Affiliate of the Month: CrossFit Northtowne Serves Veterans, First Responders, and Adaptive Athletes Nationwide
When Josh Snyder finished serving in the United States Marine Corps, he realized firsthand just how difficult it was to transition back to real life.
He also realized that now, more than ever, he needed CrossFit.
While in the Marine Corps, Snyder was deployed to Afghanistan and put in charge of training 1,000 Marines. This experience showed him firsthand how helpful CrossFit was for them, both physically and mentally.
- It led him to fall in love with helping people through fitness.
So, in 2018, back home in Kansas City, MO, Snyder decided to help veterans through CrossFit.
- “I wanted to bring the structure, support, and accountability CrossFit has to offer to veterans and first responders but not have to have the conversation of, ‘Oh, it’s going to cost you $175 a month,’” Snyder said.
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The result: Today, Snyder is the owner of CrossFit Northtowne in Kansas City and the founder of Bloc Life, a non-profit that dedicates itself to helping veterans, first responders, and adaptive athletes.
The details: Bloc Life offers two programs — Adaptive Athletes in Motion and Chalk Up For Burpees — that help “connect veterans, first responders, and persons with disabilities to supportive fitness communities within 15 minutes of their house,” Snyder explained.
Many of these athletes train at Snyder’s gym, but he has also partnered with various other gyms around the country, including some in the Kansas City area, Ohio, Nebraska, Iowa, and Florida.
When people connect with Adaptive Athletes in Motion or Chalk Up For Burpees, they get a 90-day complimentary membership at a gym near where they live, most of which are CrossFit gyms. After that, they can continue at the gym on a need-based, subsidized scholarship.
- So far, approximately 80 veterans and first responders and more than 200 adaptive athletes have benefited from Bloc Life’s programs.
One big thing: Bloc Life — which raises money through donations, grants, apparel sales, and an annual Chalk Up For Burpees fundraiser they hold each year on Veterans Day — not only subsidizes memberships but also pays the coaches at the partner gyms to run their programs. (They fund their certifications to be able to coach adaptive athletes).
- Thus, it’s a no-brainer for a gym to offer an Adaptive Athletes in Motion or Chalk Up For Burpees program.
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The big picture: Snyder’s ultimate goal is to make CrossFit as accessible as possible to those who need it because he knows the difference fitness can make in a person’s life.
- “I love to break down the complexity of fitness and introduce it at a very approachable level for our target demographic,” Snyder said.
He added: “Whether you are a veteran looking to reconnect to a supportive group of people, a mother of two small children wanting to feel confident in her body again, or a person who uses a wheelchair looking to be active again, you can do something today to get closer to your goal and live a more fulfilling life.”
And from his experience, CrossFit is usually that something.
Donations to Bloc Life can be made here.
Credit: @createdbylevi, @novagradient /Instagram