Is Tia-Clair Toomey Retiring? 

August 22   |   POWERED BY

Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.

In today’s edition:

• Did Tia-Clair Toomey announce her retirement?
• CrossFit to release a new affiliate toolkit to gym owners
• The dying stigma of CrossFit and where the sport goes from here
• Jayson Hopper talks about his Games performance and off-season plans
• NOBULL and the NFL talk about their new partnership

“Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark.” - Rabindranath Tagore

Is She or Isn’t She? Has Tia-Clair Toomey Decided to Retire From CrossFit Competition?

“For the sixth time and for the final time, Tia Toomey is the Fittest Woman on Earth!” When Sean Woodland announced her plans to retire during the live broadcast on the final day of competition at the 2022 NOBULL CrossFit Games it signaled the end of an era of dominance by Toomey.

Or did it?

Woodland’s statement was unequivocal, but in multiple follow-ups, Toomey’s responses have left a lot of room for doubt as to whether she’s retiring.

What’s been said so far: Is Toomey going for a seventh title or is she just building suspense for an autumn announcement?

• Sean Woodland on the live broadcast of the final event of the CrossFit Games: “If you’re wondering why Tia Toomey took her time and soaked it in, this is it. She’s planning to retire after the CrossFit Games.”
• Toomey on the floor after winning the 2022 CrossFit Games responding to Niki Brazier’s question: “Do you come back one more time or is this the end?” The six-time champion responded with a smile, “That’s the question. We’ll see.”
• Woodland in a tweet after the Games explaining why he said that on the live broadcast: “I had confirmation and permission from her camp to do it and that’s the only way I would have even thought about mentioning it.”
• Toomey in tears behind the scenes after walking off the floor: “The last five bar muscle-ups will be remembered forever.”
• Toomey at the press conference immediately following the Games: “Well technically I didn’t announce my retirement.” She then added, “we’ll see. There’s a bit of a trend going around, announcing retirement and then coming back. I’ll just keep you guys guessing.”
• Toomey in an Instagram post on August 11: “Seven sounds better, don’t you think?”
• Toomey in a VLOG on August 16 in response to Shane Orr’s question: “What does 2023 look like,” to which she responded: “To be continued.”

Shane Orr, Toomey’s husband, coach and manager, had no comment regarding Toomey’s plans when the Morning Chalk Up reached out to him for a comment.

The big picture: It’s no secret that she and her husband are very guarded and protective of the decisions they make. Everything they do is calculated and has a particular end state in mind. The decision of whether she’s stepping away from competition or not is one no doubt she has decided on but wants to do it on her own accord and platform.

We do know that her camp gave Woodland and the CrossFit team their blessings to announce that this would be her final Games. However, she is reluctant to say it herself at the time and has remained noncommittal since, carefully choosing her words and avoiding saying that she is done, even on her own social media platforms.

Whether Toomey decides to retire or not will have a serious impact on the female side of competition where she’s dominated the last six seasons.

• We know that she’s been invited to compete at the Rogue Invitational at the end of October and it stands to reason she’ll return to compete for a shot at what could be upwards of a $250,000 first-place prize purse.
• Delaying an announcement after Rogue would also give CrossFit’s media team more time to prepare a proper tribute to the queen of CrossFit.

Jordan, Brady, Gretzky, Froning

AIRWAAV Athlete Rich Froning cemented his place among the all-time greats by once again finishing on top of the podium with Mayhem Freedom.

AIRWAAV is proud to be the only performance tool Froning takes on the competition floor.

“I have other tools to help recover and perform, but none of them are on the competition floor other than the AIRWAAV” – 10x Games Champion Rich Froning

Try it for yourself and see how the AIRWAAV Performance Mouthpiece can help you take your performance to the next level.

BREATHE LIKE THE CHAMP IN YOUR NEXT WOD.

In case you missed it: Lauren Kalil, the host of The Bottom Line, spoke to 2022 Games rookie and fan favorite Rebecca Fuselier about her debut at the CrossFit Games and those moments on the Capitol stairs:

• “I would never quit. I would die before I quit.”

Reminders: The pre-season schedule is loaded this year and before you know it we will be into qualifier territory. Here are some dates to block out on your calendars.

• The first round of Rogue Invitational invites are out already. If you were a top Games finisher this year, check you inbox (spoiler: none of us at the MCU received one). The finals will take place October 28-30 in Austin, TX. The Rogue Invitational qualifier kicks off on August 26 and runs through the 28th.
• The Butcher’s Classic qualifier (in Copenhagen, Denmark) starts on August 26. The event is scheduled for October 7-9.
• The Dubai CrossFit Championship qualifier lasts from September 8 through September 22. The finals will take place December 2-4 in Dubai, UAE.
• Wodapalooza, which is scheduled for January 12-15 has two separate qualifiers, one for individuals, which runs September 15-26 and one for teams, running October 13-24.

