U.S. Army soldier Rebecca Mendez is out of competition in 2013 due to an injury while on duty. But one thing is for sure ... she will be back.
As CrossFit athletes around the world are done with the Open and looking forward to Regional competitions, CrossFitter and Asia Region Open competitor Rebecca Mendez is on hold.
This is probably the most frustrating thing to Mendez as she openly admits there is nothing she’s more passionate about than CrossFit.
“There is just something about breaking myself down physically to build myself back up that feels good to me,” Mendez says.
And that is exactly the kind of intensity she used in her workouts for 13.1 and 13.2, landing her a 47th-place ranking in the Asia Region after the first two weeks.
Unfortunately, 13.2 was the last workout Mendez completed during the 2013 Open.
A U.S. Army soldier known by her chain of command as a “hard worker and a tough little lady” — she stands 5-feet-2 inches tall and is a powerhouse at 134 pounds — Mendez joined the Army at 17 as a Radiologist Technician.
Her mother, Angela Tubman, who was also in the Army, says Mendez has always been driven.
“Rebecca has never been into anything boring, and she has always known what she wants to do,” Tubman says.
Her plans were to finish up her time in the Army after six years and then go back to school. Instead, Mendez took another deployment opportunity as a Female Engagement Team member. Members of this team have volunteered to serve in Afghanistan as a humanitarian aid to Afghan women.
On March 17, while others were celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with green beer, Mendez and her fellow soldiers were patrolling the perimeter of a location in Afghanistan and their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device (IED).
The impact of the blast beneath the vehicle left Mendez and others bruised, sore and injured.
“It all happened really quickly,” Mendez recalls. “It was very scary. I just remember when it happened, I felt this immediate sharp pain in my feet.”
While there were no life-threatening injuries to any of the six members of the team, CT scans and X-rays revealed both of Mendez’s heels were fractured. She would have to take convalescent leave to recover. And recovery was expected to take anywhere from four to 10 weeks.
Mendez, though, is determined to get back to the gym and complete the Open workouts, even if that means implementing a modification when her doctors release her.
“CrossFit is such a motivator for me to get well,” she says. "It was so frustrating to see the Open workouts released after I got injured, because I knew I could do well in them.”
She adds: “I am going to Regionals next year.”
Graham CrossFit Owner and Coach, Diana Shaw agrees.
“Rebecca is one of the most intense athletes we have had here,” Shaw says, who was Mendez’s coach when she was stationed in Ft. Lewis, Wash. “She has tons of potential. We’ll be seeing her name a lot in 2014.”
When Mendez has finished serving in the Army, she hopes to open a box of her own.
“CrossFit is all I want to do when I get out of the Army,” she says. “I am very passionate about it and hope to instill this same passion for the sport in others so they can enjoy it as much as I do.”
Though Mendez is unable to compete in 2013, one thing is for sure … she will be back.
