Fulfilling Goals: Courtney Modecki

July 17, 2013

Thomas Patton

“The people are fantastic, beautiful and so friendly. The food is great, the land is beautiful, the culture is so welcoming and festive.”

Latin America is rich with culture and history. This is one of Latin America Regional champion Courtney Modecki’s favorite things about it.

“The people are fantastic, beautiful and so friendly,” she says. “The food is great, the land is beautiful, the culture is so welcoming and festive.”

Career in CrossFit

In late 2012, Modecki was hired as the new head coach at CrossFit Medellin in Colombia.

Originally from Washington, D.C., Modecki grew up in Arlington, Va. After five years of working for the U.S. government in IT contracting, she was ready to pursue CrossFit as a career.

“I first heard about the opportunity to coach in Colombia when a friend sent me a job posting from the CrossFit message boards. I had been searching for opportunities in the CrossFit community,” she says. “My first reaction was that the job in Colombia was too good to be true. It was exactly what I wanted to do and one of my ideal countries to live in.”

Modecki played soccer all her life and spent some time training for short triathlons, long runs and powerlifting. She began trying CrossFit in globo gyms and her backyard because there was no affiliate near her until the summer of 2010.

“It was a very different experience than working out in an affiliate. I didn’t have the draw of the community, but some of my best CrossFit memories are from those days,” Modecki recalls.

Today, Modecki trains under the guidance of Doug Chapman of CrossFit Ann Arbor.

“During the offseason, we tend to have lower volume and more of a strength bias … between Regionals and the Games, though, we are preparing for the unknown and unknowable,” she says.

Change of Plans

For part of 2012, Modecki was working with a realtor in Nicaragua considering opening her own affiliate.

“I traveled throughout Latin America for almost a year … I loved Colombia so much I thought about starting a business there and staying,” she says. “I love warm weather and Medellin is pretty perfect all year round … I fell in love with Latin America on that trip and knew that I wanted to live there at some point. CrossFit gave me the means to fulfill that goal.”

Unfortunately, Modecki’s “too good to be true” career opportunity was short lived. This May, CrossFit Medellin decided to close down after a disagreement among the partners, leaving Modecki unemployed. But she has not given up.

“I am still planning to stay in Latin America, and am actively seeking employment in the region,” she says.

She adds: “My goal is to someday join the HQ Seminar Staff and help grow CrossFit across the region. I love visiting different gyms and meeting other CrossFitters. It’s awesome to be able to help people achieve their goals.”

Her plans will have to be postponed until at least August, though, since Modecki will be heading to the Stub Hub Center to represent Latin America at the 2013 Reebok CrossFit Games.