“Every day I wake up looking forward to the day's programming, knowing that it is going to be horrible and tough and break me down mentally, but also knowing that when the day is over, I will have done everything in my power to become a better athlete.”
For many CrossFit athletes, regional competition is the culmination of years of hard work and the realization of a dream.
Sheila Barden viewed the 2014 North East Regional not as the end game, but as stepping stone toward her ultimate goal: a finish on the podium in Carson.
While Barden’s focus on the Games crystallized in the 2014 season, the roots of her journey can be traced back to 2011 when she and her husband moved to Syracuse, New York.
“After moving to Syracuse, New York, for my husband's job, we lived in a hotel for six weeks while we tried to find an apartment,” Barden said. “I would turn the TV on to ESPN in the evenings for background noise as I searched local job listings for a part-time job. One night I turned ESPN on and immediately got hooked into watching this crazy event, the 2011 CrossFit Games. I was watching The Killer Cage event, and it happened to be Annie Thorisdottir's heat.”
Barden describes that as her “ah-ha!” moment. When she saw the athletes competing and traversing the monkey bars, she caught a glimpse of her destiny.
“I spent the next several hours Google searching CrossFit, local boxes and movements,” Barden said. “That was Friday, September 30. By Monday, October 3, I had stopped looking for a part-time job and started spending all of my time figuring out how I was going to be on ESPN with a uniform that had my last name written across it.”
Barden became a member at CrossFit DeWitt in October 2011 and within months was taking part in competitions in upstate New York.
By the end of the 2012 Reebok CrossFit Games Open, Barden found herself in 43rd place in the North East and on her way to Canton, Massachusetts, for the North East Regional, less than a year after starting CrossFit.
In 2013 she improved her Open performance to finish 42nd in the North East and finished the regional in 10th.
In spite of having two trips to the North East Regional under her belt, Barden never lost sight of her ultimate goal to qualify for the Games. Leading up to the 2014 North East Regional, Barden, who had since moved to New Jersey and joined CrossFit Passaic Valley, took her focus and preparation to a whole new level.
For Barden, a typical day in the lead-up to the 2014 North East Regional started with breakfast at 8 a.m., then she’d be at the gym by 9:30 where she’d work on dynamics, mobility and PVC movements before a skill session, followed by Olympic lifting and a strength piece. After lunch, Barden would have three workouts in store for her before mobilizing some more and heading home for dinner.
A daily schedule that would overwhelm many athletes, Barden takes in stride.
“Yes, I Olympic lift almost every day. Yes, I always do a two-hour strength session. Yes, I always do at least three WODs a day, sometimes more if my coach, Josh Mezzo, thinks I need it,” Barden said. “Every day I wake up looking forward to the day's programming, knowing that it is going to be horrible and tough and break me down mentally, but also knowing that when the day is over, I will have done everything in my power to become a better athlete.”
Mezzo believes Barden’s level of commitment defines her and separates her from most athletes.
“Whenever I work with an athlete, the biggest thing I look for is commitment,” Mezzo said. “That means they will listen to exactly what their coach says. If they want to squat heavy today and their coach says they are squatting light and for volume, then the athlete commits 100 percent to squatting light and for volume—no deviations. Sheila has that ability. She is egoless and performs programming exactly as prescribed and with her whole heart into everything. Not a lot of people can do that.”
Barden’s efforts have paid big dividends. At the North East Regional, Barden finished second overall, with first-place finishes in Events 3 and 4 including a world-record finish in Event 3—Nasty Girls V2—beating the previous record by 12 seconds.
Throughout the regional weekend, Barden impressed the crowds, not only with her performances on the competition floor, but also with her positive attitude that seemed to be reflected in a constant smile.
“My favorite moment of the North East Regional was walking onto the competition floor for Event 6, the 50s chipper,” Barden said. “I had my head down, I was already dripping sweat from the heat and beating sun, I was focused on crushing the WOD and nothing else. I wasn't my normal happy self, that is, until I looked up into the bleachers and I saw my name painted across six grown men's chests. I started laughing so hard I was on the verge of tears. I was suddenly relaxed and happy again.”
“I knew at that moment, that my success so far that weekend was because of the love and support I had been lucky enough to surround myself with for the past several months leading up to regionals,” she added.
Barden is expecting a large contingent of friends and family from both New York and New Jersey to be there to cheer her on in Carson, California. She’ll dedicate her efforts to them.
“This year's success wasn't for me,” Barden said. “It was for everyone who has loved me and supported me over the past two-and-half years.”
