“This was more fun than ever. This place is better than ever.” -Coach Gil.
It’s funny how just a few words can change everything. I was always planning on writing a blog piece about the 2015 CrossFit Open. I wanted to touch on how for the first time since the inaugural year in 2011, I felt that the Open was once again fun to participate in.
But with those words from Gil during our post Open celebration, the idea behind this blog entry changed. Those words were especially poignant coming from Gil, since he’s been with me from the beginning, before the gym was born. Its still true that this year’s Open was better than all previous years, but the “why” behind that statement is also the “why” behind the fact that CrossFit 858 is thriving as a whole. We are truly doing better than we ever have. This blog will touch base and act as an overview on some of the changes we’ve made and experienced over the past year or so.
1.) The Community of Athletes has matured
The backbone of any gym will always be the community. Like the equipment, programming, and overall direction of a gym, the community will also evolve. In the case of CrossFit 858’s athlete community, the evolution was more of a maturation. We now have a group of individuals who genuinely care about each other. Individuals who have taken the time to get to know each other, and are truly friends outside of the gym. These are the same individuals who are quick to introduce themselves to new athletes and welcome them to both CrossFit 858 and their own personal lives. And when the time comes for some of those athletes to move away from San Diego, it makes their departure a painful one. I saw this best exemplified when our Danish friends Jannik and Camilla came to the U.S. for a quick 6 month stay. Over these few months, I saw Jannik and Camilla go from being newbies at the gym to accepted and liked pillars of our community. They were almost the first to be invited to social events, and always present at the gym cheering on others. Luke M, Stephen J, Jeremy S,…. the list goes on and on of people who have come, gone, and will be dearly missed because they are literally a part of the family.
This welcoming environment will be forever perpetuated by the culture we have established at the gym. Strong, vocal, and friendly faces like those of Dave L, Coach Alli, Tiffany B(and her inappropriate humor) and silent supporters like Clint W. will keep this momentum going. People like Jerry, Bernard, Char, Tara and countless others are always helping those struggling with WODs to finish, and finish proudly. The community bond is more prevalent and stronger than ever.
It’s not that we didn’t have this before, we just didn’t have it to this magnitude. In the beginning, as a fledgling gym we had some individual issues and at times there were cries for attention. Some cliques began to form, which can happen in any social group and were sometimes detrimental to the overall vibe. Luckily with a strong community culture, those individual scenarios weed themselves out and go elsewhere. Thankfully, it’s addition by subtraction.
I encourage the community to continue the current trajectory and not only maintain our positive and welcoming environment but take it to the next level.
2.) The Coaching Staff has evolved
I am so proud to say this is the staff that I’ve always wanted for the athletes at CrossFit 858.
Creating coaches from within your own CrossFit community has proven to be the way to go. These homegrown coaches are accustomed to the way the gym is run, what is expected in terms of class structure, and they already know the athletes personally. This allows for a coach’s familiarity with each athlete’s strengths and weaknesses, both physically and mentally.
Never have I had a coaching staff so eclectic, yet so aligned with a common goal: To safely and effectively help all the CrossFit 858 athletes reach their respective goals.
The coaching staff is a strong one. Everyone is always communicating behind the scenes, sharing best practices, along with helping each other improve. They are always hungry for more knowledge, searching for additional education via seminars, certifications, or reading materials. Having a solid knowledge base on kinesiology, physiology, and general biology is half of the foundation for any coaching staff.
Having the ability to convey that knowledge to our athletes is the other half. With the recent growth of the gym (more on that later) the coaches have learned to work together better than ever. We are constantly discussing athletes’ strengths, weaknesses, and any specific notes down to an individual level. With the evening classes, we even have multiple coaches working side by side with one or more coaches providing assistance to the main coach to ensure everyone gets the instruction they deserve.
In the past year, we’ve added some coaches to the staff who have been mainstays in the athlete community for years. The infectious positivity of Alli, the dry humor and analytical nature of Art, and the one man welcome wagon Gil all bring a benefit to the gym as coaches now, not just athletes. Most recently, the addition of Tami Brown, one of the CrossFit O.G.s in the San Diego area, has made us that much stronger as a staff.
To be very frank and candid, like the athlete community, the path to this current configuration of the coaching staff wasn’t an easy one. I’ve learned that hiring and managing the right people has been by far the most challenging part of running a business. In the past, I’ve seen issues ranging from competency to personality/ego to even issues with integrity/character both in and out of the gym. We have benefited by pinpointing and removing situations such as these, or they found their own way out of the area.
Again, the staff we have now is the absolute best it has ever been.
As the owner, I am always striving to provide the best experience possible for all of our athletes and I am always challenging the staff to follow suite.
3.) The way we operate CrossFit 858 has refined
Everything is a work in progress, but the key word is progress. Over the past few years we have made changes, sometimes through trial and error, that make everything run more smoothly.
Programming was probably the most prevalent change we’ve made in the past year or so. As part of the overall journey of an affiliate owner, the time came in the beginning of 2014 for me to take the reigns and program for the gym. I’ve mentioned it before, but what started off as a new skill has become a true passion for me. Learning to program for strength and conditioning in it’s truest form has been one of the most rewarding projects I’ve taken on. I’m very proud to say that the athlete population overall has become stronger and more fit than it’s ever been and I truly believe that safe/effective programming is a major component of that.
In terms of operations, we have shifted our focus from member recruitment to member retention. I want to make sure that our athletes get the most value for what they pay for. A few changes have been implemented to achieve this. For starters, we have made it a standard to have two coaches during the busy 5 and 6pm classes to ensure all athletes get the right amount of coaching and supervision.
I personally started offering free one on ones every week to CrossFit 858 athletes to encourage individualized growth and goal setting. The meetings are customized to the athlete, as they dictate the subject matter. Programming, movement coaching, nutrition, no subject is off limits. These meetings have been met with a very positive reception, and I felt were necessary to have as the gym grew in size. Having one on ones with athletes ensures that nobody gets lost in the shuffle.
In December, we also brought on Laura Hernandez as office manager. This has greatly helped overall operations. When Laura is at the gym and on the clock, she handles all walk ins and processing of transactions for current members. This creates a ripple effect of sorts, helping with overall efficiency. By taking over anything that could become a distraction to the coach on duty, Laura’s presence has helped keep the main coach with just that: coaching. Having a coach on the floor that is free to maintain 100% focus and attention on the class further ensures that we don’t compromise the quality of coaching.
I have also reinvested back into the equipment of the gym in both replacement of old equipment and bringing in new training tools. Having new and/or improved equipment works in conjunction with programming. This allowing for infinite growth possibilities for the athletes which is always our number one goal.
Lastly, from a social standpoint we have tried to improve the member experience as well. The American Sniper movie night to happy hours at the gym, to the 2015 CrossFit Open has brought our community together even more. We’ll continue to think of innovative “out of the box” thinking to keep things fresh for all of you.
So in retrospect, there were many factors that made the 2015 CrossFit Open the best year ever. It wasn’t the Open itself that improved us. Coming together as a gym, sweating side by side, cheering each other on during the Open exposed and really highlighted all the positive changes that we already made as a gym over time. We have the right people as athletes, and we have the right people as coaches. THAT made the Open fun. And that makes the gym successful.
We are bigger than ever, yet feel more intimate and connected than ever. With operations, we have more moving parts than ever yet are more unified and cohesive than ever. I feel as though we have finally figured out the formula for success on all fronts, and am very excited to move forward into the future as we become better than ever.