“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
Theodore Roosevelt
I’m sure most of you have seen this quote before, if not look on the bathroom wall next time you’re in there. Each time I read this quote it brings out a different emotion and thought. All weekend I had the great privilege of working with the six athletes who represented Surge Elite Performance & Fitness to the fullest. As I watched these athletes compete this quote keep coming to mind. Signing up for a competition is stressful enough let alone putting 100% of your self into each workout. We had two athletes competing for the first time as individuals, Chip and William. Being able to say I have the opportunity for coach you is a great honor. As each of them went through each workout and knowing that they gave every ounce of effect they could was truly one of the most inspiring moments I have ever been able to witness. Going into each workout they both had the goal to in their words “just finish,” and finish they did. Both of them pushed themselves to a level I don’t think they knew they had in them. Chip hit a 15 LB PR on his clean and narrowly missing a 25 LB PR. William pushed himself through an on slot of “muscle snatches” and rowing to come in under the time cap, which was an absolute pleasure to watch. Overall Chip finished 12th in the Men’s 50-54 division and William finished 15th in the 45-49 division.
Not only is Bobby one of the most energetic people you will ever meet but he is also the type of man who doesn’t make an excuse. Bobby put on a squat and pull up clinic on the last workout which earned him a 1st place finish. In addition unknowingly he was fighting the flu throughout the weekend. This was Bobby’s second competition and his best finish to date, overall he finished in 23rd place in the Mens 35-39 division. The difference between the first comp to this last weekend is night and day, we can’t wait to see what your capable of in the future.
As most of you know Courtney was extremely under the weather all week long. I think we counted the meals she had on throughout the week on one hand. Going into Saturday she was planning on testing it out and seeing how she felt. That test resulted in a 4th place finish for the first workout. She has been working hard and putting in extra work on her strength and it showed. On the clean ladder she power cleaned her current PR like it was nothing but then forgot her technique on the next bar. Overall Court finished 10th in the Women’s 35-39 division, which in my opinion was an amazing accomplishment, given the week long flu and knowing that most of the workouts didn’t play to her strengths. I’m so proud to her your coach and your husband.
No surprise Jason and Christina finish on the podium. All weekend long the battled some great competition and did things neither have done before. Despite a disappointing finish on the first workout Christina, owned the competition. She had two 1st place finishes along with two 2nd place finishes. In addition was 1 inch away for hitting a 10 LB PR on her Clean. Overall Christina finished 1st in the Women’s 35-39 division. Jason bested his amazing performance of 2nd place overall and captured the top overall podium position for the Men’s 35-39 division. He was extremely consistent all weekend finishing with a 1st place, two 2nd places and a 3rd place in the workouts. He even missed a 275 LB clean on his first attempt and with time running down kept his composure and cleaned just before the 20 second time cap expired.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all the athletes who competed this weekend. You all represented Surge Elite Performance & Fitness in way’s I never thought were possible. All weekend long I received complements about how our athletes were not just as athletes but a competitors as well. You all did an amazing job and I can’t wait to see where you will go next.