By Craig Hysell
I have a reason WHY I do most things. When it comes to The CrossFit Open I have to be honest, the reason I compete is not to see where I rank overall in “the sport of fitness”. (It used to be though…)
That doesn’t mean you have to agree with me. You might care very deeply about where you place on the CrossFit map. Which is awesome.
SIDE NOTE: As a gym owner and coach, I care about your rank if you do, because then it’s my job and the job of our gym to help you achieve the highest rank you can at this moment in time with the level of commitment you have put into your desire. (We had a Masters athlete qualify for the CrossFit Regional last year. That was really cool.)
So why do I personally do The Open these days?
Simple. I absolutely love competing alongside people I care about and I absolutely love watching us all get together to laugh, sweat and do things we never thought we could do before.
As the owner of this facility I want to see you compete in The Open for one overarching reason: getting outside our comfort zones resonates very deeply in our lives outside the gym. It shows us a new level of what is achievable for us no matter what our score/rank is at the end of the day. Progress, hope and work are vital to a happy and healthy life.
For me, the rank is arbitrary. For you, it might be different.
For me, with everything I’ve got going on and where I put competing as a CrossFitter on my list of priorities, I’m just thrilled to get together and throwdown with my peeps at CTF. But that’s just me. For you, your rank might not be arbitrary at all and the CrossFit Games are what you spend all year training towards. That’s pretty rad too!
If you care about your score, I think that is awesome, maybe just don’t let your final “score” be “good” or “bad”. Perhaps your rank should not dictate your joy, but instead show you what’s possible in your life.
If you don’t care about your score, that’s awesome too, but this is NEVER an excuse not to try! Get in the arena and get after it with everything you’ve got anyway because the arena is where all those lovely self-discoveries are made. The harder you work and the more you dare to do, the more you will learn.
High score or low score, you will do something you never thought you could when you compete in The Open. It happens every year. If we do this right as a collective, no matter WHY we do it individually, we should all leave exhausted, with a few more “war stories” together and hungry for the next step toward self-betterment.
The Latin origin of the word “compete” means “strive together”. There is no better way for ALL OF US AT CTF TO DO THIS AS ONE TEAM than The CTF Intramural CrossFit Open. I hope I see you in the arena. We will have RX’D, SCALED and BEGINNER/TNT Divisions.
The draft is 5pm Saturday, February 18 at Fishcamp.
I believe every single one of you should sign up and compete with your WHY and with your CTF family. No matter where you place on the CrossFit map, you will always have a place here with us. Hugs.
IF YOU WANT TO COMPETE ON THE WORLD STAGE WITH THE REST OF PLANET EARTH, YOU CAN SIGN UP HERE. (Rx’d and Scaled Divisions provided by The CrossFit Open. There will be NO Beginner Division.) When you sign up here and claim “CrossFit Hilton Head” as your gym you will AUTOMATICALLY be available for the CTF Intramural Open Draft.
IF YOU DON’T WANT TO COMPETE ON THE WORLD STAGE BUT STILL WANT TO GET IN THE ARENA AND BE ON A CTF INTRAMURAL TEAM, SIGN UP HERE. (Rx’d and Scaled Divisions provided by The CrossFit Open. Beginner/TNT Division provided by CTF. Please be sure you sign up for the right division.)