Tara Stewart
July 27, 2019 15:04
We just attended Crossfit Breaking Boundary's Dog Days Competition. Sadly is was not a great experience. We were at first disappointed that they made a major change to a workout just a few days before the competition. Although an unprofessional and inconvenient move, we are flexible and adapted just fine.
The most disappointing moment came during the 3rd and final workout when someone changed out our team's 35lb dumbbell with a 50lb dumbbell in preparation for the next group. My 13 year old daughter went to look for her dumbbell and it was not there, wasting several seconds. When the competition was over, the owner/MC (not her judge) told her he'll give her an extra rep for their mistake. The owner/MC interpreted a "look" on her face and as she walked off he turned on his microphone and announced to the gym something along the lines of, "we'll fix our mistakes, but if you want to get an attitude in here then we'll throw you out of here". I approached him in that moment and asked him why he said that. He admitted it was in response to my daughter's "look" she gave him and said she had a poor attitude. I told him that was so unprofessional and why wouldn't he address his misinterpretation of a 13 year old girl's facial expression with her and her parents rather than trying to intimidate her in front of a whole gym. He walked away and said, "We are done here".
I went to the front desk and wanted to inform someone in charge about this jerk. Turns out the guy is the owner. I wanted to have a face to face with this guy to address what happened and why. As well as how to avoid things like this in the future.
I went ahead to see what other's are saying about this gym on google reviews and facebook. I quickly learned that talking to this man will most likely not be productive. He does not take constructive criticism well. He is very defensive. He must have the last word. Based on his responses to negative criticism, it appears that he believes he has nothing but excuses, and those should be left at the door.
If you are new to crossfit, I would not recommend this gym or this man as a coach. If you go to most crossfit boxes, you will find that this is typically such an uplifting and positive environment. Anyone can participate in this sport- old, young, athletic, not athletic. It's all about the relationships you build and those around you who motivate you to be your best! There is zero excuse for his behavior today. A simple and humble response would have sufficed- "I'm sorry. I/we made a mistake by removing your equipment and then misinterpreting a "look" and publicly calling out a kid who was exhausted from working out". This was definitely not a common experience in crossfit. I hate that there are gyms/boxes out there that believe treating people (especially kids) like that is appropriate.