Before Crossfit, I was an ineffectual Ultimate player; I spent most of the time icing my sore knees and feeling frustrated that I wasn’t improving.
In 2012, a good friend brought me to Paradiso. I had previously been cut by the committee who selected the team that would represent USA Ultimate in Italy at the 2011 Beach World Championships. I had, back-to-back for several years prior, been cut from LA’s elite ultimate team, a team on which I desperately wanted to play. I offered very little value on the field and the training I was doing wasn’t getting me anywhere.
In July of 2012, I started Crossfitting at Paradiso. It was then that I began to understand what being an athlete actually means. The effort involved in actually training – in training properly – for something. Pushing to new levels of effort. Working hard for yourself, but also for your team. Finishing the WOD and wanting to do more. Crossfitting is such a big part of my life now – it’s so ingrained in who I am – I want to be in the gym even on days when I know I should be resting.
In 2015, I made the team that I had been cut from in 2011. We went to Dubai and won gold at the 2015 Beach World Championships.
Before 2012, I had ZERO career tournament wins. In 2013, I had TWO. Since January 2014, I have played in 11 finals and WON FIVE of them (1 at the National level and 1 at the World level).
Oh, and my knees don’t hurt very much anymore…
Here I am, scoring on one of the best women in the game at LA’s largest beach tournament in January 2015.