Kids Cert: Day Two!

Day Two of the Kids Cert was more of the same: lectures on teaching techniques, health issues and nutrition, teaching the fundamentals, and of course...GAMES!

What I got most out of the cert today was that Crossfit Kids is not just about increasing kids' general fitness and teaching healthy habits. Although that's what draws me into the CF methodology and the idea of teaching it to kids in the first place, I'm excited about the secondary prospect of CFK teaching kids core values that are translatable to the real world: hard work, perseverance, and self-confidence.

We talked a lot today about what kids are capable of and how we as coaches can bring out their best potential and prove to them that they are really capable of some amazing stuff. I joke a lot about people "not messing with me because I bet I can back squat you," which is funny because I'm tiny and sure, we can all laugh about the idea of me back squatting my professor. But there's something more to that statement than just the humor behind it. Since starting Crossfit, I am more self-confident about my abilities even beyond the physical domain, and I'm not going to let someone talk down to me or belittle me just because I'm a girl or because I'm relatively young. Becoming physically capable has made me more confident in the persona I project. That's the type of attitude I want kids to walk out of class with.

Beyond just being self-confident, I was amazed at how humble and down-to-earth these amazing kid athletes demo-ing at the cert were. They were accomplishing some pretty impressive stuff, and have been accomplishing this level of athleticism day in and day out for quite some time. But you would never know it just by listening to them talk or interacting with them. They're just normal kids who love to do Crossfit and are so open to answering questions, helping youger students, and encouraging each other. A great culture I hope to bring back to MN.

Ok, enough of the touchy-feely reflective stuff and on to the part of the day that mattered most: winning musical med balls! Haha. Basically, it's like musical chairs, except that we have to execute the perfect squat on the med ball when the music stops. And instead of just walking around in a circle, we have to do different exercises. First was lunges, then forward tuck rolls (which were the hardest because I got so dizzy and could barely stand up straight, much less regain my balance and squat!), followed by burpee broad jumps and lastly duck walks. It was down to me and one guy from CF Omaha and we squatted (horribly!) on the ball at the same time, so we had a 30-second tie-breaking squat off. I ended up doing 31 squats to his 27, but we both walked away with shot legs from the duck walk-squat off combo!

I'm really glad I came to this cert this weekend and would totally recommend it to anyone considering teaching Crossfit, especially in an area where people don't know a lot about the methodology. We learn a lot of easy fixes and cues to give kids, but I feel like they could work easily well on adults.