"Caring"

What happened to caring about your people?

I can’t seem to not write and delete, when writing this. Which direction to go, hhhhmmmmmm.  Let’s just run with it and hope it somehow comes together by the end.

Hey you, “coach”, yeah you. . . get your head out of your ass and start caring about your Athletes, Members, whatever you want to call them.  It baffles me how many people come into our place, with quite a bit of time under their belt, knowing absolute dog $hit and a few sessions away from hurting themselves! Hell, they are lucky they haven’t already.  And don’t give me that bs about certain people, I know those certain people, who simply take it upon themselves to be assholes, not learn, not listen and do as they please; these are NOT the people I am referring to, so save it.

I am not directing this to ONLY the CrossFit community here either. While it’s a shame a lot these guys/girls are 3 weeks out of their level 1, 50+ Journal Articles deep and think because they have the “CrossFit” name on their business card and building, that they are the shit in the coaching world. . . I am directing this at coaches everywhere. From CrossFit, to Strength & Conditioning facilities, Weightlifting Clubs, Bootcamps, Sports Teams etc.  

I question why people get into the “coaching” field anymore.  It seems these days, it’s all business for most; especially the newer coaches. I am not saying all, so let me be clear on that. There are far more great people out there than there are not; I will continue to believe this. The issue is the ones who simply get into it for the business and truly do not care. In some cases, they only hurt their own name. In others, they can tarnish the reputation of a community. More importantly, they aren’t bettering people at all, the community which has grown for them is the one bettering people day to day…while these coaches from within their own facility just sit back, take the credit and continue in a lot of cases lead people in the wrong direction. Flip this, in a lot of cases the coaches are in fact knowledgeable, but simply don’t give a shit about their people. They just sit back, collect the monthly dues and continue on.  This is ridiculous.  Granted, I don’t believe there is a fix to this. I guess it will just take its toll. The strong will survive, while others will dig their own hole.

Your athletes deserve more. They deserve your attention. They deserve your actual *ucking heart!  Our members, from the competitors all the way down to the newly graduated on-rampers, CARE. And I can whole heartedly say we care in return!  For those who know me or sometimes even know of me, I’m not always the best with words. Sometimes, the “no filter” or “blunt” approach doesn’t settle well. I understand that. But I believe our athletes know I care about them, in and outside our gym. Do we want to be competitive? Absolutely! Do we want to push our athletes to be the best they possibly can be? Absolutely!  But I would rather tell someone they are being an a$$hole by not listening to us, versus letting them continue on with their butterfly pullups 3 weeks into the program, because they saw that shit on ESPN over the weekend. Want to get coddled and your ass kissed, told to race the clock and go faster your 2^nd week out of On-Ramp? Well then, my apologies, you probably won’t view me as a good “coach”. But no worries, there will be a gym popping up near you in no time, just awaiting your athletic ability and ready to shove you into the deep end with fingers crossed and a new 30 min sweat fest awaiting you daily.

We have made a ton of friends in the CrossFit community and others fitness communities here in New England.  There are so many doing things right. They wake up in the morning and ask themselves, “how can I better my community today”.  They care about each and every person who comes through their doors daily.  The make their facility and members a priority, sometimes even over their own family and friends; simply because they understand that is their duty! They signed on for this shit and they are going to do it right and make sure the longevity of their athletes is always the #1 priority.  To those who still care and continue to learn, evolve and grow the community (whichever community that is you are a part of), thank you! You motivate us daily, continue to help us grow and learn; while always fueling our fire whenever we need a kick start through some of the tough times.