"What keeps people coming here is the culture."
With 800 square feet of floor space, you might call CrossFit North Vancouver small. However, the passion for CrossFit and the North Vancouver community is anything but — It is massive.
When Dave Kitchen came aboard as the general manager, CrossFit North Vancouver had 12 members. “We went to 72 members in a year,” Kitchen says.
Kitchen bought the affiliate in June 2009. Another year later, membership was at 140.
“My attitude is that you can workout anywhere. You can go to a globo gym, you can go play racquetball, or go for a run, go for a hike. What keeps people coming here is the culture. Everyone shows up for barbeques. They're proud of who and what we are,” Kitchen says. “I'm not, as an owner, focused on how many memberships I sell, or how fancy the room looks or what my PR is on Helen. I stay solely focused on the general feel and attitude of the gym. All the other things come from that. I'm the best and worst business person.”
CrossFit North Vancouver has a new competitor program that is built to reinforce the community at the box. “We've created an atmosphere around competing,” Kitchen says. “I said, ‘Let's win, we're winners. Let's work hard.’ When we send eight competitors to an event, 50 people show up to watch.”
Twenty-two people have signed up for the program, and the rest of the NorthVan community falls in line to support them. Many have never done a competition before. “The biggest thing we've learned is that for a lot of people, this is their first crack at being an athlete. It's their first crack at sport,” Kitchen says. “When we're talking about what to eat, they just have no clue. They just don't know.”
To support the team's travel, CrossFit North Vancouver does several in-house competitions. “We use all the money that we charge for our competitor fund,” he says. “For instance, we're going to a big event in Victoria soon. Our entries are all covered, we have T-shirts, we have a budget for stuff.”
The fever for competition is also a boon to the coaches. “Half the people on the team are coaches. As they get more jacked about their own training, they get jacked about everyone else's programming too. It's been an attitude shift from, 'I'm just an accountant who does CrossFit' to 'I'm an athlete, too,’” Kitchen says.
The small floor space helps athletes tighten up their movements and coaches focus their attention. “We have 10 classes every day. It means making people aware of their space and aware of their surroundings. It means having coaches who are really good at working on scaling, being able to set up a room the right way, maximize equipment,” Kitchen says. “It means showing people that we're a family, we're all working together, it's okay to be close. There's a benefit to running two heats in a workout. If you're sitting out, your job is to be a bit of a coach. If you see something obvious, say so. Cheer on the others. When they recover they cheer for you, too.”
One of the most well known athletes at CrossFit North Vancouver, Karlo Zuppan, 61, has done more than 500 workouts at the gym. “He's one of those guys who is a character guy. He's part of our 'secret service’ — the first to greet new members, to crack a joke. Guys like Karlo sell the memberships,” Kitchen says. “He's lost 50 pounds over the last three to four years, changed his complete life around. Every time he does a WOD, he writes the number on the top. Others now keep track because they saw him doing it.”
Kitchen adds: “Everyone loves a winner, but it's more than your place. It's how you feel, how you walk and talk and interact with others. When you have that attitude with your coaches, it trickles through your gym. Everyone feels like winners. Everyone feels bulletproof. Celebrate every victory, console all losses and move on.”
