CrossFit Ignite Sydney's A-Cup Preparation

January 12, 2012

CrossFit

 

 

The CrossFit Ignite Sydney team finished 2nd at the 2010 Australia Regional and took 34th at the 2010 A-cup. This year got off to a more difficult start. Open Workouts 11.2 and 11.3 hit the team especially hard, landing them in 19th and 16th place in their Region respectively. Sydney rallied on Open Workouts 11.5 and 11.6, entering the top 10 for the first time in their Region. 

After a 9th place Open finish overall in the Region, Ignite Sydney entered the 2011 Australia Regional determined to return to California, but facing some some very tough competition. They showed that they can consistently perform when it counts, taking top five on all six workouts and finishing first overall, earning a return trip to California. The media crew interviewed the Ignite team about how they’re preparing for the big show.

How does your team feel about your Regional (Australia/NZ) performance? What surprised you? What do you feel you could have done better on as a team?

We're very happy with our overall performance at the Regionals and getting the opportunity to return to L.A. for a second year to compete. The level of competition this year was much more intense compared to last year, and I think that some of the teams were very well prepared for the events. To improve as a team we need to communicate more and keep our transitions as tight as possible. We're not the biggest team, so we have to rely on speed and precision to keep our times as quick as possible.

How did Regionals compare to the Open?

Completely different. You tend to feel pretty comfortable training in your own gym. There are a lot more nerves when you compete in an unfamiliar venue with official judges, cameras, and, of course, the crowd! Competing as a team also changes the way you approach workouts - you're working hard for six people now, instead of just one and you don't want to let them down. 

You've been to the Games before. What lessons did you learn from that experience that you're carrying into this year?

I think the biggest thing to take away from last year was that you can't control what other teams around are doing, so don't worry about it. Focus more on your own performance and getting your team over the finishing line. Also, keep up the food and water intake during the day, especially in the heat of last year's Games.

Are you doing anything differently as a team or individually in your training in the lead-up to the Games?

We've introduced a couple of team training sessions each week and completing WODs as pairs and triplets. It's giving us some much-needed practice on breaking down a workout to minimize the rest breaks and keep our work capacity high. 

Does your team pay much attention to the other Regionals? What did you think of them?

You can't help but have a look at some of the other scores coming out of the Regionals. It's good to know that the Australia/NZ region was as competitive as any other region. In saying that, there were a few scores that were pretty impressive! But as I said earlier, we can only control our own performance and do the best we can on the day.