Murillo, 35 years old (MACC), 28th in the Open.
Kelly Clark, 35 years old (MACC), 28th in the Open.
Jason Smith, 38 years old (Cape Town), 23rd in the Open.
Mary Jamieson, 39 years old (Cape Town), 196th in the Open.
Tammy Taylor, 38 years old, (Cape Town), 505th in the Open.
Week 3 (June 3-5) Masters Athletes:
Ram Dover, 35 years old (Far East), 32nd in the Open.
Anatolii Borisenko, 35 years old (Far East), 259th in the Open.
Dema Zebdieh, 36 years old (Far East), 72nd in the Open.
Maryam Zanbagh, 38 years old (Far East), 37th in the Open.
Hajer Jamal, 35 years old (Far East), 125th in the Open.
Yuko Sakuyama, 35 years old (Far East), 9th in the Open.
Rebecca Voigt Miller, 41 years old (Granite Games), 7th in the Open.
Jenn Ryan, 42 years old (Granite Games), 2nd in the Open.
Week 4 (June 10-12) Masters/Teen Athletes:
Michelle Palmer, 37 years old (Atlas Games), 25th in the Open.
Emma Lawson, 17 years old (Atlas Games), 1st in the Open.
Ioannis Papadopoulos, 35 years old (Strength in Depth), 9th in the Open.
Andreia Pinheiro, 39 years old (Copa Sur), 169th in the Open.
Of these 19 Age Group athletes, 11 of them finished in the top 40 of their division in the Open. Only the top 30 athletes from each age group division will advance to the Age Group Semifinals, so there’s a real possibility that many of these athletes do in fact qualify for the next round of competition. And if they do, what then?
Why it matters: To qualify for the Individual Semifinal round as an age group athlete is incredibly impressive, and giving athletes the opportunity to qualify for both divisions is not particularly problematic in itself. However, the logistics involved in allowing athletes to register in more than one Semifinal are very important, and the implications of those deadlines have a ripple effect beyond just the age group athletes making the decision. Whether it’s the event teams trying to plan for a specific number of and names of athletes, or the backfill athletes and their support teams that are sitting in qualification-limbo until potentially receiving a last-minute invitation to Semifinals, the number of people affected is not small.
The big picture: The CrossFit community has voiced frustration over a number of issues already this year, between the invalid Quarterfinals scores, unchanged Semifinal payouts, unannounced rulebook changes, and international travel challenges; confusion over Semifinals registration can now be added to that list. For now, we can only hope there will be improvements as the field narrows, and to the competitive season as a whole in 2023.
CROSSFIT GAMES
VIDEO: First Take on Syndicate Crown Semifinal Seeding
You put in time, effort, and resources all so you can look good this summer. But is a week of cocktails and lounging on the beach going to destroy your gains? And how much are you going to lose? Watch this breakdown to know what's going to go...and how to get it back.
Designed for busy athletes just like you. No more wasting time digging around for lost gear. See exactly where your stuff is, grab it easily, and go. Organized, durable, structured, vented, with a dedicated shoe area. The Haven organized duffel keeps you focused and moving fast.
When cycling the barbell, moving quicker isn't always the answer. Compromising your positions for the sake of speed will take its toll when you're in a workout and reduce your overall speed. Set yourself up for success by using this tip in your next WOD.
Time to put the sweatpants away again and refresh your look for the season with new arrivals and old favorites at Reebok. Use Code "SPRINGSZN" at checkout and get 40-50% off. Exclusions Apply.
Old school coaches everywhere are getting real mad at us right now. But it turns out that lifting with a belt can help improve your core, lift more, and build your confidence. Find out why at the link below so you can argue with them at the box tonight.
This email may contain affiliate links. We make a small commision off of purchases made via our affiliate links to help support this newsletter. If you no longer wish to receive the Morning Chalk Up newsletter, unsubscribe here.
