The Return of the Catacombs Games
By
January 24, 2017
It is that time of year again! Many of you have heard of or participated in the CrossFit Open. It is a worldwide competition open to anyone and is the first step to qualifying for the CrossFit Games. It is held over five weeks beginning in late February. Athletes complete a different workout assigned by CrossFit Headquarters each week. The workouts are scored and a leaderboard is used to keep track of scores and determine which athletes advance to Regionals, the next phase. While we have a handful of athletes at Catacombs who are competitive CrossFitters and may very well make it to this next phase, most of us are in this to improve our over all fitness or cross train for our other sports. It would be easy to dismiss the CrossFit Open as something for "hard-core CrossFitters" and opt-out. Instead, we make this into our own brand of fun by removing the intimidation and intense competition. We liberally scale and modify workouts and focus on celebrating one another's victories.
Just like last year, we are putting our own twist on the CrossFit Open. Each week on Friday night, we will be running heats of the CrossFit Open workouts along with the whole CrossFit world. The twist is that we will be running it intramural style. Each person who commits to the Catacombs Games will be placed on a team. Each team will have a captain and there will be points awarded each week. We will keep a team leaderboard up to date each week. The team with the most points at the end of the five weeks will win bragging rights.
Here's the catch: The main emphasis of the Catacombs Games is participation- not performance! So if you’re worried about “not being good enough” – don’t be! All that’s required is that you show up, do work, and cheer on your teammates! For those athletes participating in the CrossFit Open, we will have judges that can certify your scores. For everyone else, we will have scaled options that will allow you to test YOUR fitness.
Our goal is to make this a fun experience for everyone and bring our community together. While we are at it, we will get some tough workouts in and test our fitness in the most supportive environment anywhere.
Sign up for the Catacombs Games is FREE at the front desk. Just put your name on the list. If you want to see how you stack up against others around the world and participate in the actual CrossFit Open, register here: games.crossfit.com. Cost of registering for the Open is $20. Registration in the CrossFit Open is not required to participate in the Catacombs Games.
The week before the Open begins (first workout opens February 23) our 4 amazing captains (chosen by the coaching staff) will take turns selecting team members committed to the Catacombs Games. Remember, points are awarded for participation and team spirit in addition to performance. Team captains will notify team members of their selection. Team names, colors, mascots, etc. are all at the discretion of individual teams and limited only by your creativity. If you are willing to be a team captain or co-captain, there is a sign up for that too.
Each heat will judge the heat after them. The first heat will be judged by coaches and/or other earlier arrived athletes. Athletes officially registered for the Open must be judged by a member of the coaching staff or an athlete that has taken and passed the CrossFit Judges Course. All scaled options will be discussed and agreed upon prior to beginning each heat.
1) Attendance– Points are awarded for each team player who completes the workout each week.
2) Spirit – 5 points awarded to the team that has the most pride, noise, and spirit each week.
3.) Potluck Participation - 5 points awarded to the team that best represents at the potluck each week.
THIS IS GOING TO BE AWESOME. Don't be lame. Let's have some fun and make this THE place to be on Friday nights throughout the Open.
.jpeg)
