I will always be able to walk on my hands
I learned to play soccer( and kick a ball!) at 27 - and I am not terrible
CrossFit OL-1
From an early age, I was very active. I was first introduced to the world of sports through the 1996 Olympic Games. My mom recalls me pointing at the TV while watching the US Women’s Gymnastics team win gold for the first time and saying “I want to do that”. A few weeks later my mom enrolled me in my first gymnastics class. While I never came close to going to the Olympics, that moment was the beginning of a lifetime of fitness. Growing up gymnastics was my passion, while my friends tried softball, soccer, baseball, and even Girl Scouts, I spent 15-plus hours each week in the gym. Over the course of my gymnastics career, I won multiple state and regional competitions as an individual and with my team. I even had the opportunity to travel and train overseas when I graduated from high school. The world of gymnastics taught me the importance of dedication, repetition, and perseverance in achieving your goals. These are skills that I have been able to take and use outside of the gym to build and grow a successful home construction company. Every day that I step foot into the office, I know that through hard work and commitment to showing up, the company will succeed.
When I look back at my life, I have had to overcome many different challenges, but the biggest impact on my life was when I was in college my sister was diagnosed with a chronic disease that led her to have multiple brain surgeries, seizures, and severe infections. There is no way that I can even begin to imagine the impact this had on her life (she is maybe the strongest person I have ever met), but the reality is that no one in our family was unaffected. Chronic illness impacts life in a never-ending way. There is not a simple solution or a single cure. It is something that will be a part of my family’s life forever. During the darker times of this journey, two things helped me to preserve. The first was my faith, and the second was my commitment to fitness. CrossFit became a place of peace for me. It was the one hour of my day when all the worries would go away. It was a place where people were not only encouraging but I could also channel my anger/worries into something positive - completing a workout. I also quickly found that being active was great not only for my physical but also mental health. In the times when I did not consistently attend class, I could tell that I was more tired, anxious, and grumpy. To this day, I try to be intentional about getting out of the house and being active in a community setting 4-5 times a week. There was even a period when my sister was able to join me at CrossFit classes and I saw the positive impact fitness had on her life. Learning the importance of having a regular fitness routine in my life has been truly life-changing.
Whenever I walk into a CrossFit Gym there are people from all walks of life. There are old people, young people, super fit people, people who just completed their first workout, but every person who walked into the gym that day has a purpose in being there. Before I started coaching I would talk with people in class and learn about their stories. After learning their stories I always wanted to help them achieve the next chapter. Coaching Crossfit allows me to do that. As a CrossFit Coach, I can do just that. Some people may just need a break from the stress of life for an hour, others may be training for their next triathlon/Ironman/Strongman/etc but my goal as their coach is to be a source of guidance and motivation to achieve their purpose for the day.
