No Mackay for CrossFit Active

July 16, 2014

Carter Jee

"This year, Chad will be dedicating his time to looking after our two masters athletes," Luke Starr said. 

 

CrossFit Active will return to the StubHub Center this month to compete at the CrossFit Games again, after securing second place at the 2014 Australia Regional in Wollongong.

The team recorded first- and second-place finishes in all but two of the seven events, with the affiliate all but assuring a top-three finish heading into the final event.

One of Australia’s longest running affiliates, CrossFit Active’s success has not been limited to the qualification of the team. At the 2014 Australia Regional, CrossFit Active fielded an additional two teams and had a number of male and female individual athletes competing. This year, the affiliate will send two masters athletes to the Games, as well: Lynne Fitzharris and Lynne Knapman.

The team that will represent CrossFit Active in Carson, California, consists of a core of seasoned athletes who have competed at the Games previously. Luke Starr, Deian Cousins, Courtney Fitzharris, and Harriet Roberts have all competed on the global stage before. Alethea Boon and Daniel Lewis will join the team as newcomers.

With a number of athletes from the affiliate failing to qualify for the Games as individuals, there was always going to be speculation about whether some of them would come onto the team post regional.

Three-time Games competitor Chad Mackay and 11th-place finisher at the 2014 Australia Regional, Justine Beath, were two names many expected to see included on the team roster. However, both of them are unlikely to compete with CrossFit Active at the Games, with both named as reserves.

“Chad and Justine were chosen as reserves as they are the best individuals from our affiliate outside of the team members and they will also be in the States when the Games are on,” said Starr, the team captain.

"This year, Chad will be dedicating his time to looking after our two masters athletes,” Starr added. "He has been coaching them since Day 1. No doubt he will be supporting us when we compete, and helping Adam (Pirri) coach."

Pirri is happy to have the likes of Mackay help out with the coaching duties.

“Last year I was pretty busy coaching the team, the two Lynnes and Chad,” he said. “So I am lucky this year to have a bit more staff this year.”  

At the 2013 Reebok CrossFit Games, CrossFit Active finished 12th, including a second-place finish in the final event. Since then, Starr and Pirri have identified a number of areas where the team can improve.

This year, Pirri has taken the role of team manager from Starr.

Starr, who has competed as an individual at regionals for a number of years, acknowledged there is a lot more behind-the-scenes work required to prepare a team for competition.

“There are a lot more moving parts, coordinating and organizing training sessions, and answering questions about the session,” he said.

The move was also made to ensure Starr could focus more on his performance on the team, one that worked judging by the results at regionals. But Starr is still involved with the programming of the team.

“Luke and I sit down each week, usually for three to four hours and plan out the programming for the next week and what the programming expectations are over the next three to four weeks,” Pirri said.

Starr and Pirri took the events from the 2013 Games into consideration when programming for the team.

“We have added a fair amount of speed, agility and quickness training in a periodized program,” Pirri said.

The focus of the team training sessions is not on technical capabilities, but rather developing the discipline and communication needed for team success, especially when faced with the unknown.

“A good example was the Worm last year,” Pirri said. “We had very little information about the Worm. That was something that was new to all the teams. It tested the ability of the team to find out in a short amount of time what it was and how to use it. We had very limited time to work with the Worm.”

To develop discipline and communication, the format used to brief athletes at the Games is used for each of their training sessions. In the briefing, the team learns what the workout is, what the movement standards are and how the workout will flow.

“Ever since the Games we made sure that in every training session, every athlete paid attention and knew what was going on,” Pirri said.

Starr added: “We get the athletes into the habit of listening, getting organized and knowing what to do from the moment they set foot into the gym. Preparation is the key. Knowing what to do from the moment you find out what the workout is, whether it is the week before, the morning before or just before.”

At this year’s Games, responsibility of the game plan and the strategy for each event lies with both the coach and captain. As the team captain, Starr is given the responsibility of ensuring the plan is executed.

“We go through it and develop Plan A and Plan B,” Pirri explained. “We always drill Plan A in the warm-up, and then know Plan B. If Plan A isn’t working, Luke switches it up on the field.”

Variety in training locations has also helped build team camaraderie. Pirri and Starr have made a point of getting out of the normal training environment, working out at other CrossFit boxes, holding sessions outdoors in parks and having pool sessions.

“The team dynamic plays a huge role in the performance of the team,” Pirri said. “We are fortunate that all six of the team members are pretty good friends and all get along well.”

But not all of the team sessions are about training.

“Leading up to the Games, we will be doing a couple more fun team bonding activities,” Pirri said. “Over in the States, we will go to the theme parks and just chill out and play some games.”

This year, all CrossFit Active’s team members will be traveling together.

“Last year, we had a couple of people arriving at different times and days which affected things like rate of recovery and ability to train together,” Starr said. “It is a lot easier having the team together.”

“Obviously we would like to arrive a little earlier, but we all have jobs and other commitments that we can’t spend too much time away from,” Pirri added.

The athletes competing for CrossFit Active have been well supported by their affiliate members. A sizeable contingent of the members, dubbed the “Orange Army,” will be traveling to the Games. In the lead up, other members have arranged fundraisers and other events to help support the team.

The performance of the team at the Games is hard to gauge. Starr and Pirri are hoping all the time spent on developing team discipline and communication will pay off.

“The Australia Region is one of the hardest regions to qualify out of, especially on the females side,” Pirri said. “Our teams are getting pretty competitive. It is always hard to predict what could happen in the teams as one slip-up from one team member may cost a lot of points. Hopefully, between the teams and the individuals (from Australia), we will see a couple of names in the top 10, and at least one on the podium.”