Ten-Year Anniversary: Move Fast Lift Heavy is hosting a ten-year anniversary party and lift off on October 1. Check it out.

Jobs Jobs Jobs: Loud and Live is hiring. There are a BUNCH of positions available in business development, management, finance, and video/graphics. Apply now.

Congrats: Brendan Rice was just named the new Chief Revenue Officer at Wodify.

CrossFit to Release Content Kit to Affiliates to “Re-Energize the Brand” and Drive More People into the Community

In the coming months, CrossFit LLC will launch a content kit to affiliates to help gyms with their sales and marketing efforts.

• “One of CrossFit HQ’s priorities this year is to invest and re-energize the brand…The intention of our new content is two-fold — to improve the perception of CrossFit and encourage people who’ve never tried CrossFit before to try CrossFit at a local affiliate,” explained Gary Gaines, CrossFit’s global head of affiliates, about the big picture plan behind the kit.

The details: The content kit will contain various tools to help affiliates market themselves, including a video library with content gym owners will be able to share with their community and prospective members on their social media channels, website or through emails.

• It also contains a content creation guide with instructions for generating and distributing “authentic content” created by members of that affiliate’s community, as well as an image guide with customizable images.
• Further, the kit offers an email series with templates that can be customized and sent to prospective members, as well local media outreach email templates so affiliates can generate coverage by their local media outlets.
• Finally, it offers a four-week marketing plan guide for affiliates, which provides a roadmap for building awareness and bringing in new prospects.

The big picture: On top of this being a way to “re-energize the (CrossFit) brand,” there has been a lot of talk—and demand from the affiliate community—about the need for CrossFit to help affiliates financially since Eric Roza purchased CrossFit LLC in June 2020, and it’s something Roza committed himself to immediately.

• “We have to provide a lot more value to our affiliates,” Roza said at an August 2020 Town Hall, where he committed to building tools and software to help affiliates become more financially successful.

In light of this, this content kit has to be seen as a step forward in this commitment.

OPINION: The Dying Stigma Around CrossFit and the Democratization of Functional Fitness

The 2022 NOBULL CrossFit Games are in the rear view mirror and it’s time for us to take stock of the sport, the season, and where we go from here.

The 2022 season was another one filled with highs and lows–wins and losses–capped off by the Games in Madison and a new CEO in Don Faul. But there are bigger, more philosophical questions we should be asking ourselves: where is CrossFit as a methodology and what is the trajectory of the sport, for both the elites, and the everyday gym warriors who head to classes before, during and after their real jobs?

Two things come to mind: one, there is still a stigma around CrossFit. This is notable in the fact that we here at the Morning Chalk Up have difficulty getting celebrities to talk to us about doing CrossFit, even though lots of them are doing it. Mega movie star Chris Pratt talking about doing Murph over and over to prepare for a role is a good start, but it’s still clear to see: when some people hear the word CrossFit, they do not have a positive response. Why is this?

Jayson Hopper: “I felt like I was maturing as the weekend went on.”

Two-time CrossFit Games athlete Jayson Hopper had a slow start in Madison. With a goal of top 10 and starting the week in the bottom half of the field, he had a lot of work in front of him to earn enough points to reach his goal. Morning Chalk Up’s Lauren Kalil sits down with Hopper to talk about how he ultimately surpassed his goal on the leaderboard, some of the highlights from the Games and even teased ahead to a team he’s creating for Wodapalooza.

NOBULL and NFL Execs Talk About New Scouting Combine Partnership 

NOBULL, a brand synonymous with and born from CrossFit, has announced that it will be the presenting sponsor of the NFL Scouting Combine. The multi-year deal starts with the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine and designates NOBULL as the “Official Combine Training Partner of the NFL” and the “Official On-Field Supplier of Apparel and Headwear for the NFL Combine”.

• “NOBULL is a training brand for people who work hard and don’t believe in excuses, and this new partnership with the NFL perfectly encapsulates everything we stand for. To have the opportunity to provide these aspiring professional athletes with the chance to perform their best during one of the most important events of their lives is a landmark moment for us,” said NOBULL co-founder Marcus Wilson.
• “We could not be more thrilled to work with the NFL to develop this partnership and find new ways to support the incredibly hardworking prospects pursuing their dreams of playing in the NFL.”

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