I just got back from the Games and there are so many impressions and lessons learned from the time spent in Los Angeles with some of the best athletes in the world, I would like to share some. I have decided to begin with the fact that you need a coach if you want to compete to win against the top crossfitters in the world.
It used to be possible for the gifted few who already posessed a fair share of athletic capacity to work out once a day following whatever WoD was on the board at their local box, and add a WoD or two a week targetting the obviously weaker side of their game. With this effort they would be able to compete and do fairly well at different competitions and throw downs - Sometimes (depending on the programming) they would even be able to win a challenge!
Those days are in the books and a new age has dawned on the athletes who have decided to compete in an international setting! So if you have ambitions of making it on the big stage- here is a piece of advice that will get you there faster than the ones who have decided that the inevidable nature of evolution does not apply to them! Get yourself a coach!
Big fish in a small pond!
I was there at the European regionals this year and I saw some super athletes battle it out for the very limited spots, reserved for Europe at the Games this year. I was also at the North East regionals, and saw the same kind of heroic effort put forth that I saw in Europe.
But to be honest I dont think the raw material I saw at these two venues really did the athletes justice! So what does that mean?
All I am saying is that with the right guidance more of the athletes at these events could have been in contention for the spots that would have propelled them to the Home Depot Center. Now they had to wait for the WoD that would reflect their strongest sides and then fight it out in the rest. The same thing happened at the Games where some amazing athletes were left fighting for scraps after the top dogs had cleaned house. These athletes did not have to be in that position, and had they had some more guidance from a coach then they would have been in a completely different position. I am not saying that they have not had coaches, or that they have not had direction in their training, but was it the right direction and the right coach?
It is easy to be a big fish in a small pond, but when those fish make it into the sea, they are in for a rude surprise! My advice is to admit that if you want to compete for more than the free t-shirt then you have to get a coach, and begin to treat the CrossFit Games like cut throat competition that it is! I know you are all up in arms now- By cut throat I mean that the competition will not allow you a top position unless you bring your A-game!
So if you are aiming to go to the Gmes and actually compete next year, your preparations should have begun yesterday!
In other words- You need a coach who knows what he/she is doing! You need the right mind set, and you need to be ready to fight it out with the best in the world, and not get the jitters just because Annie T or Rich Froning Jr is at your side!
What kind of coach?
There were a host of coaches at the Games this year, and I would like to raise a flag for two kinds of coaches who were represented at the Games, and whom I personally would like to hand an eviction notice from planet earth!
The first kind is the kind who does not have a clue, but has had the good fortune of having some great athlete walk through the doors of their box. These athletes are now piggy bagging of the athlete and like a drunken uncle you cant quite get rid of and since you are polite still listen to, they polute the athletes with bad advice.
They also share another quality with the second kind of no good coach I will adress in a second! They think it is all about them!
A coach like that will never get you there! Using them is like going to the airport and being happy that you saw the plane that would take you to your destination, but that is a far as you got!
The second one is the one who seriously thinks that it is all about him. He is the moron who for some odd reason got the ear of some God given talent, and managed to convince the poor sucker that without him there was no way that the God Given talent would ever make it. Now he is marching about thinking he is all that boldly claiming that he made theis God given talent what they are today!
God given talent- listen to me when I say that you would have gotten there anyways, and you would have had fun in the process. The real heart breaker though is that this moron will probably destroy the talent, and then move on wothout ever trying to pick up the pieces of the beauty he broke.. Shame on you!
The relationship between coach and athlete need to be build on mutual respect, and a common understanding of the goal and the premisses to get there. The athlete needs to let the coach do the coaching, and the coach needs to be omnipotent and get out of the way of the athletes progress! I would like to think that Juha Kangasvieri is just that kind of coach. I also think that Samantha Briggs is blessed with just that kind of coach..
So get yourself a coach and fight it out wtht the big guns next year!
In health
