Wrapping up 2015–things in store for 2016!

CrossFit Dubuque has been through four full years of business, and 2015 is drawing to a close!  I wanted to take a moment to thank you all for the continued support, hard work, dedication, and help on your end to continue to grow the community into what it is today.  There are just a few topics I’d like to break this blog down into so that you may all hit whatever interests you most if you prefer to not read it all!

1. The holiday schedule is up, so please take a moment to check it out (WODhopper’s classes should reflect this already as well).

2. The 4-year anniversary party is January 8th, and tickets will be available for purchase until 31 DEC.  More information can be found on the Facebook event page, and the ticket sales are done solely through THIS website.  I’m PUMPED to spend the evening with you all, and will have even more to announce in person! Make sure you get your tickets purchased, as a headcount is necessary in order to ensure everyone gets a meal (and free beer!).

3. A 1-day Athlete Camp is available for signup as well that will take place on 30JAN (Saturday), and, assuming enough people sign up for it, that very following day (31JAN, Sunday).  More information can be found here.

4. To speak briefly of 2016, words can’t describe how excited I am to enter this new year.  I already have a lot of plans for events, opportunities, and continuing education that are in store for 2016.  Our coaching staff continues to develop and become better and better at what they all do.  Spring and Summer interns are already lining up meetings to learn from us and be a part of our community, and it will be another new year of growth, learning, and development.  I welcome the challenge and meet the new year with an open mind and a willingness to continue to build and improve CrossFit Dubuque.  As mentioned above, there are some more announcements I’d like to make to you all during the 4-year party that I’m excited to share with you all!

5. To reflect on 2015: again, it was an incredible year.  The best year to date, as a matter of fact, and I’m very proud to report that to you all.  I remember making a Facebook post after a competition saying something to the effect that it was a great learning experience and we learn more from our losses than we do from our wins.  To some, that may have been perceived as a negative, but I in fact view a stumble, a fall, or a slip-up in a very positive light; the opportunity to learn and grow so as to not make the same mistake.  For everything I’m proud of about CFD—and there is plenty to be proud of—I am also not afraid to own up to my mistakes so that I may learn from them.  The CrossFit Dubuque as we close out 2015 is so very different than the CrossFit Dubuque of 2012, and many of you who have been with us for a long time surely recognize that.  I hope the perception is viewed as largely improvement; all of the decisions made were made to offer the best service to you all.  Every dollar reinvested into the business in the form of continuing education is what gives you the product you have; a great program in which to follow, and experienced, intelligent coaches who are up-to-date on all the latest education.  Each decision to implement a program was weighed out in order to offer the best service to the most people.  The full explanation of the evolution of it all would occupy a lengthy, separate blog, but I think what follows will suffice to fill in these blanks…

With that said, I’d like to implement one new thing as well as make an announcement—a resolution, if you will—public so that I may also be held accountable.

One thing that was brought to my attention that I need to implement is a better, more robust way in which I can show the community exactly what services you have at your disposal.  I think through the evolution of the business, there are many services that may go unnoticed or unaccounted for simply because of how much information I attempt to put out regularly and much of it inevitably slips through the cracks.  I can see how you may have missed something due to not reading a blog here or there, so I’d like to do my part to better my ability to communicate with you all and offer something better:  a centralized webpage with links to all of the different services so that you may all better navigate and understand the intricacies and depth of the products offered here at CFD.  Stay tuned for that to go live within a few days (assuming it goes smoothly)!

The announcement, or resolution, I’d like to come out with is the following:  I know, especially due to my background of a military upbringing fresh out of high school into my mid-twenties, that I hide frustration poorly and it can show through easily.  It is something that has been brought to my attention on more than a few occasions.  I think Mike and I have come a LONG ways from our early days of playing metal on the radio and smoking people until they couldn’t sit down to weed out people who didn’t want to work hard (that’s meant to be a joke at our expense, by the way!), but we still need plenty of work in that category.  This is me acknowledging that this character trait isn’t a strong suit of mine and to be more conscious of working on it so as to provide a better service to you all.  I am confident in my abilities as a great strength and conditioning coach to you all.  Where I could use improvement is communication, patience, and considerations of one’s feelings while simultaneously offering the same exact quality of instruction.

So there it is:  some end of the year self-reflection I’d like to share with you all, my CFD family.  I have from day 1 been nothing but transparent in every conceivable way about the business to you all.  After all, it’s OUR community, not mine alone.  I never want to be perceived as someone who takes my business and/or personal relationships for granted (because I don’t), I never want to be perceived as someone who doesn’t care (that idea couldn’t be further from the truth), I never want someone to assume that a piece of professional coaching advice given is somehow a personal attack (it NEVER is), and I never want to be accused of being lazy, especially when it comes to working on being the best and most knowledgable I can be for you all and exceeding your expectations of services rendered.  I’m damn proud of the accomplishments WE (not I, but WE) have made possible together in the last 4 years, and I’m thrilled to begin another year and start a new chapter with you all!  From one imperfect coach to my awesome yet imperfect community of fellow coaches and athletes, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart!

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and I look forward to bringing in 2016 with you all!

RLTW <1>

—Coach Phil