More than ever I am noticing how strong business, focused organisations and solid communities are trying to rebuild what we lost during the dreaded COVID-19 period. 

Connection. 

Dating apps are spending millions on research into human connection. Gaming platforms are trying to hack the way people play and spend time together online. Marketing agencies are pushing their clients to be more customer centric, understand and be more involved in their customer’s lives. So many businesses are pushing to bring the workplace back to work as the research suggests more and more that this is where morale and productivity are at their highest. 

Many coaching platforms that went online during the 2019-21 period have now started to re-invent ways to bring their online clients back together as one community through virtual competitions and leaderboards. 

But something hasn’t changed. One community has not faltered from it’s roots. One set of businesses have not changed the way they deliver their product because they know no matter how difficult or expensive it is to deliver that way, it is the ONLY way they wish to do it because they know it is the BEST way to deliver results to their clients. 

That community is CrossFit. That community is you. The members and fiends and family of the CrossFit TMA and wider local CrossFit community. Take the CrossFit Open 2024 workout 1 on Saturday just gone. 

Look at the smiles. Listen back to the cheering and the friendly banter. Recall the nerves before the workout and then the roar at the sound of the starting buzzer. Remember the feeling of being lifted up and held there throughout the shared suffering of a very tough workout. The elation. The awe. The inspiration. The happiness. The best 15 minutes of your week. 

It all happens in a similar small four wall of your local CrossFit Box each year in February to March. The Open brings together a global community of everyday to elite athletes in a way no other sprit or tradition does in the world. Without ego. Without comparison. But with an extremely strong level of connection and understanding other fitness communities have tried to and will continue trying to replicate. How else can we motivate people to do such things as walking on their hands or throwing hundreds of kilo’s over their bodies day in and day out all in the name of improvement? 

When you walk into a CrossFit box like CrossFit TMA you are walking into a tradition of inclusivity, hard work and consistency. Of face to face, peer to peer value. An in person experience like no other. Yes it’s hard. Yes its self selecting. Yes it will deter some and it will never be for everyone. Nothing is. But it will always welcome into its community those who choose the road of human connection over that of the easy login. The choice of consistent effort and integrity over the quick fix and the fad. 

A community led by professional coaches that will not falter from their roots because they knows that is in the principles listed above that true, long lasting change occurs and changes the lives of its members. 

Throughout this CrossFit Open series, take a moment to look around and appreciate just how important and powerful a position you hold to be a part of this community. Live the values team. 

Integrity. Effort. Consistency. Community 

– Coach Z