Two CrossFit Games, One Weekend: Masters and Teens in Same Families Face Tough Decision
The Crossfit community reacted strongly to the announcement of the 2024 Divisional Games, which places the Masters, Teens, and Adaptive divisions as separate, standalone events.
In all the discussion, though, one consideration that may have been overlooked is what happens when a parent and a teen both make their Divisional Games, especially if the events are held concurrently.
- This is the problem facing a select few families as they navigate this year’s competition schedule.
The Masters and Teen Games will take place over the same weekend, forcing families to make some difficult decisions.
- The details: The Masters CrossFit Games by Legends Championship will take place August 29-September 1 in Birmingham, AL, while the Teen CrossFit Games by Pit Teen Throwdowns is taking place simultaneously in Kalamazoo and Three Rivers, MI.
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The Dilemma
Ashley Fiala and her daughter Zoe were elated to make the Masters and Teens Games this year. However, the family was faced with the tough choice of who to send to the competition or to divide the family to tend to both family qualifiers.
- “I wanted to do the Games for so long, and so I finally made it and then my daughter has a chance to do really, really well with the Games. But I’m a mom first; I want to watch her, and I want to be there for her,” Fiala tells Morning Chalk Up, in an interview.
As the family discussed their plans, daughter Zoe declared that if Ashley didn’t go to the Masters Games, she wouldn’t participate in the Teen Games.
- “I’m very excited we both made it and it’s a bummer, but she’s been trying for so long to make it to the Games and it’s such a big part of her life. [Obviously] isn’t the end of mine or her journey, but she’s been doing it for so long; I was just excited she made it,” Zoe tells Morning Chalk Up in a separate interview.
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Ashley and Zoe will both travel to their own Games this summer. Zoe will be competing in the girls 14-15 division and her father will go with her to Michigan, while Ashley will attend her own competition in Alabama.
- “It’s a decision that we shouldn’t have to make, especially if we’re trying to highlight everybody,” Ashley added. And she already knows that she will have a difficult time focusing on her own competition as she will be very invested in Zoe’s weekend. Being a mom is “her priority.”
A Tough Choice
The Beckwith family is in a similar situation, but instead of dividing up, they’ve decided to focus on one athlete in the family.
Dustin Beckwith qualified for the Masters Games after recently aging into the 50-54 division and changing his programming to Bolder Fitness, owned by five-time CrossFit Games Masters athlete Jason Grubb.
- Beckwith’s son Brode started doing CrossFit at age 11 and continued training seriously up until 2022, after which he turned his attention to soccer.
Brode’s already been to the Games as a teen twice, in 2021 and 2022, in the 14-15 age division.
Brode had no intentions of making the Teen Games in 2024 but finished 19th in the boys 16-17 division during the Teen Semifinal competition.
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The Teen Games takes the top 30 boys and girls in each age division.
- “Even when CrossFit announced that Masters and Teens were going to be in separate locations, we still thought it would be great for dad to coach son and son to coach dad through each competition,” Salle Beckwith, Dustin’s wife/Brode’s mom, told Morning Chalk Up in an interview. “We were pretty disappointed to hear that the two comps were scheduled for the same dates and in locations so far apart from each other.”
Dustin, a lumberjack sports enthusiast, broke his back in 2005, took to CrossFit as part of his recovery, and ended up becoming good at the sport.
He credits CrossFit for his high level of fitness “even with a titanium rod in his back,” said Salle.
- “Brode and Dustin qualified for the Games, but since they are each other’s coaches and training partners, and there’s only one mom/wife, we knew we could not go to both places,” Salle said.
Ultimately, Brode made the tough decision to let his dad go to the Games and “experience the thrill” of the competition and coach him through the entire event.
- “I am super proud of both of them and excited to watch Dustin compete. But I so wish we could have seen both of them excel in their sport at the highest level of competition,” Salle said.
The Bottom Line
CrossFit HQ likely did not anticipate this type of conflict or that it would be a common occurrence.
That being said, hopefully, this situation highlights the fact that CrossFit is a family affair, and parents are raising their kids to love the sport and be part of the community.
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- Who Won the 2024 CrossFit Games Season So Far?
Featured image credits: Salle Beckwith (left), Ashley Fiala (right)