Reflections Of A Five Year Old: Where Are They Now - Our Coaching Staff
In 2010, while waiting for our first equipment to order, Bryan and I made a phony phone call to 24 Hour Fitness asking for Jenny Micalizzi. She was a personal trainer there and we had heard she was really into CrossFit. A couple days later she snuck out of work and came down to train with us.
In 2010, while waiting for our first equipment to order, Bryan and I made a phony phone call to 24 Hour Fitness asking for Jenny Micalizzi. She was a personal trainer there and we had heard she was really into CrossFit. A couple days later she snuck out of work and came down to train with us. Six months later she started a women’s class at 9 AM, changed Chris Madsen’s life, competed for the CrossFit PB regional team, qualified as an individual, and even more importantly, was the lead negotiator in the courtship with my current fiance, Ashton. In 2011, Jenny’s husband Joey (also a super radical guy), took a new job in Los Angeles, they were moving. I opened my email, while shopping at Costco, to find a letter from Jenny discussing how important the gym had been to her, how much she enjoyed coaching at CFPB, and how the opportunity had paved the way for her to get out of personal training at 24 and being a real CrossFit coach. Right in the middle of Costco, I wept like a little baby. To this day there is an open job rec that only she can fill. We miss her.
On the second day we opened, not the real opening, the soft opening, when there was chalk on the windows, this college girl walked in on a blind date with the kid that owned the Nutrition Zone. That day, Lindsay Renteria dominated that kid in a workout. He never came back, and for the next four and a half years, she did not leave. Lindsay was the first employee we ever hired as a full time coach. From 2010 through 2014, we watched her grow from a partying college girl to a hard working adult. After four years of coaching she decided it was time to move on, see the world a little, and took a job with Hylete. To this day she still coaches her gymnastics class, has competed for Team CrossFit PB at regionals for five straight years, and takes daily group classes. I am forever thankful for Lindsay’s commitment to Bryan and me. We were not perfect, had never been bosses, and were scrambling to make things work. No matter how little we slept or how stressed we got, Lindz trusted us and believed in what we were trying to build. It truly is a pleasure to watch her take on the real world. Sometimes I call her and yell into the phone just like she is still at the gym. I hope she gets really embarrassed when she is being all professional.
In 2013, this wiry kid showed up to my 7 AM class at the original Garnet location. He demolished everyone in his class on day one. After watching him work out, I instantly asked him to come back and train that afternoon so we could watch him lift. After only three months he qualified for the SoCal regional and worked his way into the top ten. Six months later, we hired him to coach and he instantly became a fan favorite. Greg Kuchan came to us from the islands. He surfed, coached, fitnessed, and surfed some more. When we hired him, I always thought of him as my little brother. He was a sponge, learned and adopted our culture very quickly, and inadvertently became my surf coach. In 2015, Kuchan bought a house and after two years of coaching decided to tackle the real estate game. Kuchan will always be my favorite example of how free and fun life can be if you let the world come to you, flow with the ocean, and do the thing that your inner child wants to do every day. Kuchan is back into regular group classes at 8 AM, before he takes off for his real job. On the weekends you can find him properly shacked in six footers at Blacks Beach communicating with his merman ancestors, the dolphins.
No person has made a deeper, longer lasting impact on the way we conduct business than Matt Lodin. In 2010, Matt Lodin and I battled it out in our very first workout together – I still remember that day. For the next three years, every single day we trained until he literally ran me into being old and washed up. Professionally, for the last two years, Lodin has been in charge of coaching development, writing coaches manuals, and creating systems to ensure the quality and standards of coaching at SDA. Two months ago, Bryan and I had to retake our CF Level one certification. After three years of him travelling the world we were finally going to see Lodin work at his other job. Over the years, the CF Level one has grown from quarterly seminars to hosting 20+ a weekend. Over two days and 16 hours, we watched Lodin display why he is so good at what he does. His storytelling, his understanding of CF theory, and real world application is far superior to that of his peers. His purpose in the world of fitness is to spread all that is good about CrossFit. When he speaks, it is pure and applicable to the masses, not memorized and regurgitated. Last month, Lodin and his wife Jenna decided to move to North County and start a family. If you were to turn back the clock to see who the most influential people are to walk through your life, Matt Lodin is at the very top of that list. We are endlessly grateful for his hard work and commitment to this vision.
As we enter the next five years, our team is stronger than ever. Bryan, Justin, and I will be the head coaches in over 95% of the classes. Jenn Ryan, Brittany Stevens, and Neil Halpen will sharing the remainder of the head coaching duties and running the majority of the specialty classes on Thursdays. We also are very excited to announce that Paula Santos will be coming to the team as an Assistant Coach. Paula is originally from São Paulo City, Brazil where she began her athletic career as a sprinter (100 meter, 200 meter and 4x100 relay), participating from the age of 13 to 19 in various professional competitions including Brazilian Regionals and Nationals. In 2009, Paula moved to the US and began training Jiu Jitsu. A year later, she was competing again but was sidelined in 2012 with a minor knee injury. On the advice of her doctors, she began strength training in 2013 to help her knee and more specifically, CrossFit. After her first class, she was sold. After just three months, she competed in her first CrossFit competition and after two years, she is still enjoying every minute of her time training at San Diego Athletics. This year, she took her first trip to the CrossFit Games Super Regionals as part of the SDA team and is looking forward to many more competitions. When Paula’s not slinging barbells, you can find her at the beach getting her tan on.
Three weeks ago when I started writing these reflection pieces, there has been one emotion that has filled my days, love. Seeing the athletes come in every day, sharing lives and stories with you all, and reflecting on the people and places that have made this dream a reality is overwhelming. I have never really thought of myself as a boss. I do not like telling people what to do. I really like the idea of empowering intelligent, motivated people to explore their range of interests. I wish we never lost an employee. I wish people did not get deployed, want to start families, and I wish things stayed the same forever. But this gym is an ecosystem and it flows with people’s lives and goals. It has been a pleasure to work with these people and share the same headspace of developing a quality product fueled by quality people. In the ecosystem of SDA, it is all love and these coaches create and facilitate it better than anyone else in the world.
