Taking first at the CrossFit Games obviously requires a team of six people who are all experienced at CrossFit and work well together as a team, we had that. We wouldnt have been standing on the top of the podium had it not been for my amazing teammates Nuno Costa, Bryan Miller, Melissa Hurley, Ayo Anise and Heather Hippensteel. But winning the CrossFit Games also requires a huge team of supporters, which everybody who was watching knows Invictus has. Standing on the field, looking up at the Sea of Green supporting Invictus, gave us the extra motivation needed to push through the tough workouts. It is the reason why we were able to do the extra meters on the big bob push, gave us speed on the sprint, gave strength on the deadlift (even though Ayo deadlifted only 20lb less than me and Sam Dancer was 10lb shy of pulling 200lb more than me) and so on. It means so much more than you would ever think!! Watching it from the computer in another country, watching it on ESPN, spending a few hours or maybe the entire weekend at the Stubhub center or whatever you have done for supporting the team means more than you will ever know. Thank you so SO much for that. Having the team behind the scenes, Karen and Pops, helping with everything from making all the meals, doing laundry and taking care of hotel accommodations allowed us to focus on competing and nothing else. The work they put in is unbelievable, it allows you to focus on the only thing you need to focus on, Competing. It is such a relief. Over the course of four days of competition your body needs to be taken care of. Heidi, Tara and Ian thank you for that. You always make sure every last athlete is fresh for the next workout. Special thanks to Ian for improving my back after a failed 30lb PR deadlift attempt. Thank you Nike, PurePharma and Xendurance for keeping us clothed, recovered and looking good for competition the entire season. Last but not at least a huge thanks to coach Cj Martin. He has spent countless hours preparing our team for the Open, Regionals and the Games. Its obviously we wouldnt have won Games without him but we probably wouldnt have made it there without him as well. It is unbelievable that he has a family, owns a gym and at the same time is a high level coach for so many individual athletes and multiple teams. I will never understand how he does it all, but what I do know is that hes doing a damn good job at all of it. My conclusion is that winning the Games requires more than just six good athletes. It requires a whole community and family of people who are supporting those athletes. Full effort is full victory.
Posted on: Wed, 30 Jul 2014 19:55:39 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015